Nokia seeks to offer best kind of help

Telecommunication giant Nokia has set "doing things that matter the most" as a principle of its corporate social responsibility strategy; following that philosophy, in addition to immediate relief efforts, it would like to choose meaningful and sustainable long programs to support post-earthquake recovery.

It launched a 10-million-yuan program just ahead of the first anniversary of the May 12 Sichuan quake, designed to give young entrepreneurs in disaster-stricken areas a head-start in business.

"We believe the program will help youth in these regions to rebuild their confidence, contribute to resolving youth employment issues there, and support the local community," said Hera Siu, vice president of Nokia (China) Investment Co Ltd.

Zhou Renlai, professor with Beijing Normal University, pointed out that the initiative may have long and fundamental impact on the youth aided, who have experienced the serious earthquake and were affected both physically and psychologically.

"Meanwhile, it helps create self-employment opportunities in disaster-hit regions and set self-employment models for local youth," he added.

The program is under cooperation with Youth Business China (YBC), a non-profit youth start-up support organization initiated by Chinese Communist Youth League, All-China Youth Federation and a group of business and social institutions.

YBC, with funding from Nokia, will select 90 people, aged 18-45, who want to start their own businesses in Sichuan, Gansu, and Shaanxi provinces. Each of the selected will receive 100,000 yuan in the form of interest-free loans to start up.

"Even more importantly than financial loans, the program will also find business mentors for each participant. These volunteer mentors provide real business skills and guidance, while this advice is of great value to someone who wants to start a business," said Siu.

Zhang Huiling from YBC called Nokia an important strategic partner of YBC. Since the earthquake happened last year, the two partners have been discussing ways to develop long-term, sustainable programs that can help rebuild the lives and livelihoods of victims in the natural disaster.

"Through our scientific research, advanced mentor system and our extensive experience in project management, we have come to an agreement with Nokia that we will support youth in the earthquake-hit area by helping them to start their own businesses. This program will also help to provide employment opportunities to other people in the region," said Zhang.

Finland-based Nokia committed up to 54 million yuan in cash and materials to disaster relief last year in two distinctive yet complimentary phases.

Its first phase of support was focused on the urgent needs in the most affected areas. The world's largest mobile phone producer donated its products for first-aid use valued at 3 million yuan through its partner Sichuan Mobile.

Nokia also established a volunteer team, sending its telecommunication emergency supporting vans into the affected regions to supply power and telecommunication to survivors and rescue teams. A medical team was also dispatched to the stricken areas to support emergency treatment.

Under coordination with China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation, a donation of 16 million yuan from the Fortune 500 company was used in reconstruction of Jinhua Primary School and recovery projects in Minle Village, which will offer aid to 440 orphans and rebuilding of the Shifang Longju Primary school. All these projects have already begun.

According to Siu, Nokia China wanted to show its commitment in a much more engaged, long-term and sustainable way by establishing a second phase of programs.

"It is relatively easy to donate money - and we do this. However, at Nokia China what distinguishes our approach is that we undertook feasibility studies, researched government plans and guidelines, held extensive meetings with NGOs and took time to choose the right partners to develop programs which will support communities in a longer run with more far reaching results," she stressed, adding that the YBC program is a good example.

A survey conducted by international market research firm Ipsos last year showed that the public preferred realistic, efficient and relevant solutions when talking about corporations' charity on earthquake relief.

The survey polled 1,032 people aged 15-65 in random telephone interviews in the cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Wuhan, Xi'an and Shenyang.

Most interviewees said direct action by enterprises was more important than large cash donations.

"Providing professional technical support for earthquake rescue and post-disaster reconstruction" was the greatest expectation of the public for enterprises fulfilling their corporate social responsibilities, the survey said.

"Helping people to independently develop and resume their lives" also garnered public praise.

"The result showed that the public has higher expectations for the policies, management and solutions taken by an enterprise to fulfill its corporate citizenship responsibilities, instead of simply donating cash and goods," said Su Songying, research manager of Ipsos China and coordinator of the survey.

Nokia over the years has developed a wealth of knowledge and experience through working with communities, government departments, and NGOs on what type of projects work best and deliver tangible benefits.

"We believe in taking a considered and scientific approach to our selection process which includes undertaking feasibility studies, doing research and having detailed consultation with all stakeholders including the government, the community and NGOs," Siu said.

As a result of its work and in addition to the YBC program, Nokia will spend 25 million yuan to support the Spirit Homestead Construction in the stricken area, through programs like the "Sunshine Program".

The "Sunshine Program" is jointly developed by the Nokia Research Center Beijing, The Institute of Psychology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications.

The "Sunshine Program" is a mobile post-traumatic stress treatment program, which will help victims of the Sichuan earthquake who are in need of emotional support. Currently, the software Nokia especially developed for the program is in trial use.

Nokia will kick off the program soon in Sichuan together with partners and will offer timely reports to the public about progress of its projects in the future, according to Siu.

(China Daily 05/11/2009 page10)