Humanitarian Assistance and Corporate Social …

1 Humanitarian Assistance and Corporate Social ResponsibilityLothar RiethThis chapter addresses the potential for non- commercial business engagement in humani-tarian Assistance , with a particular focus on disaster relief. With only a few exceptions, thepotential for Corporate contribution to disaster relief operations has previously not been fullyrealized. There have only been a few partnership projects between corporations and the UN orcorporations and civil society organizations. In addition, major donors such as the EU andnational implementing agencies have been quite hesitant and disinterested in cooperating withbusiness actors in the aftermath of natural examination of different types of non- commercial business engagement in the past andcorresponding business motivations constitutes the starting point for the analysis.

2 Motivationsand conditions under which businesses engage in natural disaster response are identified. Inconjunction with current donor policies, the potential of non- commercial business engage-ment and its major obstacles are discussed. General and detailed policy recommendations areformulated. Owing to financial constraints this chapter is based primarily on desk research. Secondarysources, grey materials and interviews were used to gather information as field visits were notpossible. Nevertheless, a thorough examination of the issues at hand was possible and theresults of this study show that business contributions to disaster relief can constitute functionalsupplements to disaster recovery operations, but in the short and mid- term perspective willonly complement, not replace, public sector and civil society efforts.

3 The analysis underlinestwo aspects: by definition business contributions, be they commercial or non- commercial, donot fully comply with the fundamental Humanitarian principles of impartiality, independenceand humanity. Yet, if ground rules for non- commercial business engagement can be estab-lished, then the potential contribution of business can be realized in natural disaster properly crafted, partnerships with Corporate actors can significantly contribute to improvedhumanitarian aid operations on the ground by providing additional financial and non- financialresources, thus making Humanitarian aid more effective and, at times, more efficient.

4 History of Disaster Response An OverviewOn the whole, states in western Europe, North America and most other OECD countriescope very well with the effects of medium- sized natural disasters. Local institutions, such asfire brigades, police, military, federal agencies for technical relief, the Red Cross and other civilsociety organizations, are able to provide sufficient Humanitarian Assistance such that state gov-ernments are not forced to call for international Assistance . In the cases of Hurricane Lothar inChapter 16293western Europe in 1999, the Oder river flood in Poland and Germany in 1997, or the heatwave in France in 2003, state agencies in cooperation with other national actors were more orless able to manage the major consequences of natural disasters.

5 Yet non- OECD countries,such as those in regions with low or uneven levels of development, are often located in disaster- prone regions and are more often affected by natural to governance gaps, state agencies in non- OECD countries have had more problemsproviding public goods in the aftermath of natural destruction. Examples include the tsunamiin southeast Asia in 2004, Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar in 2008 and the earthquake in Sichuan,China in 2008. Yet even OECD countries have become more dependent on external assistanceto overcome the consequences of natural disasters, as demonstrated by Hurricane Katrina in2005 in the Gulf of Mexico.

6 External Assistance in this and other cases was not been limited tostate actors and civil society organizations; business actors have increasingly become involvedin disaster relief addition, climate change has caused the magnitude, sheer number, scale and quantity ofnatural disasters to increase over a result of governance gaps and resource deficiencies, governments, even when workingwith civil society organizations, have at times been unable to provide adequate remedies and294 Raising the Bar1 See: , last accessed November15, 1. Number of Natural Disasters 1975 20061975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 200850045040035030025020015010050 Number of disasters reportedSource: necessary relief functions.

7 In the past decade, business actors have become increas-ingly important in international politics, utilizing material and organizational resources to takeon Corporate responsibility and contribute to the production of public a conse-quence, business actors have become more active in Humanitarian relief operations and haverecently made significant contributions. So far, there is little systematic knowledge among practitioners or academics as to whetherand under what conditions business can make significant contributions to Humanitarian chapter attempts to shed some light on various facets of non- commercial busi-ness engagement in disaster response operations.

8 It starts by assuming there is potential forphilanthropic business engagement in Humanitarian Assistance that business actors do notengage in and contribute to disaster relief efforts solely with a short- term aim to generate rev-enues or the second section, an overview of four natural disasters is presented. Based on in- depthbusiness illustrations focusing on companies that display similarities and differences across var-ious industries (Deutsche Post World Net/Germany from the logistics sector; Coca- Cola/ the beverage sector; from the software sector),5three types of businessengagement are introduced: donations, volunteering and expertise.

9 Motivations for business actors to engage in disaster relief operations are described in thethird section, looking at societal, outward and inward dimensions. Then, current donor poli-cies on business engagement from major donors, such as Germany, the , and the UK, arepresented. In the fifth section, the major aspects of contention of non- commercial businessengagement in Humanitarian relief are discussed, followed by a number of concrete policy of Non- Commercial business Engagement in Natural DisastersTo illustrate recent Corporate contributions in natural disaster relief efforts, this section pro-vides an overview of non- commercial business engagement methods in natural disasters.

10 Fourdifferent natural disasters Tsunami 2004, Hurricane Katrina 2005, Cyclone Nargis 2008,Earthquake Sichuan 2008 were examined to analyze public and private actor contributions toHumanitarian Assistance and Corporate Social responsibility 2953M. Edwards and S. Zadek, Governing the Provision of Global Public Goods: The Role and Legitimacy of Nonstate Actors; I. Kauland United Nations Development Program,Providing Global Public Goods: Managing Globalization(New York: Oxford Uni-versity Press, 2003), pp. 200 papers on corporations and their contributions to disaster relief efforts are rare: There is a literature review in and G.