SEKEM‘s Journal for Economy, Culture and Society in Egypt
SEKEM Insight Nr. 75 - November 2008
Dear Reader, during last summer several development organisations published reports on the current state of development cooperation. They were aiming at the pledge by many industrialised countries to increase substantially the official financial aid to the poorest (ODA). The reports stated that this goal will not only not be achieved but that official development aid is in fact declining. The question which method of aid leads to its efficient implementation is as old as development aid itself. Are financial contributions enough? Are other improvement measures needed, too? And how do you efficiently strengthen people’s capacities? A much-praised but rarely successful approach are public-private-partnerships. Here private businesses and public authorities pitch in to fund development projects attractive to both parties. In most cases these fail, though, for precisely these (diverging) interests. In SEKEM economic and social interests work hand in hand. This minimizes defaults on developments because everyone is working for the same goal from the beginning. Because the firms, too, benefit from an increased quality of life in its surrounding villages and better motivated co-workers.
Your Editorial Team
Sustainability
Sports in SEKEM
Music in SEKEM
SEKEM publishes first Sustainability Report
SEKEM scores at the Mobinil Tournament
SEKEM creates its very own chamber orchestra
SEKEM Publishes First Sustainability Report
In SEKEM sustainability is first and foremost a question of people and nature in harmony
This year SEKEM published its first Sustainability Report to demonstrate to all partners and the public its strong sense of accountability concerning its work and the impact of it on the environment. The greatest problems (poverty, climate change, scarcity of water) of mankind to a large extent are based on simplistic, short-term thinking of individuals. To achieve reasonable living conditions for all people every actor in society will have to think, act, and give back to it in sustainable ways. In the current societal order the economy is in an important and highly relevant position to make a change in the coming years.
Every entrepreneurial endeavour has an impact on the surrounding world and thus has to take on the responsibility to deal with it in responsible ways: to provide the consumer with healthy products, its employees with a healthy work environment, its partners with fair conditions of trade, and the environment with what as little harmful waste as possible. Acting in sustainable ways always has been a priority for work and life at SEKEM. The Sustainability Report, however, represents the first thorough analysis of its longterm effects. Next to a presentation
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