Partnership for Lebanon was set up six months ago by a quintet of US companies (Intel, Microsoft , Cisco, Ghafari and Occidental Petroleum) to assist Lebanese reconstruction in the wake of last year’s war with Israel and to help develop the country’s economy through public/private business partnerships.

The concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is not a new one, but the Partnership for Lebanon (PFL) is worthy of note due to its reach and the scale of its projects. It’s an ambitious undertaking, one that seeks a macroeconomic influence on the entire Lebanese economy as opposed to more usual CSR efforts that concentrate on individual developments such as a particular school, charity or fundraising event.

Last week in Lebanon, the CEOs of four of the five US protagonists in PFL convened in Beirut to deliver an update on the progress of the programme. PFL’s focus is on five areas to create the goal of economic growth:  connected communities; workforce training and education; job creation/private sector revival; information communication technology (ICT) infrastructure and relief and response.

>>  For ‘connected communities’, PFL has launched IT-based transformation projects through online community access points in villages and towns. In remote areas, the ‘WiFi’ standard suffers from a lack of range so ‘WiMax’ for wireless broadband connection is the preferred medium, with a connectivity range of up to 90km. These connected communities will use technology to deliver government and social services such as education, training and healthcare.

>>  For ‘workforce training and education’, PFL announced that it will place 500 Lebanese interns at companies and government agencies in Lebanon, the US and elsewhere over the next three years.  The internships, it is hoped, will provide the next generation of Lebanese leaders with critical skills training, preparing them to compete in the global marketplace.

>>  For ‘job creation/private sector revival’, the Partnership is working to grow Lebanon’s private sector and create jobs in six industries: technology, tourism, banking and finance, agribusiness, healthcare and manufacturing. To this end, PFL is helping to match Lebanese businesses with compatible business partners in the US to create joint ventures, and providing capital injections to promising private sector projects.

>>  For ‘ICT Infrastructure’, the Partnership is working to modernise Lebanon’s ICT infrastructure to improve the speed of Internet traffic flow and decrease connectivity costs. PFL partner Intel is installing a state-of-the-art wireless network in parts of the country to accelerate the use of computers and high-speed internet access. WiMax systems will be set up at hospitals, schools and community centres across the country. Demonstrations of classroom ‘e-learning’ with every pupil making use of their own laptop and also of ‘remote medicine’ with a consultation taking place over a broadband connection and using a couple of webcams really brought home the usefulness of the technology that PFL is helping to integrate in Lebanon.

>>  For ‘relief and response’, PFL is working with proven NGOs (UNICEF, Mercy Corps) to rebuild homes, rehabilitate schools, and expand workforce training programmes. That this six month report highlighted a good deal of progress in PFL’s aims should not come as a surprise when we see the calibre and size of the companies which make up the Partnership.

The ‘how’ of making this progress is a commitment by the individual companies to provide product. In Intel’s case hardware (processors, servers, WiMax technologies, etc.), in Microsoft’s case, software and so on. In all cases, the supply of time and expertise without charge is the motor and the absence of ‘handouts’ shows that PFL understands its subjects well. That the Lebanese are a proud, educated and capable breed is not really relevant, however, if CSR is being practiced in its purest form, although it’s good to know that that is the case. Help is what is required and wanted here, not charity.

It’s about more than that though, and as we have discussed the ‘how’, let us examine the ‘why’. When Barrett took questions from the assembled journalists, the first enquiry from the floor, predictably, was: ‘What’s in it for you?’ Barrett’s reply, to cut a long story short, was that the companies making up the Partnership were not only investing in Lebanon, they were investing in their own bottom lines. Establishing brand awareness in such an overt fashion bodes well for the constituent companies in a resurgent Lebanon – not to mention providing the same with a highly-visible footprint in the Levant – a region that is set to boom in terms of the use and implementation of ICT products and services.

There was not a hint of embarrassment about Barrett’s admission of the underlying reasons for the existence of PFL, nor should there have been. PFL deserves the plaudits it gets for such a far-reaching initiative which serves simply to underline the fact that it is possible to make money and do the right thing simultaneously. A message that more companies are,  finally, waking up to.

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