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Parliamentary Briefresponsibility (CSR) of American companies,especially in developing countries. There iscurrently no broad federal mandate for CSR,but a 2005 study by the US GovernmentAccountability Office (GAO) identified 12US agencies and over 50 federal programmes,policies and activities focused on mandating,facilitating, partnering and endorsingresponsible business practices abroad.Of particular note in terms of their scaleand impact are government-led initiativesto increase private sector investment andentrepreneurship in developing countries, toimprove corporate accountability and transparencyin sensitive industry sectors, and tojointly mobilise public and private funds forkey development objectives such as globalhealth and education.The Overseas Private Investment Corporation(OPIC), for example, has adopted anincreasingly strategic approach to workingwith US companies to fulfil its mandate tosupport market-led solutions to economicand social development in developing andtransition economies.Among other initiatives, it has launched anEnterprise Development Network in partnershipwith the private sector that is dedicatedto financing and insuring the expansion ofmicro-sized, small and medium-sized enterprises.Both OPIC and the Export-Import Bankof the United States also now require thecompanies they work with to meet certainsocial, environmental and transparencystandards.Likewise, the Millennium ChallengeCorporation, which has developed a rigorousprocess for encouraging good governanceand mutual accountability compacts withthe governments that it funds, is workingmore actively with the private sector to ensuredevelopment outcomes that are not onlymore accountable, but also pro-growth andpro-poor. The government-funded AfricanDevelopment Foundation and Inter-AmericanDevelopment Foundation are bothdoing likewise.The US government has also spearheadedseveral international corporate accountabilityinitiatives such as the VoluntaryPrinciples on Human Rights and Securityin the extractive sector, in co-operation withthe UK government, and a coalition with thetextile sector that has now evolved into theindependent Fair Labor Association.Finally, the US government has launchedseveral public-private resource mobilisationinitiatives. Examples include the President’sEmergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR),which has leveraged millions of dollars andother resources in a public-private partnershipeffort aimed at bringing HIV/AIDSinterventions to scale. Another notable initiativehas been USAID’s Global DevelopmentAlliance (GDA).Established in 2001, GDA aims to significantlyexpand and deepen the impactof US development assistance by leveraginggovernment funds with the resources, skillsand innovation of private sector partners.Since 2001, it has worked with a wide varietyof corporations, corporate foundations andbusiness networks as well as NGOs andprivate foundations to form more than 680alliances and mobilise more than US$9bnin combined public and private resources.Projects have ranged from efforts tostrengthen agribusiness value chains to educationand health to harnessing remittancesand Diaspora funding.The above examples illustrate some of theinitiatives underway in the United States ledby both government and the private sectoritself to engage US business in internationaldevelopment. In many cases these initiativeshave been spurred and/or encouraged by civilsociety engagement and activism.While there has been progress, muchmore could be achieved. In particular, thereis a need for the US government to markedlyimprove the co-ordination, integration, efficiencyand effectiveness of its official aid andtrade assistance programmes and to morestrategically engage the business sector as wellas other non-governmental actors rangingfrom development NGOs, foundations anduniversities to individual philanthropists andvolunteers.In December 2007, the bipartisan,public-private HELP Commission releasedits report on US Foreign Assistance Reform.Entitled Beyond Assistance and based onnearly 22 months of extensive consultationsand research, the report stated, ‘Our foreignassistance system is broken. We ignore thisreality at our peril.’Among its seven recommendations werecalls to, ‘do more to help developing countriesbuild vibrant private sectors’, and to‘create a new business model and engage nongovernmentalpartners.’The commission stated, ‘We must activelyengage new non-governmental actors andleverage the resources from the explosionof growth in philanthropy and privateinvestment. We believe that new initiatives,increased funding, and most importantly,lasting results will occur if we more proactivelycollaborate with non-governmentalactors.’Regardless of the results of the US presidentialelection, such an imperative must bemet if the United States is to fulfil it immensepotential to be a champion of internationaldevelopment and the MDGs.Jane Nelson is a senior fellow and directorof the Corporate Responsibility Initiativeat Harvard’s Kennedy School,a non-resident senior fellow at the BrookingsInstitution, and a director at theInternational Business Leaders Forum.McCain orObama,the imperative isto ‘do moreto helpdevelopingcountries buildvibrantprivate sectors’20OCTOBER 2008
Parliamentary BriefLearning to live againIn its campaignto eradicatechild labourTelefónica O2has taken58,000 youngchildrenout of forcedwork andsent them backto school.Vikki Leachreports...According to the Organisation for InternationalLaw and Child Labour, there are morethan 5 million 5 to 14 year olds, workingacross Latin America. In many of these countries, achild is more likely to be forced into work in orderto contribute to their family income than completea basic education.At Telefónica O2, we believe that business has aresponsibility to make a positive difference. We areconvinced that our activities benefit the countriesin which we operate and result in greater economic,technological and social development. Nevertheless,we believe that our activity should be combinedwith other social and cultural projects wherever weoperate.We embrace this role through our commitmentto the United Nations Millennium DevelopmentGoals aiming to improve the quality of life foryoung people, across the globe, by 2015.Through Telefónica’s Proniño scholarshipprogramme, Telefónica are taking action in 13countries to help eradicate child labour, and getchildren reintegrated into schools. This not onlygives them a chance to get a basic education but toenjoy their childhood and learn through play. Todate, over 58,000 children have benefited fromProniño — giving them a chance for a good educationand a hope for a better future.Proniño works with nearly 20,000 volunteersacross South America supporting the work withchildren and their surrounding communities. Thevolunteers come from many different countries andthe diversity they bring gives the children an insightinto the wider world.Heidi Danaher was one volunteer working inEcuador. She was shocked by what she saw at onerefuse tip. ‘It was a horrible place to work and dangeroustoo — even hospital waste such as syringesis dumped along with all the other rubbish. Peoplewere scavenging amid rotting waste for items to sellor sometimes even to eat. This is daily life for thesepeople.‘The aim is to get children into school instead ofworking in dreadful conditions for a pittance. Asan incentive to go to school, children are given arucksack, boots, pens and pencils, a pair of shoesand some pumps to wear. Many children were inbare feet so they would certainly need the shoes togo to school.‘We went to one farming and fishing villagewhere all the families helped with the work. Onefather had five children, his wife had left and heOCTOBER 2008 21
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