May 18 – United Nations, New York

Public-Private Alliance Foundation launches with
"Partners Against Poverty" event at the United Nations

“Partners Against Poverty” was the theme that launched the Public-Private Alliance Foundation on May 18 at the United Nations in New York.  Over 120 people, including Ambassadors, UN officials, people from the business sector, non-profit organizations, academic institutions, business associations including Hispanic Chambers of Commerce in the U.S. and Canada, media and others attended the event.  

“PPAF is committed to assist in the achievement of the UN Millennium Development Goals through this partnership initiative,” said Daniel Mejia, who chairs the project finance and development company Sunland Group Corp and also chairs the Board of PPAF. Mejia announced a $100,000 donation to the Foundation. Others attending the event also announced donations, partnerships and business opportunities.   

The mission of PPAF is to encourage governmental authorities, non-governmental organizations, businesses, academic institutions and others to collaborate and provide funding to help poor people in developing countries become self-reliant. According to PPAF Executive Director Dr. David Stillman, formerly a UN staff member, “Business is the engine for sustainable economic development, and must be involved in work toward meeting the UN Millennium Development Goals.” 

PPAF has its roots in the UN Public-Private Alliance for Rural Development, which is an initiative of the UN Economic and Social Council. “The Dominican Republic and Madagascar are pilot countries for this effort. PPAF is establishing a Board of UN Ambassadors and plans to expand its work to other countries.

Featured speakers included Ambassador Leo Merores of Haiti, Vice Chair of the UN Economic and Social Council; Ambassador Zina Andrianarivelo-Razafy of Madagascar; Ambassador Francis Lorenzo of the Dominican Republic; Georg Kell, Executive Head of the UN Global Compact; and Dr. Hanifa Mezoui, Chief, NGO Section of UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs. Stillman served as emcee for the event.  

Representatives of Intel; the European Bank; Pure-Tek, Inc., Toronto, Canada; the University of South Florida Patel Center; the University of Oklahoma InfoPoverty Center; the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs Public Administration Division; and others spoke about their organizations' interest in partnerships and focused on collaboration with PPAF.  

Ralph Corey, of Intel, donated a Classmate PC to the Foundation as a step towards joint efforts in the Dominican Republic and several other countries. Dr. John Steffens of the University of Oklahoma InfoPoverty Institute pledged $1,000 worth of fish fingerlings, for a fish farming project in the Dominican Republic. Greg Bowman of Pure-Tek, Inc., Toronto, Canada, spoke of solar panels already provided out of the company's corporate social responsibility commitment and announced plans to work with PPAF in providing solar power for inexpensive and reliable electricity generation in several communities. Motoo Kusakabe of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development spoke of the Development Gateway and the Open Cities Portal and urged participation by developing countries and interested cities.

Carmen Moreno, the head of UN INSTRAW, the Institute for Training and Research on Women, based in Santo Domingo, described current work on remittances, entrepreneurship and related subjects and encouraged collaborative projects. Omar Diaz of TransSeed Corporation provided a summary business proposal for investment in a sugar cane ethanol distillery in the Dominican Republic. Terri Hasdorff of USAID spoke of the importance of faith and community-based initiatives in overcoming poverty. Alain Lemieux of the World Sports Alliance reported their work in developing sports and education after-school programs in the Dominican Republic and elsewhere. Betty Castor of the University of South Florida Patel Center for Global Solutions offered the intellectual capacity of their faculty in working to improve access to safe drinking water in the Caribbean and Central America Region.       

Stillman announced that several organizations had provided generous financial support to PPAF for this event and other start-up costs, including Sun Land Group Corp, World Sports Alliance, World Shipping America, Prudential Financial, and the New York State Coalition of Hispanic Chambers of Commerce.  

Welcoming the participation of all in this event, Stillman said, “Intellectual resources, business opportunities, corporate social responsibility and partnerships are the spirit of the Public-Private Alliance Foundation and its work to achieve the UN Millennium Development Goals through a business approach to development. This is what partnership against poverty is all about.”

Information about the Public-Private Alliance Foundation is available at:   www.ppafoundation.org

Photo credit: Frank Minaya - photograph of Daniel Mejia,
Jeanne Betsock Stillman, David Stillman

May 17 – United Nations, New York

Public-Private Alliance Foundation receives Foundation of the Year Award at The 2007 Annual Healthcare Diversity Awards Gala on Global Corporate Social Responsibility in Health: Developing Middle Management & Business Opportunities

PPAF received the Foundation of the Year Award at the 2007 Gala of the National Hispanic Chamber of Commerce on Health and the Association of Hispanic Healthcare Executives. The event, held at the United Nations on May 17, focused on Global Corporate Social Responsibility in Health. Over 300 leaders attended, representing the diversity that has come to be an important part of the health care system in the U.S. and beyond.

George A. Zeppenfeldt-Cestero, president of NHCCH and AHHE, presented a beautiful engraved award to PPAF Daniel Mejia, who accepted on behalf of the foundation.   Ambassador Francis Lorenzo of the Dominican Republic, Gala Honorary Chair and PPAF vice-chair, accepted a special award as Advocate of the Year. Other attendees related to PPAF included Dr. David Stillman, Executive Director, Mrs. Fraila Mejia, wife of Daniel Mejia. Mrs. Grace Sosa, Executive Assistant to Mr. Mejia and PPAF Board of Advisors chair Esperanza Porras-Field, a member of the Advisory Board of NHCCH, who presented an award to New Jersey State Assemblyman Eric Munoz, MD.

May 10 –   Toronto, Canada

PPAF Leaders meet with Toronto Hispanic Chamber of Commerce

On May 10 th 2007 the Toronto Hispanic Chamber of Commerce gave a warm welcome to leaders of the Public Private Alliance Foundation (PPAF) at the THCC Summit on Corporate and Social Responsibility. German Castaño, Director of International Relations, THCC and President and CEO of SumaCorp Links Corporation Inc ., welcomed some 60 participants and Idalia Obregon, President of the THCC, gave the opening address

Ambassador Francis Lorenzo, PPAF Vice Chair, delivered a keynote address on the Millennium Development Goals and the Dominican Republic.   Dr. David Stillman, PPAF Executive Director, described the origins of PPAF, which has its roots in the work of the UN Economic and Social Council. He stated that the new foundation would be formally launched at the UN on May 18. Esperanza Porras-Field, chair of the PPAF Board of Advisors and also chair of the Board of Advisors of the Toronto Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, was instrumental in organizing the THCC event and spoke on the growing role of Hispanics in business and in the populations of the USA and Canada.

Michael Jacobson, Chairman of BidGive, which is a participant in the UN Global Compact, described the main issues in corporate social responsibility and the interlocking interests of business and NGO communities. Motivational speaker Milton Olave of Exito Latino, brought his theme of empowerment for companies and individuals to succeed. In doing this he simplified the Global Compact 10 Principles of Corporate Social Responsibility to a format all could readily understand and incorporate in their lives.

Photos courtesy of the Toronto Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

May 7 – Rabat, Morocco

PPAF Vice Chair at Signing of Sports Accords

PPAF Vice Chair Ambassador Francis Lorenzo represented the Minister of Sports of the Dominican Republic in signing -- with the Minister of National Education of Morocco and the Minister of Youth and Sports of the Republic of Niger – an agreement to create the World Sports Alliance (WSA) as a new Intergovernmental Organization. They also endorsed a declaration on the work of the WSA for experimentation and validation of pedagogical modules based on physical education and sports for teaching the Millennium Development Goals. Training tools and modules are intended to be implemented in community centers and after-school sports education empowerment programs, initially in the three signatory countries. The declaration will be presented to the Economic and Social Council at its July 2007 session by the Moroccan NGO “Fondation Mohammed V pour la Solidarité”.   (Document E/2007/NGO/5)