June 25, 2008 at 6:14 pm

Hey Erin -

I am curious if this is completely trustworthy. I see in the About section that this is partly supported by Nike Foundation. They have had a rough go at things for sometime dealing with labor issues and tendencies. What do you think?

Thanks

britt

June 25, 2008 at 8:31 pm

Good question, Brittany. Thanks for noticing that. Nike has not been historically known as being a fair player economically with workers in the “developing” world. I would also be a bit concerned.

All the Best, debbie
http://www.mpwn-uganda.org

June 26, 2008 at 1:48 am

I disagree Britt and Debbie. I do believe that every girl has the potential to make a positive difference in her own life, her community, the world and over all humanity. Not knocking guys at all but as the topic is girls, females prefer to dissect a situation by discussing it and then act on it and more often than not in a proactive and productive manner that betters the lives around her and seondly, her own. Women look at the big picture, the long term picture -as they are thinking of their families. That is what we need more of-proactivity and long term solutions that help and not hender the over all betterment of the world community. Go girls of all ages around the world.

June 26, 2008 at 6:42 am

Claire,

With all due respect, I don’t think you understood the question that was raised in our minds. It’s whether or not our movement to end AIDS and extreme poverty wants to associate itself, no matter how slightly with corporations who have a LONG TIME ASSOCIATION WITH CHILD LABOR EXPLOITATION (including young girls) in their factories.

This video seems ironic at best from Nike – and disingenuous at worst. We were simply raising a question in the ONE Blog about corporate responsibility to live up to the media splash that it wants to make like this video.

I really don’t see how anyone in our movement could disagree in raising these questions.

As far as supporting the rights of women (including young girls) toward achieving economic self-sufficiency in the “developing” world, please check out the website under my name, Claire.

You’ll see that that is EXACTLY what I am a part of doing in Uganda – albeit on a smaller scale. At least I don’t have a history of exploiting children’s labor for my profit.

Have a beautiful day, my friends. Please don’t let it get away!

ALWAYS FOREVER, ONE – debbie
http://www.mpwn-uganda.org

June 26, 2008 at 3:20 pm

Hi Britt,

Great question. NIKE Inc did make some appalling mistakes regarding labor practices and environmental standards in the past. That said, there is a new wave of social responsibility flowing through Corporate America, of which NIKE is a part of, and it should be commended. NIKE Inc started the Nike Foundation in 2004. The Nike Foundation’s mission is to invest in adolescent girls living in poverty and bring about change. The Girl Effect is supported by both the Nike Foundation and the NoVO Foundation which was started by Peter and Jennifer Buffet and funded by Peter’s father, Warren Buffet. Together, NoVo and the Nike Foundation are bringing attention the plight of girls in developing countries, and investing in effective programs that are making a difference. So, I’d trust it.

Erin

July 2, 2008 at 1:35 am

Debbie, please don’t discredit the wonderful work that the Nike Foundation is doing as regards adolescent girls in the developing world. If you had researched it a little bit further, you would have understood that the ONE campaign should want to post this link. Accusing the Nike Foundation of being disingenuous with its actions without current research to support your claims is itself irresponsible itself.

One has only to look at what they have actually done in order to understand that they are serious about their commitment to the cause. As Erin wrote above, along with the NoVo Foundation, Nike Foundation has committed $100 million dollars with them to this project.

They also funded, along with the United Nations Foundation, the Girls Countreport, researched, written, and published by scholars from the Center for Global Development, Population Council, International Center for Research on Women, and American University. I’d encourage you to have a look so you can see the report out of which The Girl Effect campaign sprung, so you can see that it’s not just a public image ploy.

Here’s the link:

http://www.cgdev.org/content/publications/detail/15154

Enjoy!

July 2, 2008 at 10:52 am

It is difficult not to wonder where $100million went and why we aren’t just hearing stories of how millions of women benefited from Nike’s generous donation.

I appreciate your passion Paul, but insulting people personally will usually discredit your opinion.

I will continue to question where I invest the money God has entrusted me with.

July 2, 2008 at 7:32 pm

Brittany,

Please point out to me where I insulted someone personally. I said that claims need to be researched and backed up to be responsible. It’s a fact. That’s not an insult.

I ENCOURAGE you to question where you invest the money God has entrusted you with, but you should also not just assume that others, including corporate foundations, are not as thorough and dedicated to that cause as you are, especially when the evidence proves otherwise.

That’s all I’m saying. I’m just tryineg to assuage people’s fears about what the evidence proves is the Nike Foundation’s actual, real commitment to the issue. I’m saying that it is disingenuous to question the comitment without actually trying to find out an answer. Nothing more, nothing less.

And the reasone we haven’t heard stories of millions of girls benefitting is that the commitment was just nnounced about a month ago. It will presumably take years before NF’s grantees have tangible results to report. But all of the research–research which actually goes back many, many years–supports the idea that it is a sound social investment.

December 3, 2008 at 7:52 pm

“The “Girl Effect” is the powerful social and economic change brought about when girls have the opportunity to participate in their society. Decades of research shows that when women have access to more resources, they put their money towards making sure their children have better nutrition, education and health care.”

Well then, the US must be a backwater land of things made out of mud and sticks, with the women required to wear Burqas, because”Nutrition” in this country means getting fat on a suicidal diet of corn syrup byproducts. “Education” has been steadily downgraded to the point that 8th grade algebra from the 1930s is now considered “advanced college-level stuff.” “Health Care” implies the multiplication of dysgenic defects as well as destroying one’s body chemistry with drugs designed to attack symptoms and little else. Did I mention that TB and Leprosy are making comebacks in what many fools still believe to be “The Best Country On Earth?”

Fortunately, this kind of folly is already causing The West, which has a consistent record of implementing one bad idea after another, to flounder. This particular campaign is just more Orwellian PR crap, like BP putting on a “Green” image in their ads even though they’re one of the most enviornmentally-destructive corps around.

In addition, when you look at how unhappy, dysfunctional and hypocritical our “enlightened” society has become, you have to wonder if spreading our affliction to the rest of the world is really a good course of action.

May 8, 2009 at 6:45 am

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