blogs

Just in, JL's Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) report.

John Lewis Partnership Corporate Social Responsibility Report 2010 claims not to have all the answers, but restates its commitment to telling all those with an interest how they are doing. Clear priorities and aspirations, open and balanced position and beliefs, and honest about the challenges. There you have it.

View it here.

Este grupo solidario Camino de Santidad son muy trabajadoras y que
están muy felices con este financiamiento que les fue de mucha ayuda.

Por lo que solicitaban el financiamiento para la compra de materia
necesaria, ya que ellas han logrado aumentar sus ventas en un 10% pero
fueron de buena ayuda, han tenido ciertos problemas como es la poca
afluencia de clientes. A pesar de los problemas que enfrentaron siempre
están apoyándose mutuamente para lograr su objetivo.

This is an update on our loan to Kawama Kakaire Jamilah Group in
Uganda.

Hello from Uganda!

Jamira Kakaire lives in the town of Bunghokho in the Mbale region of
Uganda with her husband and seven children. Six of her children are now
in school, and one has already finished technical school. She is a
shopkeeper by trade but also has a mobile business selling clothes.

This is an update on our loan to Mirachisun Group in Peru. Thanks to
you and 91 other Kiva Lenders, the $4,450.00 loan request in Peru has
been 100% funded.

This loan will be used for the purpose of: To repair her cart.

http://www.kiva.org/lend/200407?_te=j

Every so often, we're going to post here small updates as they come in from Kiva.com

To kick off, the most recent update:

This is an update on your loan to La Fuerza 1&2 Group in Dominican
Republic. Thanks to you and 78 other Kiva Lenders, the $3,775.00 loan
request in Dominican Republic has been 100% funded.

http://www.kiva.org/lend/204462

It's all change at Ecomonkey.

The Good News first. We plan on keeping Ecomonkey alive as a shopping channel for as long as we can. The product, brand and retailer ratings will stay for as long as the monkey can feed itself (the subsidy ran out some time back).

The Bad News. We are discontinuing the Green Points Programme (GPP), at least for the time being while further investment is sought.

The Best Bit. Points accrued on user accounts will be converted into Kiva Investments. Kiva is a micro loan idea that allows us to invest in small / family business in the developing world.

Twenty-eight miles west of Land’s End lies the UK’s southernmost point - the Isles of Scilly. Their remoteness and microclimate make the islands a popular holiday destination amongst British holidaymakers, who go in search of sun, solitude, and seal-watching. But their distance and relative isolation from the mainland extend beyond being a hidden tourist gem, and have enabled the isles to take part in a day-long energy-saving experiment.

You would be forgiven for thinking that this recession malarkey was likely to curb the success of fairly traded, ethically sourced and organically grown products.

After all, if you’re battling to stay off the dole, and struggling to stay in demand, how righteous your rice, how principled your pumps, or how moral your mung beans are has got to be the last thing on your mind. Surely you’ll just hold out for the latest deals on industrial sized packs of fish fingers and head for shops where you can buy forty jumpers for £5.99. It’s those deals that will see you through the bleaker times is it not?

So it’s important to shop responsibly right? I need to make sure that all the products that enter my house or pass my lips are Fairly-Traded, FSC-certified, Soil Standards Association Accredited, Green-Seal, dolphin -friendly, eco-loving, against animal-testing, biodegradable. In other words, I will only buy a product that has been green-labeled within an inch of its life.

When faced with the enormity of an issue such as climate change, it is all too easy to feel utterly helpless. As we are force-fed more fatalistic griping about the aggressive advance of climate change, a passive fatigue kicks in and it becomes all to easy to surrender to our bleak fate.

But a new campaign has been launched which aims to combat the sense of feeble paralysis that has the nation in a headlock for too long. 10:10 challenges Britain to cut carbon emissions in the UK by 10% in one year. The brainchild of Fanny Armstrong, filmmaker behind The Age of Stupid, and in collaboration with The Guardian, 10:10 asks individuals, schools, hospitals, businesses and organisations to cut their emissions by 10% in 2010. How? Just by making simple changes to lifestyles, homes and workplaces.