|
Corporate Social Responsibility
News
9.15.2005 ET
|
CSR News from:
|
|
|
News Category:
|
|
Nike Foundation Secures Footing in Helping to Reach Millennium Development Goals
Awards $5.2 Million to Organizations Dedicated to Improving the Lives of Adolescent Girls in the Developing World
(CSRwire) BEAVERTON, Oregon - Today, coinciding with the Millennium
Development Goals UN World Summit, the Nike Foundation announced 11 global
and in-country projects with key partners.
The Nike Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, has been working
closely with its partners to identify its countries of focus (Bangladesh,
Brazil, China, Ethiopia and Zambia), and to further develop its overall
giving principles announced in March 2005. Contributing to global efforts
to reach the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, The Nike
Foundation will place particular emphasis on reaching the goals of poverty
alleviation and gender equality. Initially, the Foundation is supporting
primarily non-governmental organizations and programs that provide direct
services and capacity building to improve the lives and well-being of
adolescent girls in the developing world.
"Through partnerships with extraordinary international organizations, we
have continued to evolve our strategies and deepen our knowledge of what
is needed to improve the lives of girls in the developing world as well as
where the Foundation can have the greatest impact," said Maria Eitel,
President of the Nike Foundation. She added that the Foundation is in a
learning phase, making initial strides to achieve two long-term
goals:- Invest in solutions that are creative,
high-impact, result in poverty alleviation, and empower impoverished girls
by expanding their opportunities, capabilities and choices; and
- Contribute to positive change in the development field
through an innovative model of corporate philanthropy - that inspires
heightened, highly effective corporate engagement in global
problems.
Addressing Major Challenges
The Nike Foundation has awarded over $5.2 million to organizations
globally in the past fiscal year. Each of the latest Nike Foundation
projects seeks to tackle one of the major challenges facing girls and
women in the developing world, including inadequate health services,
education access and economic opportunities.
The research is clear that improvements in education and increased
opportunities for girls and women serve as a bedrock for economic growth,
development and societal progress. Research conducted by the World Bank
and others convincingly shows that programs directed to girls and women
yield a higher rate of return than virtually any other community
investment available in the developing world. Investing in girls and
women's development projects results in better maternal and children's
health, increased school enrollments, improved economic growth and
productivity, and leads to a ripple effect that also benefits boys,
families and communities.
"There are many ways to tackle the challenges of poverty. The Nike
Foundation's focus on adolescent girls is sorely needed and is a point of
maximum leverage in creating momentum," said Sylvia Mathews, COO and
Executive Director of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. "Healthy, safe,
empowered girls transform families, communities and countries."
Foundation Projects
Through this series of grants, the Nike Foundation, in partnership with
others, contributes to efforts around the world to:- Empower
girls - build their capabilities and provide opportunities;
- Engage communities - improve the influence and well-being of
disadvantaged groups;
- Foster advocacy - broaden awareness and shift attitudes and
policies to benefit girls; and
- Leverage partners - expand others capacities to empower
girls.
Specific projects include:
Global- International Business Leaders Forum (IBLF) -
sponsoring partners to participate in trainings and capacity building
forums.
- Center for Global Development (CGD) - supporting advocacy efforts
bolstering policies that support adolescent girls.
- International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) - developing and
sharing a measurement framework for girls' empowerment and conducting
monitoring and evaluation of Nike Foundation supported programs.
Bangladesh- Charities Aid Foundation of America (CAFAmerica)
- supporting the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC), one of the
world's largest and most respected non-governmental organizations, by
expanding programs offering educational, social and economic opportunities
for girls in Bangladesh.
- The World Bank - Designing and implementing a social communications
campaign as part of a large-scale program by the Government of Bangladesh
to mobilize communities to request community learning centers to increase
access to education for out-of-school girls and boys.
Brazil- Instituto Promundo - offering innovative education
activities for young girls and boys in Rio de Janeiro to address sexual
health and education.
- International Planned Parenthood Federation/Western Hemisphere Region
- promoting the involvement of young women in Brazil in advocacy
activities supporting the inclusion of sexual and reproductive health and
rights in the Millennium Development Goals.
China- PATH - developing a pilot project to decrease the
vulnerability of rural Chinese girls through community empowerment as part
of a traditional education program and long-term advocacy.
Egypt- Population Council - documenting a successful holistic
program for vulnerable adolescent girls in Egypt.
Ethiopia- United Nations Foundation/Population Council -
addressing the prevalent issue of child marriage and its devastating
impact on young girls in Ethiopia.
Zambia- Campaign for Female Education (CAMFED) - scaling up
an innovative model that provides material and financial assistance to
stay in school, as well as training and small loans to enable girls to
start their own businesses upon completion of their
education.
About the Nike Foundation
The Nike Foundation is a non-profit organization supported by Nike, Inc.
dedicated to giving the world's neediest girls the opportunities to lead
full and active lives. The Foundation is committed to extending Nike's
passion, voice and resources to inspire support for girls in some of the
world's least developed countries. The Foundation gives money to programs
and partnerships that help address two of the world's most pressing
challenges - eliminating poverty and improving the lives of girls. To
achieve its vision, the Nike Foundation supports the experience of local,
national and global partners working together to create innovative,
compelling solutions that can achieve broader impact than those delivered
by individual efforts. The Foundation is infused with funds on an annual
basis out of Nike, Inc.'s three percent commitment of the preceding year's
pre-tax profits to community investments around the world.
The Nike Foundation is governed by a Board of Directors comprised of Nike,
Inc. senior executives and guided by an Advisory Group of leading experts
in the fields of international development and gender equality. The Nike
Foundation does not accept unsolicited proposals, but instead works with
its partners to identify and co-design innovative projects in target
countries.
For more information about the Nike Foundation, its partners and projects,
please visit www.nikefoundation.org.
|
|
