In this short and catchy clip, DuPont CEO Holliday — a past WBCSD Chairman — argues that companies must “take actionable first steps” toward creating sustainable livelihoods, or risk extinction.
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More info about the WBCSD’s Development Focus Area: http://www.wbcsd.org/includes/getTarget.asp?type=p&id=Njc&doOpen=1&ClickMenu=LeftMenu
Duration : 0:1:2
Lloyd Timberlake, Director of Special Projects for GrupoNueva S.A. and Peter Woicke, Executive Vice President of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) give their views on whether sustainable livelihoods business can be profitable.
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More info about the WBCSD’s Development Focus Area: http://www.wbcsd.org/includes/getTarget.asp?type=p&id=Njc&doOpen=1&ClickMenu=LeftMenu
Duration : 0:1:33
Julio Moura, CEO of GrupoNueva shares the challenges faced by his and other Latin American companies in implementing sustainable livelihoods businesses including, shifting mindset to think of the poor as part of the solution instead of victims; negotiating unfavorable framework conditions and the battle against big scale corruption.
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Related case study: Mobile sales contribute to poverty reduction – GrupoNueva’s Amanco http://www.wbcsd.org/plugins/DocSearch/details.asp?ObjectId=MTYxNDk
Duration : 0:2:18
Francisco (‘Chico’) Whitaker Ferreira is a Roman Catholic activist, who has worked for democracy and against corruption throughout his life, both at home in Brazil and in exile. As Executive Secretary to the National Council of Brazilian Bishop’s (CNBB) Commission of Justice and Peace (CBJP) Whitaker has been instrumental in the conception, development, and implementation of an anti-corruption bill in Brazil. He is also co-founder of the burgeoning World Social Forum (WSF) a large conference event, parallel to the World Economic Forum in Davos, to share the various insights of those from around the world who are working for alternatives to “world domination by capital, within the parameters of neoliberalism”. The idea has been a great success and the annual Forums have become platforms for civil society organizations from all around the world to exchange views, form coalitions, work on concrete strategies and coordinate campaigns. He received the “Right Livelihood” Award in 2006.
Duration : 0:3:37
This video illustrates how companies operating in developing countries can act as positive agents of change and contribute to creating better livelihoods.
Duration : 0:7:49
http://www.salvationarmy.ca
The Salvation Army’s World Missions Office provides physical, emotional and spiritual hope and support to some of the planet’s most vulnerable people and communities.
The Canadian World Missions Office alone, The Salvation Army sponsors more than 140 projects in nine countries, including:
·Adult literacy
·Water and food projects
·Livelihood rehabilitation
·Emergency disaster relief
·HIV/AIDS education and prevention programs
The Salvation Army has one of the largest international footprints of any social service organizations in the world, providing service in 175 languages in 113 countries. From disaster relief to healthcare to literacy and education training, The Salvation Army is committed to providing hope and support to those who need it most, both at home and abroad.
Duration : 0:1:55
Most people in the world live in rural areas. Many of these people make less than $1 each day. This short video tells the story of one program that is helping rural people find a sustainable income and better care for their families.
Duration : 0:1:20
Part six of the CONCERT FOR INDIA’S ENVIRONMENT’. “We cannot expect local people, the poorest of the poor, to pay the price of conservation in our country”. (Dr Erach Bharucha)
Duration : 0:4:34
A Society Based on a Regime that Combined the Political and Religious Powers, and Divided People into Three Strata and Nine Grades Tibet before 1959 had a society of feudal serfdom. Along with the general characteristics of feudal serfdom, there were many remnants of slavery. This social system was more cruel and reactionary than serfdom in Europe in the Middle Ages. The serf-owners economic interests were protected by a political system that combined political and religious powers, ruling over the Tibetan people spiritually as well as politically. The local government of Tibet (in Tibetan, Kashag, and meaning “the institute that issues orders”) was composed of powerful and influential monks and aristocrats. It upheld a series of social, political and legal institutions that rigidly stratified society. The Thirteen Laws and The Sixteen Laws divided the Tibetan people into three strata in nine grades according to their family background and social status.
The Feudal Lords Ownership of Means of Production
The monasteries, officialdom and the aristocrats owned all the arable land and pastures as well as overwhelming majority of livestock. These means of production were granted to them by the Dalai Lama. They had the right to govern and inherit the land.
The Feudal Lords Ownership of Their Serfs
Serfs and slaves accounted for 95 percent of the Tibetan population (peasants 60%, herdsmen 20%, and lower-class monks 15%). They were owned by serf-owners, just like the means of production. They had no political rights or personal freedom. They and their children were freely given away as gifts of donations, sold or exchanged for goods. Their marriages had to be approved in advance by their manorial lords. Serfs who married out of the manorial estate had to pay ransom money to their lords. Those who could not perform corvee or went out to seek a livelihood elsewhere should pay corvee taxes to show their dependence on the lords. If a serf lost his ability to work, his thralkang field, livestock and farm tools would be those who died without issue was confiscated.
The Serfs Economic Burden
Taxes and levies in Tibetan areas included land rent, stock rent, corvee and taxes.
The main form of land rent was forced labor. In addition, there was a mixed form of land rent, which was paid in kind, forced labor and cash.
The manorial lords generally kept 70 percent of their land under their own management and rented out the rest to their serfs as thralkang land. The serf tenants of the thralkang land also had to till the land managed by the manorial lord, using their own farm animals and tools. The entire harvest on land managed by the manorial lords belonged to them alone.
The serfs had to do corvee for manorial lords and local government and pay taxes in kind and cash. Corvee duties were allotted by the local government.
There were two kinds of stock rent: paid in animal products to the manorial lords according to the original number of livestock rented from them, or in products according to the actual number of livestock.
Other taxes included land tax, corvee tax, and countless others.
The Oppression of the Serfs by Manorial Lords
In Tibet under the serfdom, not only did the local regime at various levels, set up judicial institutions, but the big monasteries, manorial lords and tribal chieftains could also judge cases and had their own private prisons.
If the serfs stood up against the manorial lords, violated the law or could not pay rent or taxes in time, the lords would punish them according to the Thirteen Laws or other laws. They used such inhuman tortures as gouging out the eyes, cutting off the feet or hands, pushing the condemned person down from cliff, drowning, beheading, etc
The Serfs Miserable life
The wealth of the society was highly concentrated in Tibet before 1959. More than 80 percent was possessed by the manorial lords and less than 20 percent belonged to the serfs, who accounted for 95 percent of the population. The masses of serfs lived in extreme poverty.
Duration : 0:8:36
Most people in the world live in rural areas. Many of these people make less than $1 each day. This short video tells the story of one program that is helping such rural people find a sustainable income and better care for their families.
Duration : 0:5:17