 |
|
 |
In
this issue
Musharaf Hai ( LEAD Board Member) gets Kamyab Pakistan Award
The philanthropic contribution of the country's corporate sector can be termed humble keeping in view the massive illiteracy and social deprivation prevailing in Pakistan, said Musharraf Hai Chairman Unilever Pakistan.
Ms Hai was speaking at a programme on Friday organised by the Jang Group to honour her and present her with the citation of "Kamyab Pakistan." In her speech on the occasion, Musharraf Hai said that although her company had substantially funded the uplift and betterment of schools, drinking water facilities and health projects in far-off areas like Rahim Yar Khan and Tharparkar, this social welfare contribution could be only be considered humble owing to its limited scope.
Friday's event was the second such presentation of the Kamyab Pakistan series, which is an initiative to honour and celebrate achievements of outstanding Pakistanis in different spheres of national life. The first citation was awarded to Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz at a programme held at the Sindh Governor House on May 21.
Ms Hai said she had ensured that her company's business operations had always remained connected with society as, "without caring for the needs and self-esteem of its consumers, no business could be successful."
She said marketing surveys had showed that every second, six hundred and fifty persons sip Unilever-brand tea and fifteen hundred people wash hands from soaps manufactured by her company. With such rapid and massive consumption of its products, the company has always kept in mind the welfare and well being of its consumers.
Ms Hai gave the example of the mass-contact campaign launched by one of the Unilever's soap brands under which children in 20 towns visited during last six months had been inculcated the habit of washing their hands regularly.
She said that the campaign for promoting washing hands with soap would thwart problems like diarrhoea, which is considered as the most fatal disease among children of up to five-years of age.
Musharraf Hai said that she had always believed in teamwork and collective effort in an organisation like hers, as no individual could be bigger than the organisation. "A brilliant team always produces brilliant results and if we have brilliant people around, organisations will keep moving on the right track despite some mistakes of individuals," she said.
She said that during her four-year tenure as head of Unilever Pakistan, she had committed mistakes in day-to-day company operations but the presence of sincere and committed team mates around her had always helped in prompt rectification of these mistakes.The Unilever chairman also said that she had never felt lonely and isolated in such a senior position as she always enjoyed the fullest support, cooperation and confidence of her colleagues and subordinates.
Asked whether she attained her position because of her gender or merit, she said that the company believed in merit above all else even though it also supports women participation.
"I always believe in keeping in touch with my employees in every layer of the company and whenever I talk with a technician or a supervisor on the production line, I feel most enthusiastic and proud," she said.
The Unilever chairman said that her company had always believed in talent, calibre and aptitude of the youth and this belief was amply reflected in Unilever's recruitment policies.
She said her company policies had demonstrated well that youth would deliver tremendously if they were vested with authority and power and under the same spirit, Unilever had recently organised a recruitment fair at the Karachi Expo Centre, which attracted 3500 students from 24 campuses. "Unilever has been carrying on with the tradition of offering internships in substantial numbers to students of various universities every year," she said.
To a question, Musharraf Hai said that she would like to continue with her position in Pakistan for some more years as she had sensed great potential and opportunities for exploration and growth in the country.
She informed that her company had a very enviable record and that Lipton and Brooke Bond tea were the first tea brands introduced in the country as far back as 1948 and Lux soap in 1953, which she feels, is a source of pride and honour for the Unilever Company. Dalda was the first edible oil introduced in 1953 and this longevity and continuity is something to feel proud of, she added.
She said that she has always encouraged women to work in Pakistani society and had achieved this aim "up to a great extent." Today more than 70 per cent of factory floor workers of her company's ground shop in a conservative area like Rahim Yar Khan consist of females. She appreciated the will and courage of such women and wants more of them to come forward and participate in the country's welfare.
Name: Naseer Memon
1. How did LDP help you grow professionally?
I graduated LDP in 2001 and my session started in 1999. If I look at it in the way that era before Associate training and era after associates training than I can say it was a long jump for me in terms of learning and exposure. If I mark few things which helped me grow professionally then I can say that my personal confidence and assurance about myself was one major factor which was enhanced during these trainings by chairing different sessions and talking infront of people and making them understand what you are saying on a peer level as in university I was delivering lectures but that was always a student teacher relationship and one way communication as there used to be very minimum questions coming from students.
Before joining Training I had never used emails and I didn’t know how to use them but after these trainings as I had to join email conferences so I got used to of communicating on Emails which has become a need these days. Also there are very small things like putting a comment in MS Word I didn’t know how to do it and I didn’t know if it existed but when I got a report from LP I saw a comment there and I was inquisitive about how its been put there and learnt it. There are plenty of small instances where LEAD helped me grow. If I start talking about them then it would take me hours and hours before I finish this interview.
2. Briefly write about the Leadership skills you were able to practice (after getting LDP training give an example)
I used to have a set frame of mind about things and used to look at those with unilateral mind set catering to my interest. I was not able to see other perspective. Associate training helped me broaden my vision. I was able to see other perspectives as well along with my own narrow vision e.g. if I take water issue I am living towards the tail of the country and I always used to think that we always suffer and we are made to suffer by the people who are living towards the mainstream. But due to getting the vision of knowing other perspectives as well I went and tried to understand the complexity of the system and that made me realize that only one or two factors cannot effect water scarcity but there are far more complexities which is making water a problematic issue towards the tail of the country and no one is targeting me but the system has too many faults in itself to function properly. Similarly in other instances I tried to forget my biases and tried to look at the systems and its complexities and targeting specific problems and the factors affecting it and not just a word of mouth which used to generalize the whole situation.
Another thing which was incarnated in me was that I developed tolerance for issues which used to sound totally ridiculous to me before.
3. Did it help to sensitize you on environmental issues. (what were your previous level of sensitization and how much LDP contributed towards better sensitization.)
To be very honest I had no sensitization before Associate training programs. I never thought environment was a part of life. But after getting Leaderships trainings environment became an integral part of every issue. During my career as an assistant professor I had no outlet where I could get sensitization on environmental issues. But after attending Leadership trainings I started observing environment as a must factor for my analysis of different issues.
4. State you Job improvement (promotions, better job in some other organization)
I was working in Hyderabad at Mehran university as an Assistant professor and my first job shift was through a fellows contact Mr. Usman Qazi in UNDP working in Quetta at that time. I was also in Quetta to attend a Associate training session when he identified that there is an opportunity in Sindh with UNDP where I can fit and he helped me submit my CV. This was the step through which I entered the process of getting selected though after that I was selected on merit but being in a university I would have never known that this job opening has come up which suits my interests and qualification.
Similarly after this job when I applied in Premier Kuvpec two things played important role, one was that I had experience with UNDP and secondly that I was a LEAD Fellow. The formal final reference which they contacted was Mr. Ali Tauqeer Sheikh in LP who gave a very strong reference and I was able to get that job. I was working with Basit Khan there, I didn’t know him before joining but right after joining we were able to click because we both were LEAD Fellows and had an association.
When I was applying for WWF for the post of Regional Head Sindh and Balochistan Basit khan helped me a lot in how to make CV which features to highlight as selling points in WWF. And eventually Basit was contacted to give a reference and he gave a very strong reference though because of my work but my association with him as a LEAD fellow also played a great role.
5. Has your experience with LEAD allowed you as an individual to make a greater contribution to sustainable development?
I think first of all anyone who can contribute to SD is by knowing the essence of SD and internalizing it in your mind. After getting Associate trainings every job I took was by keeping in view that I am contributing towards the community and society. I was a part of almost 10 EIA while I was working with PKP. When PKP made their CSR procedures in Pakistan I was a part of that team as well. Similarly if I take WWF job its main agenda was SD so I was working for that. But I think no job is out of the paradigm of sustainable development if you want to steer it towards SD. Like when I was in university all the information I got in Trainings I was disseminating them to 100 students of my class daily.
6. How have you shared what you learned from LEAD with colleagues in your place of work?
When I was in university all the information I got in Trainings I was disseminating them to 100 students of my class daily as my subjects were of social development issues. I used to write articles in newspapers about sustainable development.
7. Briefly state one of your achievements after getting LEAD training.
In PKP every year they used to give an award to one of its best employees. In the history of PKP I was the first employee who got this award in the first year of his services to PKP.
I wrote an article on water resource controversy in Dawn, at that time the Prime Minister Ms. Benazir Bhutto read it and she formed a letter for World Bank saying that Log dams don’t suit our country environmentally and you being a responsible organization please don’t fund such projects. She built up all her arguments by reading my article. She contacted me through email and gave my contact to World Bank for further discussion on the said issue.
8. Do you think LDP helped you grow personally / emotionally?
I became very rational. Tolerance level was improved. I had no prior training or exposure to such state which I got after LEAD trainings.
Lead Network:
1. How many times per month, on average, are you in touch (by phone, email, fax) with:
When ever I go to karachi I make it a point to meet at least 2 to 3 fellows every time.
2. Please describe the ways in which you have collaborated with other LEAD Fellows.
When I was working with WWF I made a committee in which I included Nasir Panhwar and in this way we were able to interact with IUCN.
3. Does the network help you in professional tasks (if yes give an example)?
And it’s a strength of LP that makes its fellows meet with each other without having any structure. And I know that whenever I would have to go to Balochistan for any project I will tap all my fellows there and would be in contact.
4. Do you attend Lead Club meetings?
When I was in hyderabad we started Hyderabad club with Altaf Abro. But after I left hyderabad it was very difficult for me to attend meetings in Karachi. First of all the destinations in Karachi are so far that to assemble one meeting you have to go through a lot of hassle. When the travel time is more then an hour then people don’t think it feasible to attend such meetings where there isn’t much to discuss and leaving behind their work priorities.
People should volunteer and relate their work activities with LEAD club activities. e.g. when I was in WWF I arranged a trip to Keti Bandar for C10 associates as a part of my own organizational goal to make alliances so people of the club should start relating their work with LEAD Club activities.
The focal person should be very strong person with communication skills and should be able to gather people. The second thing which should be done is that the clubs should include other then LEAD Fellows in their members list and then this forum should be open for everyone to attend and give their inputs.
Suggestions:
1. What is your vision about LEAD Pakistan?
I feel LP has detracted from its original vision. Though we can have different interpretations but I used to think LEAD was the only organization working to create leaders and creating leaders is a very sensitive work. LEAD stand point on being radical and non controversial has changed LEAD has to compromise 10 times a day on its vision and stance due to donor demands.
2. Do you think the All cohorts listserv and cohorts listserv provide you with any good information?
I think the information which is shared is very useful. I used to read it regularly but now I don’t get time to read mails daily. Also it used to be that daily we used to get a lot of emails but now somehow there isn’t much going on the email front.
3. How can we make the listserv more effective to your use?
Should send daily information on Listserv with a clear subject line, whoever wants to read it can read it and who doesn’t want to read it they can delete it.
4. Describe LEAD Pakistan in one sentence
LEAD is a pioneer institute to promote Leadership for sustainable development.
Mr. Tahir Rasheed (Fellow Cohort 5) has joined Sustainable Use Specialist Group-central Asia (SUSG-CA) as National Project Manager of Habitat and Species Project. He joined this organization with the sense of being a part of a noble cause by striving for the conservation and protection of the natural resources of the country in general and province in particular.
Previously he was associated with WWF-P for the past 9 years and had long associations with sustainable development agenda and where his responsibilities included organizing and conducting training events for staff and target groups, preparation of proposals and curricula, implementation of program packages, monitoring and evaluation of performed activities and mobilization of communities at the grassroots level. Mr. Rasheed also cooperates with other agencies and the Pakistani government to further the cause of rural development.
Congratulations on behalf of LEAD Pakistan to Mr. Rasheed for getting this new job.
The enthusiasm and conviction in Kaz Bano to let her daughter study and stand besides her sons with equal power and knowledge was really amazing. She convinced her husband to let her daughter study living in rural Sind area where girl education is not supported. When she saw the need that there are other girls who want to study as well but cant go to school because of co-education classes she offered her own house room. She is not very well off and has a very small house but she had a big heart. When I asked her if she gets any problems from the community she is living in she said yes the men come to my husband and tell him that you must have a very low self esteem that you have opened this school in your house and though still fighting with the village men still her husband sometimes thinks of closing it down, or will not let her daughter go to school once the school shifts to its building. Kaz Bano is adamant on getting her daughter educated and she says she will fight for it till the time she is alive. Education would mean so much to some people who couldn’t access it is very much obvious in this case. But looking at Kaz Bano and her conviction one gets the idea that there is so much stored in the females of our country we just need to explore it out and should utilize it at their level of living. Her conviction doesn’t end there, she herself wanted to study but due to born in an unfortunate family she was never given a chance. Now she is studying with her daughter.
Report by: Muhammad Shehzad
Pakistan has lost an opportunity of claiming compensation worth £172m ($291m) for the damage its biodiversity suffered due to the Tasman Spirit oil spill that took place at its shores on July 27, 2003, says a report—The Tasman Spirit Oil Spill in Retrospect: Salvaging Lessons from the Disaster—by LEAD Pakistan, a network of individuals and institutions committed to sustainable development.
‘Pakistan has not ratified the international compensation conventions for oil pollution damage, i.e. the 1992 Protocol to the International Convention on Civil Liability (CLC) for Oil Pollution Damage and the 1992 Protocol to the International Convention on the Establishment of an International Fund for Compensation for Oil Pollution Damage. Had Pakistan ratified these conventions, it would have received approximately £172m ($291m) after the Tasman Spirit spill to meet costs for cleanup operations and measures to prevent or minimize pollution damage as well as for private bodies or individuals who suffered damage as a result of the pollution. The flag of the tanker and the ownership of the oil would not have affected the right to compensation,’ says the report.
The report that is a volunteer work has been authored by a task force of seven LEAD Fellows that come from different sectors—Dr Javaid Afzal, an environment specialist with the World Bank; Dr Iqbal Ch, acting head of HEJ Research Institute of Chemistry at Karachi University; Shiraz Manzoor Haider, a civil servant with Pakistan Audit and Account Services; Basit Khan, an environment & development specialist; Shahid Lutfi, an environmental engineer with the EPA, Sindh; Naseer Memon, a development professional; and Amjad Shaikh, senior environmental engineer with BP Pakistan Exploration & Production Inc.
‘Since Pakistan did not ratify the abovementioned conventions, therefore, in seeking redressal for the Tasman Spirit oil spill, it may have to rely on broader international laws, which it has ratified but which do not cater specifically to compensation issues. In this case, there will be considerable uncertainty about the legal, operational and financial responsibilities of the main parties involved as well as the amount of compensation that will be gained for cleanup and restoration,’ says Basit Khan, one of the authors. ‘The other option for Pakistan is to rely on specific domestic legislation for compensating those affected by oil spills from tankers in national territory,’ adds Basit Khan.
Pakistan could have avoided the spill had it shown the leadership to enforce the Multilateral Environmental Agreements [MEAs] that apply to the oil discharges and spills outlining the rights and obligations of member countries—namely—MEAs on Governance of Oceans; MEAs on Regulation and Prevention of Pollution; MEAs on Preparedness and Responses; MEAs on Compensation; MEAs for South Asia and other international agreements and regulations. The report recommends that Pakistan should ratify the 1992 CLC and 1992 Fund Convention. These two conventions provide a straightforward mechanism whereby the costs of cleanup and pollution damage can be recovered on strict liability basis from the individual tanker owner, the Protection and Indemnity (P&I) Club involved in the incident, and the 1992 Fund, so long as the cleanup measures taken in response to the incident and the associated costs are reasonable and the claims for compensation are well presented. Better late than never!
There was an urgent need for a centralized environmental training programme that offers comprehensive and effective training to strategically selected groups from all over the country. Therefore the Environmental Pollution Unit (EPU) of WWF-Pakistan and the Leadership Development Program (LDP) of LEAD Pakistan undertook a three-year Programme for Environmental Research and Training (PERT) from 2002 - 2005.
For Phase-I, WWF-P under took 19 trainings. For Phase-II, WWF-P outsourced PERT trainings to LEAD Pakistan and CPI , LEAD Pakistan conducted 15 trainings and CPI conducted 6 trainings
The aim was to facilitate Pakistan’s industries, government agencies, NGOs, and donor agencies in implementing environmental laws, regulations, and standards. The programme meant to serve as a research baseline platform for national and multinational organizations, as well as civic and environmental protection agencies.
New website for PERT trainings is uploaded for more information you can visit www.pert-pak.org
Events Dates Venue ISO 14001 & SA 8000 training
Sept 15-16
LEAD House
Team Building Excercises
Sept 18-20
Abbottabad
Lahore LEAD Club Meeting
Sept 19
Lahore
Editor : Samra Hanif
Layout By : Imran Butt
Fellows and Associates can send us details of their job achievements, job alterations or any other news they wish to share with the LEAD Family. All contributions will be an asset to the bulletin. Write to us at shanif@lead.org.pk
For up-to-date information on LEAD Pakistan activities and services please visit our website www.lead .org.pk
© LEAD Pakistan 2005