News from the UK and around the world

Development Impact For Nigeria [DIFN] needs UK based volunteers, ideally of Nigerian heritage, wanting to get into international development work or volunteer management work. If you are an undergraduate or new graduate wanting to gain valuable work experience, live in London and can spare 1 day a week volunteering for DIFN, DIFN will offer you Mentoring & support, Payment of expenses and the opportunity to take part in their Diaspora volunteer programme to Nigeria. Those interested are asked to contact admin@difn.org.uk to arrange an interview.

The School for Social Entrepreneurs (SSE) is working with Columbia Business School and scholars from Cambridge University on a social entrepreneurship program. An initiative of the Edmond de Rothschild Foundation, the Ariane de Rothschild Fellows Program: Dialogue & Social Entrepreneurship is a new program designed for social entrepreneurs with an interest in fostering a culture of mutual respect and dialogue among Jewish and Muslim communities. Delivered in partnership with Columbia Business School and Cambridge University, this 2-week program blends an innovative and action-driven social entrepreneurship program, training in cross-cultural dialogue and leadership and exposure to state-of-the-art scholarship. Acceptance to the program is by application only. Selected Fellows will be invited to the program in New York City in July 2009, inclusive of travel, lodging and some meals. www.adrfellowprogram.com.

Ashoka has announced a $15 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to support social innovation and entrepreneurship in agricultural and sustainable rural development. The foundation's grant will allow Ashoka to elect more than 90 Fellows who will spread promising innovations aimed at helping small farmers living in poor, rural communities in Sub-Saharan Africa and India move out of poverty. Ashoka's proven expertise and local and global networks — approximately 2000 social entrepreneurs in 63 countries—are supporting the world's most powerful new ideas and its leading social entrepreneurs. Through its wide-ranging, global "nominators network," Ashoka finds individuals with transformative ideas who lack financing, legal support, or the basic means for scaling their work. After completing Ashoka's rigorous global selection process, Ashoka Fellows are provided with the best intellectual and process leadership for refining and replicating their successes, and for hatching entirely new ideas. Due to these critical partnerships, the world's largest community of social entrepreneurs is taking social innovation and entrepreneurialism to new fields. Ashoka has recently been able to elect new Fellows in the areas of journalism and technology and now looks forward to bringing these transformative principles to the areas of youth, climate change, and disability.

Built to be the premier CSR outreach platform for Business Fights Poverty, the custom-built multimedia website includes videos, podcasts, the latest news and blog posts, press releases and event announcements from Business Fights Poverty's international network of members engaged in responsible business to reduce poverty. Business Fights Poverty is an international network for professionals passionate about fighting world poverty through good business. The on-line network connects practitioners and experts around the world to form a global community of pioneers pushing the boundaries of how business can fight poverty. Business Fights Poverty is using the new EMP to showcase a major new series of events in London that will explore the role of business in international development in the context of an economic downturn, in partnership with the UK Government's Department for International Development (DFID) (www.dfid.gov.uk), the Overseas Development Institute (www.odi.org.uk) and Business Action for Africa (www.businessactionforafrica.org).

Men are losing their jobs at a higher rate than women because the market for jobs typically held by women has faired much better than the market for those typically held by men. According to a report in USA Today, since December 2007, the unemployment rate for men has soared from 4.4 percent to 7.2 percent, while the rate for women has gone from 4.3 percent to 5.9 percent, according to a government report. The construction industry, where men represent 93 percent of the workers, and the manufacturing industry, where men represent 72 percent, particularly took a beating. A total of 632,000 construction jobs were lost in 2008, along with 791,000 manufacturing jobs. During the same period, two fields dominated by women--healthcare and education--added 536,000 jobs. Women are also more likely to work part time, which may decrease their risk, since part-time workers typically don't have benefits and cost employers less. Mission Residential chief economist Richard Moody estimates that 25 percent of women work part time, compared with 12 percent of men.

Fortune magazine, think tank AccountAbility and corporate responsibility consultancy Csrnetwork have published their 2008 Accountability ratings from the Fortune Global 500. The Top 10 include Vodaphone (number one), General Electric, HSBC Holdings, France Telecom, HBOS, Nokia, Electricite de France and BP.

London is set to be hit hardest by the recession, with 370,000 jobs likely to be lost in the capital by the end of 2010, according to a report. The report by the Local Government Association (LGA) predicts more than 1.7 million jobs will be lost over the next two years across the country, but warns that the impact will vary from region to region. While 7.9 per cent of jobs could be lost in London, other areas, such as the north-east (5.7 per cent) and south-west (5.1 per cent), will fare much better. According to the LGA report, From Recession to Recovery: The Local Dimension, the hardest hit industries will be construction and manufacturing, while high skilled industries should remain relatively unscathed. The LGA is calling for as many economic decisions as possible to be taken at a local level to ensure that local solutions can be found. At a summit in London yesterday organised by the association, council leaders pledged to work together to avoid job losses in the coming months and retrain people who had become unemployed. Source: PM Online

The European Parliament has approved the EU's "Blue Card" scheme to attract highly-skilled immigrants to Europe. The Blue Card is modelled on the US "Green Card" system and will allow foreigners to take jobs in EU economic sectors suffering from skill shortages. An applicant for the EU Blue Card must have found a job in the EU, and have at least five years' experience in the sector concerned or a university qualification recognised by the Member State. The applicant's contract must guarantee an income of at least 1.7 times the average gross salary in the Member State of residence, MEPs said, adding that this salary must not be lower than that of a comparable worker in the host country. It will also be possible to grant the EU Blue Card to third country nationals already legally staying in the Union under other regimes. The MEPs have, however, ruled out granting the card to asylum applicants or third country nationals admitted to the Union as seasonal workers, as the latter are covered by a specific proposal for a directive. The Blue Card will entitle its holder to family reunification within six months. His or her spouse would also be able to seek a job in the Union - and to social welfare coverage in the Member State concerned. A holder who loses his or her job should have six months to find another. MEPs have also urged Member States not actively encourage the "brain draining" of third countries through the Blue Card in sectors where these countries suffer from labour shortages, particularly in the areas of health and education.

An extra 4.5 million people will be given the right to request flexible working from their employers, despite business fears over the economy, from April 2009. Parents of children aged up to 16 will be given the right to request flexible working from their employers, despite business fears over the economy, the government has confirmed. The measures, which will enable an extra 4.5 million people to access arrangements such as part-time working or amended hours, will come into force in April. Ministers were considering delaying the proposals because of the burden they would place on business in the downturn, but they have now been confirmed as the government set out its agenda in the Queen's Speech. Elsewhere in the Queen's Speech, the government renewed its attempts to achieve gender and race equality through the equality bill. Among other provisions, the bill will ban secrecy clauses stopping employees discussing their pay. Public bodies will also have a new duty to report statistics on their diversity and progress on equal pay.

Liquidnet, the global institutional marketplace, has announced that a 143 acre (58 hectare) youth residential and education complex, funded in part through the company's Global Social Engagement (GSE) program, has opened to an inaugural class of 125 high school-aged residents. The community, named Agahozo Shalom Youth Village (ASYV), will be home to orphans primarily of the 1994 Rwandan Genocide. Liquidnet has donated USD$4.0 million in cash to the project as of 30 September 08 and, through a worldwide network of employees, untallied donations of goods and services. Liquidnet budgets one percent of its trailing revenues to fund its GSE initiatives, which are focused on conservation, social awareness and employee volunteerism. The ASYV, whose name is a hybrid of the Kinyarwandan word Agahozo "dry their tears" and the Hebrew word shalom, "live in peace," has been in development for two years. The site overlooks Lake Mugesera in Rwanda's Eastern Province and includes 32 group homes, a complete high school, science and computer laboratories, land for organic farming, a reforestation program, 800-capacity dining hall, counseling and medical facilities and recreational fields. Patterned after communities established following the Holocaust in WWII, the Village is the first to follow this model in Rwanda. The Village will be an incubator for a range of innovative development practices. Built in conjunction with the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), Liquidnet intends the Village to serve as a successful model of education and capacity building for other parts of Africa and the developing world. Future plans include the construction of a conference center, allowing others from around the world to learn from the Village's model. Liquidnet is an electronic marketplace that facilitates institutional equities trading for asset management firms worldwide.

In the United States, there are 10.1 million women-owned businesses, which provide jobs for approximately 13 million people, according to information provided during IBM's Women Speak Webcast. In addition, 1.9 million businesses are owned by women from traditionally underrepresented groups. Globally, women own one-third of all businesses, representing 29 percent of the global population. And 72 percent of women executives globally are working mothers. But one challenge women entrepreneurs face involves the very core of starting a business - financing it. "If women are looking to expand their business globally, I believe the first thing they need to do is do some market research in terms of which parts of the world would be most receptive or have a need for their products or services," says Virginia P'an, managing partner & CEO of China Pacific Partners LLC & TransCapital Group LLC. "Women business owners should be looking at identifying and establishing local strategic alliances when they are entering a new market so that they can tap into the local cultural and business nuances."

Jordan Brand, a division of Nike, Inc., has announced that through its Jordan Fundamentals Grant Program it is recognizing close to 300 educators nationwide for their outstanding achievements and contributions in the classroom. This year, the Jordan Fundamentals Grant Program will award $1 million in total grants for the 2008-2009 school year to aid teachers working in grades K-12 in underserved communities. These grants provide the resources necessary for instructional creativity and enhance curriculum development. The Jordan Fundamentals Grant Program acknowledges and provides financial support to teachers who endeavor to overcome challenges and limited resources in order to achieve excellence through instructional creativity, innovative teaching and high learning expectations for students. Since 1999, the Jordan Fundamentals program has presented more than $9 in financial aid to public secondary school teachers where at least 50 percent of the student body population is eligible for the free or reduced lunch program. A division of NIKE, Inc., Jordan Brand is a premium brand of footwear, apparel and accessories inspired by the dynamic legacy, vision and direct involvement of Michael Jordan.

The Observer has published the second version of is Good Companies Guide, which ranks UK listed companies on environmental and ethical criteria rather than size. It says that the credit crunch is resetting the business agenda, with rising unemployment and the prospect of recession replacing the 'green' debate that raged in 2007 when the first Guide was published. Ian Jones, head of responsible investment at Co-operative Asset Management, who helped to compile the Guide, says: "The financial crisis has shown that failing to look beyond bonuses can have serious consequences. Challenges like climate change and poverty require ingenuity and investment. People want companies to be part of the solution, not forever part of the problem". Scottish and Southern Energy secures first place, with 93.4 out of a possible 100, thanks to ambitious renewable energy projects like the £1.3bn wind farm at Greater Gabbard, off the coast of Suffolk. B&Q takes second place because of its work on sustainability. BT was third, followed by Mondi, Royal & Sun Alliance, Shaftsbury, Vodafone, Mouchel, Aviva and Johnson Matthey.

Calling for a stronger focus on the long-term sustainability of business, educators and administrators representing 170 business schools and other academic institutions from 43 countries have reaffirmed their commitment to the Principles for Responsible Management Education, a UN-backed initiative launched in 2007 to mainstream corporate responsibility in curriculum development, research and advocacy. The more than 260 academic leaders, as well as representatives of business, civil society and the United Nations, gathered at UN Headquarters in New York on 4-5 December for the First Global Forum for Responsible Management Education, which was hosted by the United Nations Global Compact in collaboration with the Research Center on the Global Compact at the Neil D. Levin Graduate Institute of International Relations and Commerce. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, addressed the closing plenary of the Forum, encouraging management educators to work together to "ensure that management science is rooted in the concepts of sustainability and corporate citizenship." Launched in 2007, the Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) provide framework for academic institutions to advance corporate social responsibility through the incorporation of universal values into curricula and research.

Entrepreneurs Foundation has launched its new open source website to provide tools and resources to companies desiring to develop or enhance a corporate philanthropy or community involvement program. Until now there hasn't been a one-stop-shop for corporate representatives to find information and resources focused on these programs. The new website, www.efbayarea.org, was developed by Entrepreneurs Foundation and based on the organization's ten years of experience working with over 700 companies to build corporate philanthropic and community involvement programs. The Resources and Tools section of the website guides companies through Entrepreneurs Foundation's Spectrum of Community Engagement; a six-part planning and measurement process that helps companies build comprehensive community and philanthropic programs. The six sections of the spectrum address corporate giving, employee giving, employee volunteerism, corporate infrastructure, sustainable business practices and marketing. Within each section of the Spectrum, visitors to www.efbayarea.org can find information, examples and links to other resources that will enable them to build stronger and more meaningful corporate philanthropic and community benefit programs. In addition to www.efbayarea.org's open source available resources, Entrepreneurs Foundation also hosts a social network to connect individuals interested in corporate philanthropy and corporate community involvement.

The MasterCard Foundation and Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA) has announced a $5 million program to create inclusive financial services and education for youth in Morocco and Egypt. This five-year program, called Youth Invest, will enable microfinance institutions to develop and test innovative products, reaching approximately 50,000 people between the ages of 15 and 24, especially those living in rural areas. Until recently, microfinance institutions have not focused on poor youth, in part due to the perception of risks associated with serving young people who may lack collateral or work experience. MEDA will partner with leading microfinance institutions in both countries to study the needs of employed as well as unemployed youth, and to design appropriate financial products, such as savings for education or loans to start a small business. The program will also provide youth-specific services, including financial and business-related training to develop youth entrepreneurship skills. Youth Invest will enable MEDA to document findings and build a business case encouraging microfinance institutions in other countries to view youth as an attractive client population.

With the landscape remaining tougher than ever for small businesses, despite the recent package of measures announced by the Chancellor, the latest research from Bibby Financial Services has found that having a supportive spouse can make all the difference when it comes to business success or failure. The research found that over a third (38%) of business owners’ partners believe that working weekends is par for the course when your other half is running their own business, with 44 per cent of spouses stating that their partner being late home is part and parcel of life with an entrepreneur. As well as understanding the sacrifices their partners have to make to keep their business healthy in one of the toughest economic climates for over a decade, these understanding spouses are also working on an unpaid basis to ensure the success of their partners business. In fact, these 'unseen heroes' contribute some £72 billion per year to the UK economy by helping out their partner, equating to over 230 million unpaid hours every month. In spite of entrepreneurs’ best efforts however, their other halves do not always agree on what is deemed an acceptable sacrifice in the name of business. More than half (52%) of business owners believe it is appropriate to spend less time with friends and family when the business demands it, compared with just 18 per cent of spouses. In addition, almost half (49%) claim spending less time with their partner is acceptable while only 14 per cent of spouses agree. While spouses remain committed to supporting their partner in achieving their business goals, almost a quarter (24%) report that arguments are caused by their other halves thinking about work too much, and almost a third (29%) have fallen out with their partner due to the lack of help with chores around the home.

More than 75 percent of women ages 18-29 say President-elect Barack Obama should make civil rights and racial justice top priorities, according to a survey by the YWCA. Only slightly more than half of women between the ages of 30 and 70 said the same, The Associated Press reports. The survey also found that half of Generation Y women expect discrimination based on ethnicity or religion to be a "major obstacle" for them, compared to only 31 percent of older women. The telephone survey, conducted two days before the 2008 election by Princeton Survey Research Associates International, gathered responses from 1,000 women ages 18-70. Not surprisingly, an overwhelming 92 percent majority of women of all ages, felt Obama's very first priority should be solving the current financial crisis, according to the AP. Source: The Washington Post

Economists are predicting that London and the south-east will lose 650,000 jobs by the time the recession has run its course in 2010. The downturn is claiming hundreds of jobs every day as a wave of redundancies that started in the City spreads across virtually all sectors. Latest unemployment figures show almost 300,000 people are out of work in the capital- a rate of 7.4 per cent, the second highest unemployment rate in the country. Nationally the unemployment figure is likely to hit two million by Christmas and three million before the recession ends. The big rises in unemployment tend to come some months after the start of a downturn as employers wait to see if it is a temporary. Ben Read of the Centre for Economics and Business Research says that: "With unemployment being a lagging variable we can expect to see further sharp increases over coming months, particularly given that the worst of the financial crisis has only been seen in the last two months". The shake-out appears to be accelerating and has spread from finance and property to sectors such as transport, manufacturing, leisure, retail and law. Media and communications is also coming under pressure. Several newspaper groups have already announced redundancies.

Britain is on the verge of a brain drain, according to a new survey. The survey, from IT and technical recruiter Harvey Nash, shows that 26% of employers are already experiencing the effects of increased UK skilled emigration, with over a third (33%) of respondents finding it difficult to recruit skilled UK candidates and 40% concerned about their ability to retain skilled staff. One in three respondents said that greater job satisfaction and improved career prospects are the most important elements to retaining skilled staff, followed closely by salary (29%), and work/life balance (25%). Source: Recruitment Matters

The Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics (SCCE) and the Health Care Compliance Association (HCCA) has announced that the associations are making their Social Network sites available to all compliance and ethics professionals beginning December 4, 2008. Previously, to access the social network sites and participate in the online discussions, compliance and ethics professionals had to be members of either the SCCE or HCCA. Opening up to the entire ethics and compliance community at no cost will not only allow new people to participate, but also help existing members by providing them with access to the wisdom of a larger pool of compliance and ethics professionals. The Compliance and Ethics Social Network was established by SCCE and HCCA this past fall. More than 500 compliance and ethics professionals have already joined in. Over 30 separate groups have developed online discussions on topics including HIPAA, Social Responsibility, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and business ethics. These sites will enable users to connect with others in the profession year round. The sites are designed to make it easy for users to find other ethics and compliance professionals who share the same challenges, whether it's dealing with the complexities of FCPA or a general ethics issue.

Five new pilot schemes aiming to use the expertise of further education colleges to improve business competitiveness have been announced by the Government. The pathfinder projects, backed by £2.5 million funding from the Further Education Specialisation and Innovation Fund, will help to build links between academia and industry to help firms across the UK develop new products and expand into new markets. The five successful pilots include the City of Bristol College which will lead a consortium called the South West Composites Gateway, which will help the region's aerospace and defence industries to develop world-class innovation in composites design, manufacture and repair. The pilots will play a vital role in showing how FE can boost the performance of local firms, helping them stay competitive in tough times, while helping shape a new and exciting agenda for the entire further education sector.

Census data suggests that a larger percentage of Black children are being raised by two parents than at any time since the 1980s, reports The New York Times. The new data shows that almost 40 percent of Black children in the United States are being raised by two parents. In 1980, 42 percent of Black children lived with two parents, down from 59 percent in 1970. Over the next 24 years, the trend continued downward to 38 percent in 1990 and 35 percent in 2004. In 2007, the latest year for which statistics are available, the percentage jumped to 39.5 percent. The Census Bureau attributes some of the increase to a change in how two-parent families are defined. In 2007, the Bureau began to identify parents as any man and woman living together, regardless of whether they were married or the biological parents of the child. Experts said that other reasons for the trend are the growing proportion of immigrants among the country's Black population and the emerging Black middle class.

The Public Scholars in Africana Studies (formerly the African American and African Diaspora Studies) at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) cordially invite scholars to submit paper proposals for the 1st Annual 2009 Public Scholars in Africana Studies Conference. Our theme for the conference is "Rethinking Economic Development in the Context of Globalization." In the last few decades, the world community has witnessed a tremendous intensification of globalization processes and its' attendant impacts on the political, economic, social, and cultural realms of society. Moreover, the economic gap between countries of the North and the South has widened considerably, even as new upcoming economic superpowers such as China and India are now playing more important roles in the economic arena. These effects are expected to intensify in the coming years as a result of increasing international trade, the increase in the outsourcing of jobs from the North to the South, technological advances, global warming, and the widening digital divide. The main objectives of the conference are to assess the multifaceted impacts that globalization has had on various countries of the World and to interrogate both the theoretical and empirical aspects of entrepreneurship and economic development in the 21st century in the context of globalization. The audience for the conference will include international scholars from various parts of the world. Possible paper topics are numerous and include assessing the Impact of Globalization and Reexamining The Impacts of Outsourcing of Jobs in the 21st Century Economy. The deadline for the submission of paper topics is March 31, 2009. Send all abstracts, registration fees, and relevant materials to Conference Convener: Chief Dr. Mrs. Bessie House-Soremekun. Email: beshouse@iupui.edu

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has launched a business payment support service which allows struggling firms to defer their business tax bills. SMEs finding it difficult to pay income tax, VAT, corporation tax and National Insurance contributions can get in contact with HMRC to arrange an affordable payment timetable, allowing them to make payments over a longer period. Where a deferment has been made, HMRC will not apply any late payment surcharges, although interest will be charged on outstanding amounts. Because HMRC rates of interest are generally lower than rates offered by many high-street banks, tax experts are predicting that there will be a rush to defer payment from firms suffering cashflow problems. According to HMRC, £3 billion in tax could be deferred over the next year. Interest will be charged at 5.5 per cent on outstanding National Insurance, income tax, capital gains tax and stamp duty and at 4.25 per cent on corporation tax. For more information about the Business Payment Support Service, visit the HMRC website.

After years of bemoaning the decline of a literary culture in the United States, the National Endowment for the Arts says in a report that it now believes a quarter-century of precipitous decline in fiction reading has reversed. The report, "Reading on the Rise: A New Chapter in American Literacy," being released Monday, is based on data from "The Survey of Public Participation in the Arts" conducted by the United States Census Bureau in 2008. Among its chief findings is that for the first time since 1982, when the bureau began collecting such data, the proportion of adults 18 and older who said they had read at least one novel, short story, poem or play in the previous 12 months has risen. The news comes as the publishing industry struggles with declining sales amid a generally difficult economy. The proportion of adults reading some kind of so-called literary work — just over half — is still not as high as it was in 1982 or 1992, and the proportion of adults reading poetry and drama continued to decline. Nevertheless the proportion of overall literary reading increased among virtually all age groups, ethnic and demographic categories since 2002. It increased most dramatically among 18-to-24-year-olds, who had previously shown the most significant declines.

The J.P. Morgan Spring Week is a truly comprehensive overview of investment banking. As the original Spring Week programme in our industry, we have refined what really works and what students want most, so you can expect insights into the different sides of our business. You’ll meet other students who are interested in the industry, be introduced to Analysts and senior members of the team, and take part in work shadowing, interactive presentations and case studies. J.P. Morgan Spring Week is open to students across Europe, on track for a 2:1 degree in any discipline, who graduate in 2011. Closing date for applications is 8 February 2009. www.jpmorgan.com/springweek.