Tsunami recovery initiatives in Thailand inspire greater community involvement from business 

IBLF has always been a strong advocate of the value that business skills and resources can bring to community projects, and more recently for the role that business can play in post-disaster recovery.

Now in Thailand, a new initiative entitled The Thailand Business Partnership for Community Development will get the chance to test both theories. The Partnership was launched in early March by IBLF and Thai businesses, and will enable businesses to support community projects across the country.

It emerged out of a need for business to engage more strongly in post-tsunami recovery but has evolved into a wider initiative where business can support development projects across the country. The aim is to link businesses up with 60 projects in Thailand in 2006.

The Partnership was launched in Bangkok and is chaired by KPMG's Chief Executive in Thailand, Kaisri Nuengsigkapian. The advisory group of the Partnership includes representatives from companies such as Diageo, the Stock Exchange of Thailand, Cadbury Thailand and The Nation Multimedia Group.

A report published last year by IBLF, entitled Best Intentions, Complex Realities, said that as the response to the tsunami shifted from relief to long-term recovery, there was more than ever a need for the involvement of business in economic rebuilding initiatives.

The report also found that despite the record level of money donated to tsunami appeals, there was a lack of understanding on just how to spend the money. Several studies – most recently from the UK government's National Audit Office – have shown that millions of pounds are still unspent because of delays implementing aid projects. "DFID [the Department for International Development] need to strengthen their financial monitoring to establish how much of the £50 million paid in grants to other organisations actually reached the victims of the disaster, and how much remains in bank accounts waiting to be spent," said the report.

Mike Garrett, former executive vice-president of Nestle, co-led an IBLF Task Force to tsunami-hit communities last year and spoke at the launch of the Thai Business Partnership.

He said that the importance of the business response to the tsunami represented a microcosm of the bigger challenge for business to engage in economic and social development. "Through working together, and in partnership with community based organisations and NGOs, so much more can be achieved and sustained", he said. Garrett added that one of the reasons why the Partnership was working across the country, rather than just tsunami-hit regions, was because much of the employment in Thailand is in coastal areas, the tsunami had a disproportionate impact on the economy of the country.

The creation of the Thai Partnership is just the latest in a range of independent, locally run initiatives that IBLF has set up around the world. Last year IBLF helped set up the China Business Leaders Forum, an organisation which focuses on improving business standards and transparency. IBLF has also helped set up a range of regional initiatives in countries including Russia, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Vietnam and Indonesia.

IBLF's Crossing Borders programme - bringing business leaders face to face with community projects

Crossing Borders is IBLF's business leadership programme that involves visits led by senior business leaders to business-supported projects in developing countries.

Crossing Borders brings business leaders face to face with local projects and shows them how businesses impact on and are impacted by the development challenges in the local communities where they operate.

Neville Isdell , Chairman and Chief executive of the Coca-Cola Company, said this after his Crossing Borders experience:

"An essential aspect of our business approach is a commitment to the development of the communities in which we work and live. We depend on—and must contribute to—socio-economic development and the conservation of natural resources around the world."

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