Anglo receives major international responsibility award for contribution to African development
06 July, 2005
Anglo American plc has received the UK's Business in the Community first International Award – sponsored by Oracle. This year the International Award was presented on the basis of the company judged to have made the biggest contribution to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals in Africa.
Anglo American's entry
The company's entry benchmarked its initiatives against the Millennium Development Goals and was built around the commitments featured in Anglo's 'Good Citizenship' Business Principles. The entry featured, in particular, its work on HIV/AIDS, community engagement through the SEAT process, local business development initiatives, community social investment – including the work of the Chairman's Fund, training, involvement in good governance initiatives such as the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative and partnerships, such as the Business Trust in South Africa.
Business in the Community
Business in the Community is the UK's leading corporate responsibility organisation and the judging panel also included representatives from the International Business Leaders Forum and the UK Department of Trade and Industry. Business in the Community described Anglo as being a 'pioneer in understanding both the social and business imperatives of their operations.'
The award
The award, highly topical in the run-up to the G8 Summit, was presented by Rt Hon Paul Boateng, until recently Chief Secretary to the Treasury and Britain's new High Commissioner to South Africa. The other short listed companies for the International Award were Glaxo SmithKline's programme for eliminating Lymphatic Filopisis in Africa, SAB Miller's HIV programmes and their Eagle Lager programme in East Africa, Merchant's 'A Future for South Africa's Youth' project and a programme from CitiGroup. The awards were presented at a joint dinner, with 1,700 guests, between Business in the Community and the G8 Business Summit.
Tony Trahar
Interrupting his holiday to respond to the award Tony Trahar commented "I am delighted that at this time of special focus on the importance of relieving poverty in Africa Anglo American's work to support the sustainable development of the communities where we work has been recognised by Business in the Community's International Award. It will mean a lot to our employees across Africa. Our contribution to the Millennium Development Goals must start as an investor, employer and purchaser of goods and services – we seek to ensure good and safe working conditions, to create opportunities for all people with commitment and ability including those from previously disadvantaged backgrounds and to use our supply chain needs creatively to build local businesses.
We also seek to address the HIV pandemic through comprehensive prevention, education and treatment programmes. We are seeking to ensure that we engage more consistently with local communities the better to understand their needs and priorities and how, through partnerships we can support them. While social investment is only part of our response, I take pride too in the long term commitment shown through the Anglo Chairman's Fund and site level initiatives to support education and healthcare infrastructure. As the Commission for Africa and Live8 have underlined in their different ways, a lot remains to be done to improve the life chances of Africa's people but business must be an active partner in these efforts. The BiTC Award is welcome recognition for what we have been able to achieve so far."