MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS -
Pope Francis has been creating news in sustainability circles lately and lots of it.Why? Well, it’s not just because his message of peace, simplicity, and pursuit of the common good resonates with millions the world round, but also because his beliefs are uniform and undivided in ways political, corporate, union or community leaders can seldom afford to be: It is within each of us, he says without preaching or scolding, to be better people, more caring, more generous and, of course, more considerate of the environment.
INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY -
Just 13 of the 200 highest paid CEOs in the U.S. are female, according to data published recently by the New York Times. While gender parity in the workplace is advancing worldwide and many women are heeding the call to ‘Lean in’, progress in changing outcomes is generally slow.
ORGANIZATIONAL GOVERNANCE -
Companies, especially publicly owned corporations, carefully manage their image and messages. But this age of social media, changes in consumer tastes and demands for increased transparency have caused more companies to be bolder, especially when it comes to sustainability and social responsibility issues. One such company is Starbucks, which has often taken controversial stances on the Affordable Healthcare Act, minimum wage and now, race relations.
STAKEHOLDER TRENDS AND INSIGHTS -
On Sunday 8th March, the world celebrated the economic, political and social achievements of women - past, present and future. The theme for this year’s International Women’s Day - Empowering Women, Empowering Humanity – could not have been more accurate.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
We’ve heard a lot recently about 2015 promising to be the year of sustainability — with global conferences on sustainable development and climate change, new UK legislation fighting modern day slavery, and the forthcoming UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), set to shape the global remit for social, economic and environmental development.One of the key goals of the SDGs is to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls around the world. With this in mind, the post-2015 development agenda offers a great opportunity to drive lasting change for women’s rights and equality.
INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY -
Digital currency, aka cryptocurrency, is shaking up the financial industry’s entrenched institutions, and now its potential for doing good is dawning — as it enables accountability and financial sovereignty one mobile click at a time.Stellar, a nonprofit building a global digital platform for money transfer, is partnering with open-source text messaging network, Vumi, to empower young women in South Africa in an aptly titled program, Give a Girl a Savings Account.
CIRCULAR ECONOMY -
From historic climate change marches and bold advocacy by companies on the price of carbon to global economic volatility and heated debates on inequality, 2014 was a year of accelerated awareness and action for sustainable development.Our Ten Trends for 2015 distills SustainAbility’s thinking over the past year and forecasts the issues that will shape the sustainable development agenda in 2015.
MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS -
Sport England, previously known as the English Sports Council, has launched an ad campaign called “This Girl Can,” which uses real women to promote exercise among females.The campaign’s first 90-second film, aiming to inspire women of all shapes and sizes to get off the couch, has generated more than 2.9 million views on YouTube in its first week and trended at number two on Twitter. FCB Inferno, the London agency behind the film, described it as "a celebration of active women designed to make the attainable aspirational."
PRODUCTS AND DESIGN -
GoldieBlox, the startup behind “Engineering Toys for Girls” and star capital-raiser on Kickstarter, may have blazed a trail by marketing construction toys to girls. But it may be the venerable, and long-criticized, LEGO brand that finally has gotten it just right in terms of how to properly engage this largely overlooked segment of its audience.LEGO recently parried years of criticism with a new TV ad that focuses on the imaginative powers of play in young girls — a paean to the relationship that they can have with toys that traditionally haven’t been marketed to them, as dolls and costumes have — and a call for them to #KeepBuilding.
MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS -
A group of angry-looking men surround a woman seated alone in the desert, and proceed to "stone" her … with flower petals, in a striking (no pun intended) new campaign by United Colors of Benetton in support of UN Women (the United Nations agency that promotes gender equality and empowerment of women), launched to commemorate the UN International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women (November 25).
ORGANIZATIONAL GOVERNANCE -
53 California-based companies, including Apple, Google and Facebook, have received perfect scores in an annual report assessing lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) workplace inclusion.The 2015 Corporate Equality Index (CEI) is a project of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation’s largest LGBT civil rights organization. As the national benchmarking tool on corporate policies and practices related to LGBT workplace equality, the 2015 CEI unveiled that a record 366 businesses — spanning nearly every industry and geography — earned a top score of 100 percent and the distinction of “Best Places to Work for LGBT Equality.”
ORGANIZATIONAL GOVERNANCE -
As Marks & Spencer’s Plan A programme moves into a new phase — that of engagement — the company’s director of sustainable business, Mike Barry took to the stage Tuesday evening at SB ’14 London to offer his insights into how companies can build long-term, restorative models that are as much about inclusivity as they are profitability.
STAKEHOLDER TRENDS AND INSIGHTS -
For the NFL to rebuild trust with women in the wake of the ongoing domestic violence debacle, and repair its bruised brand image, Commissioner Roger Goodell will need to do more than apologize, beef up education programs and promise to do better. To truly overcome the damage that’s been done to the reputation of the NFL and its sponsors, Goodell will need to change the way the League thinks about marketing to women, take a zero tolerance stand regarding domestic violence, and ultimately redefine the brand’s purpose toward developing players who are real heroes and role models for kids and families. Here’s a game plan for the NFL and its sponsors:1. Think of women as more than a marketing opportunity
ORGANIZATIONAL GOVERNANCE -
One organization taking the initiative to improve gender representation in its industry is Cognizant Technology Solutions — whose employee-led Women Empowered initiative attracts and retains female associates through active recruitment, talent development, communication and networking.
COLLABORATION & CO-CREATION -
United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Tokyo and the Business Call to Action (BCtA) last week hosted the first BCtA event in Japan to encourage the Japanese private sector to participate in innovative business approaches that create development impact.The BCtA forum in Tokyo featured a number of innovative business practices, showcasing how companies can overcome market challenges that can benefit the poor and create social and economic impact in local communities. The event also highlighted the work that UNDP and the BCtA have initiated to promote public-private partnerships.
INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY -
A social enterprise called Jjangde is tackling two of the largest problems in West Africa — lack of access to education and employment — by connecting handmade goods from rural communities in Senegal to global markets, and using the profits to fund schools in the communities where the goods were made.With a test run of baskets, Jjangde says it was able to fund a summer program that gave 300 students extra support for the upcoming school year. The company also fully funded one year of school for 110 students and developed an exchange program to strengthen the relationship between high schools in Senegal and the United States.
INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY -
Chid Liberty was born in Liberia, his father the nation’s ambassador to Germany — where Chid grew up before his family was exiled and moved to Silicon Valley. After 28 years abroad, Chid returned to Liberia in 2009 inspired by the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Liberian Women’s Peace Movement and founded Liberty & Justice with social entrepreneur Adam Butlein.
ORGANIZATIONAL GOVERNANCE -
The number of women directors who now sit on the boards of the United Kingdom’s largest companies, the FTSE-100, has risen from 12.5 percent to 19 percent since 2011, according to a recent report by the UK Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.Former British Trade Minister Lord Davies founded Women on Boards in 2011 to track progress towards the UK’s goal of having 25 percent of board positions being held by women by 2015. According to the recent numbers, FTSE-100 companies must appoint 66 more female directors in the next two years to meet the target.The report also shows that the number of all-male boards on the FTSE-100 index has fallen to 6 companies, down from 21 companies in 2010.
Intel Corporation has announced She Will Connect, a new program that commits to expanding digital literacy skills to young women in developing countries. Intel will begin working with a diverse set of partners including global and local NGOs and governments to launch the initiative in Africa, where the gender gap is the greatest, aiming to reach five million women and reduce the gender gap by 50 percent.
Marriott has joined more than a dozen corporations and non-governmental organizations in a five-year commitment to expand its engagement with female-owned businesses outside the United States, especially in emerging economies.Working with WEConnect International and Vital Voices, two prominent NGOs that support and promote the economic potential of women, Marriott will be part of the pledge to train 15,000 female business owners and spend $1.5 billion with their companies by 2018.