São Paulo, April 23rd 2008 – For the first time, IBM Brasil receives in the Country company employees of several world locations to conduct volunteer work in Brazilian organizations operating in the third sector. The project, named Corporate Service Corps, is part of a worldwide program of IBM whose purpose is to help the social and economic development of emerging countries and qualify global leaders.
The Corporate Services Corps was launched last year. In the program’s first edition, 110 IBM employees of 33 countries traveled to different regions to work voluntarily in local NGOs. Among them, three Brazilians went to Vietnam, Ghana and Philippines. This year Brazil is also hosting volunteers. 14 IBM employees- from China, India, United States, Japan, Slovenia, Norway, Philippines, Switzerland and England – are already in the country working on projects that integrate economic development and information technology.
In this second phase of the program, other three IBM Brasil employees were also selected for working in international institutions. Two of them just came back from Romania and Tanzania; the third participant will leave to Ghana on May.
“IBM’s goal is to qualify 600 of its leaders to participate in the program throughout three years. Since the first year (2008) more than 5,000 employees already subscribed to participate in this process, one of the most competitive ones ever conducted internally by the company”, says Ruth Harada, director of corporate citizenship of IBM Brasil and leader of the project in the country.
Before leaving towards the country where the work will be conducted, the participants dedicate three months to a preparation work to understand the local habits and culture, the goal of the projects and the political, social and economic reality. After that they spend one month in the chosen country, to get to closely know the Institutions, and after his period, in addition to maintaining contact for additional two months, the employees share their experiences in their locations of origin and with the company as a whole.
“IBM migrated from a multinational model to a global model of operations, in which professionals of different citizenships and located in different countries provide services for corporations throughout the world. In this scenario, the most successful leaders will be citizens of the world, capable of understanding and effectively collaborating with people of diversified origins and perspectives, contributing to the materialization of a rich diversity and an increasingly more intelligent planet”, complements Osvaldo Nascimento, director of Human Resources for IBM Brasil.
The Corporate Service Corps program is part of the Global Citizen´s Portfolio, a global IBM project that combines programs developed to help employees to enhance their qualification and knowledge, enabling them to become global leaders, active citizens and professionals integrated to the work force.
Institutions that participate in the first phase in Brazil, and scope of work:
- Associação Cidade Escola Aprendiz: develop strategies for raising international funds.
- Cidade do Conhecimento: start the migration of content and interfaces to a portal infrastructure.
- Comitê de Democratização da Informática: promote a remote access strategy at CDI’s Schools of Technology and Citizenship (EICs), allowing preventive and corrective maintenance and remote monitoring.
- Estação Ciência: produce communication tools and create space on the Web for interacting with matters of science and technology, in a virtual lab environment.
- Integrare: create a training program for small and mid-size companies willing to become providers of large companies. They also have the support of students of ESPM – Superior School of Advertising and Marketing. The students will develop a study on this project.
- Sou da Paz: create a HR policy and develop a sustainable training system.
For more information:
About IBM
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Press Relations - IBM
Service: Renata Marques – mrenata@br.ibm.com / (11) 2132-3140
Management: Christiana Cardoso – chrisf@br.ibm.com / (21) 2132-5944
Associação Cidade Escola Aprendiz
http://www.cidadeescolaaprendiz.org.br/
Bruno Andreoni - (11) 3819-9225 - brunoandreoni@aprendiz.org.br
Cidade do Conhecimento
http://www.cidadedoconhecimento.org.br/
Michel Sitnik - (11) 3673-7022 r215 – michel@eciencia.usp.br
Eduardo Santiago - (11) 3673-7022 r216 – eduardo@eciencia.usp.br
Comitê de Democratização da Informática
http://www.cdi.org.br/
Cláudio Neszlinger - (11)3611-0911 - cneszlinger@cdi.org.br
Estação Ciência
http://www.eciencia.usp.br/
Michel Sitnik - (11) 3673-7022 r215 – michel@eciencia.usp.br
Eduardo Santiago - (11) 3673-7022 r216 – eduardo@eciencia.usp.br
Integrare
http://www.integrare.org.br/
Jeferson Marques - (11) 5539-2825 - jeferson.marques@integrare.org.br
Sou da Paz
http://www.soudapaz.org/
Daniela Caldeirinha - (11)3812-1333 - daniela@soudapaz.org
ESPM
http://www.espm.br/
Geyse Alencar - (11) 3031-2388 - geyse@tamer.com.br