51641 Fifth Edition - April 13, 2009 Diversity Month Concludes Cho: Comedy, the Best Policy W F ith a final flurry of VPU-level events, including or Henry Cho, life TV shows, including Bob awards, happy hours, and a stand-up comedy has provided a script Hope's Young Comedians routine--all of which explored or honored vari- for stand-up comedy, Special and VH-1's Stand- ous aspects of the Bank Group's approach to diversity and rooted in his experience Up Spotlight. He has ap- inclusion--the organization wrapped a month of activities growing up Asian Ameri- peared in several movies, that highlighted progress, obstacles, and the road ahead. can in the Deep South. and in 2006, his one-hour "Something from Steve Robbins has really stayed with "I was born and raised in special, Henry Cho: What's me," said Julie Oyegun, the Bank's Chief Diversity Officer. Knoxville, Tennessee," Cho that Clickin' Noise? de- "We should each be working to develop intentional toler- told an audience gathered buted on Comedy Central. ance. It's a skill we can develop. Now, it is time for each in the IFC auditorium. "So, Cho recently signed a of us to improve our skills, and the World Bank Group I'm South Korean." deal with CBS and Para- will be a better place." Delivered with a de- mount Studios to co-create cidedly Southern twang, and star in his own sit- Cho's clean comedy had com based on his life as a the crowd of more than Korean-American born and 300 staff rolling in the raised in Tennessee. aisles during an hour-long The 47-year-old father performance that brought of three riffed on family Diversity Month to a close. life, from marriage ("It's Cho has always been like a job: you clock in ... determined to be more and you never get to clock than just an Asian come- out") to learning about dian. Since breaking into traditions from his wife's stand-up in the 1980s, family, who hail from Arab, The Diversity and Inclusion Leadership Awards concluded D&I month his original comedy has Alabama ("You can say with a fun-filled event in the MC-Atrium landed him on numerous continued on page 4 Diversity Indicators SSA New Hires as % of Net New Hires NOF New Hires as % of Net New Hires Women Promotions as % of Total 8% 90 40% 80 7% 35% 70 6% 60 5% 30% 50 4% 25% 40 3% 20% 30 2% 20 15% 1% 10 0% 10% 0 FY04 FY05 FY06 FY07 FY08 FY09 FY04 FY05 FY06 FY07 FY08 FY09 FY05 FY06 FY07 FY08 FY09 (first half) (first half) (first half) IBRD IFC IBRD IFC GG to GH IBRD GD to GE IBRD GG to GH IFC GD to GE IFC thE-Junction April 13, 2009 | page 2 PREM's Practitioner Program Harnesses Diversity of Ideas W orld Bank employees come partment and the IMF--has developed sity of ideas in a technical setting, from more than 160 coun- toolkits that help low-income coun- and to incorporate this in a dynamic tries, and from a myriad of tries analyze and reform their debt process of review of our tools." racial and ethnic backgrounds. Yet 95 management programs and avoid Starting from next fiscal year, the percent of Bank employees have degrees accumulating unsustainable debt. DMF will also begin its Practitioner's from Part I countries, mainly from uni- These tools draw on the Bank's Program, which brings debt man- versities in Britain and the United States. comparative advantage: its knowledge agement experts from low-income "One can think of the current of global best practices and international countries to the World Bank head- financial crisis also as a crisis of standards. Countries can rate themselves quarters in Washington, D.C. for a ideas, a crisis of received wisdom," against world practices, identify weak- three-month training program. said Carlos Braga, director of PREM's nesses, and design reform programs. While the program will teach debt Economic Policy and Debt Depart- Although the Bank can provide management practitioners to better ment (PRMED). "So it's very impor- extensive theoretical knowledge, use the Bank's toolkits, "we also hope tant to promote competition of ideas it does not have wide experience to learn from them" on how to adjust in the design of the Bank's opera- in implementing capacity-building the facility to make it more applica- tions and to explore the ability of the programs of debt management in ble to countries' needs, Braga said. Bank to think outside the box." low-income countries, Braga added. The focus on inclusion is one of the The need for a diversity of ideas and Accordingly, the Bank plans to work reasons this program was selected to experiences helped inspire PRMED's with other agencies, such as Debt Relief be part of the Bank Group's Diversity new Debt Management Facility (DMF), International, UNCTAD, and the Com- Month, said Philip Schuler, a senior which aims to work together with debt monwealth Secretariat, who have already economist in the International Trade De- managers in low-income countries been active in this field for many years. partment and an organizer of the event. to strengthen their debt management The facility will focus on imple- "Everything in this program is institutions and capacity. menting the Bank's programs in done collaboratively, which helps a Braga presented the new facility collaboration with non-Bank debt lot in terms of effectiveness," Schuler at a brownbag luncheon, "Promoting experts and in partnership with debt said. "These are tools which are fairly Diversity and Inclusion through the managers in the client countries. technical, and rest on different kinds of Practitioner Program," sponsored by "This is really a new experience assumptions that may not be correct. PREM as part of the Bank Group's for us," Braga explained. "This facil- The diversity of ideas, the feedback you Diversity and Inclusion Month. ity allows a more customized type of get from going on a joint mission, helps Over the last two years, PRMED-- engagement. We want to address how validate the tools and their assumptions, in cooperation with the Treasury De- we can better benefit from the diver- and helps the program to succeed." New IFC Kit Provides Flexible Work Options W ork-life balance got a of an inclusive environment that Rachel Kyte, Vice President for boost at the IFC last week, is friendly to doing good work and Business Advisory Services and with the launch of a new supporting people's lives outside IFC Work-Life Champion, assured web tool that helps staff implement of work," said Dorothy Berry, Vice staff that they will get management flexible work arrangements. President for Human Resources, support to implement flexible work "The toolkit represents the com- Communications, and Administra- arrangements: "Please use the toolkit, ing together of many things that are tion, in launching the toolkit. talk about it, and spread the word near and dear to my heart--a major The toolkit includes policies, guid- that it comes with management's initiative as a follow-up on the 2007 ing principles, tips, and case studies commitment, and it is part of the Staff Survey, the hard work of the to help staff and managers imple- way we work at IFC." Women's Network, and the creation ment flexible work arrangements. thE-Junction April 13, 2009 | page 3 Supplier Diversity: Development, Competition, and the Public Good A s the World Bank Group Launching the event, PREM VP strives to model the diversity Danny Leipziger said that integrat- 10 Key Principles of it serves in client countries ing women better into global value around the world, the organization chains improves business outcomes D&I in Procurement is reconfiguring the way it recruits, for companies. 1. Practice what we preach trains, and composes its teams. Presenting were two executives 2. Model good practice A little-appreciated corollary is from Quantum Leap, a DC-based 3. Connect poverty-reduction the Bank's work to encourage diver- nonprofit that promotes women- mission to wealth creation by sity in procurement practices--and owned businesses internationally. buying from the poor those of partners around the world. The group's WEConnect International 4. Train procurement staff Especially during economic crisis, initiative, which supports an inter- 5. Adapt our procurement rules poverty hits women disproportion- national certification standard for 6. Lead change among multilaterals ately, said Sujata Lamba, Sr. Manager women-owned businesses, co-hosted 7. Be responsible for gender in IFC's Global Linkages practice. the event. equality (MDG3) "Men can often migrate and seek "We're really focused on wealth 8. Actively identify historically seasonal employment. But women creation and economic growth. We underutilized firms seem to be more adversely affected, realize, however, that most sole 9. Build capacity of such firms and therefore it has become an im- proprietors are not going to benefit 10. Convene supply chain equity portant area of focus for us." directly from a global supply chain," networks and forums Lamba's solution--in about 25 said Elizabeth Vazquez, Quantum countries to date--is to develop sourcing Leaps' Executive Director. "WECon- platforms that encourage local entrepre- nect integrates them into existing However, there is still a lot of neurship, particularly among women, supply chains to become that 10th- room for improvement. Vazquez and foster more inclusive supply chains. tier supplier, for example." estimates that the US federal govern- When large corporations source more Lamba's Global Linkages and ment still only sources about 5 per- requirements from local communities, Vazquez' WeConnect together are cent of its goods and services from more income stays with local families. helping to address a daunting chal- women-owned businesses. "The goal is to optimize the supply lenge: in most of the world, supply Progress can benefit both women chain, provide employment to locals, chains are not diverse at all, nor do business owners and governments. and to harmonize relations within governments seem to recognize there "What's most important now is to communities," said Lamba, who is a business rationale to change. scale up these women-owned busi- presented three programs she runs-- If governments only source from nesses from micro-enterprises to in Peru, India, and Chad--at a recent large men-owned companies, they small and medium enterprises. It's Supplier Diversity event held at the may miss out on innovation, said crucial for them to move from the in- World Bank Group. Virginia Littlejohn, Quantum Leap's formal economy to the formal one," The event was organized by the co-founder. "There are certainly so- said Littlejohn. "And that brings in WBG Gender Action Plan Private cial benefits, but corporations appre- more tax revenue for governments." Sector Leaders Forum, which is one ciate the bottom-line business case. Participants set a short-term goal to of President Zoellick's six commit- By introducing new SMEs into their increase the participation of women- ments on gender announced at last supply chains, corporations inject owned businesses in the global supply year's Spring Meetings. competition, which provokes innova- chain by at least $7 billion per year, About 30 senior executives at- tion, new solutions, and new ideas-- which is 1 percent of the total spend of tended, from corporations including and ultimately drives down prices." the participating corporations. Accenture, AT&T, Boeing, Cisco, Dell, In the United States, the federal "Imagine what could happen if col- Ernst & Young, Manpower, Pfizer, government has instituted mechanisms lectively we worked together to achieve and Walmart. These firms spend an to help historically under-utilized com- this," mused Vazquez. "If we do this estimated $700 billion annually on panies compete--small, women-owned, right, it really can have a substantial products and services combined. and minority-owned companies. impact in a short amount of time." thE-Junction April 13, 2009 | page 4 IFC Reinforces Commitment to Expand Business Opportunity for Women O n the occasion of International "I've been to 78 countries in three of 18 financial institutions from Women's Day, the IFC celebrated years," said IFC CEO Lars Thunell, around the world that are striving to progress in unleashing the po- who hosted the luncheon. "What's accelerate the growth of women in tential of women in emerging markets. moved me most is the spirit of wom- business and women's wealth cre- This year's IFC Gender Award en entrepreneurs. They are the key to ation worldwide. was presented to IFC's Africa Mi- economic growth and recovery." "Policymakers are searching cro, Small, and Medium Enterprise for answers to the present (AMSME) team. The team received economic situation," Thunell said. top marks for extending program "We've got the answer: invest in benefits more aggressively to women, "What's moved women entrepreneurs." who have traditionally been an un- derserved segment of Africa. me most is the The IFC CEO Gender Award drew 34 nominations for 19 initiatives Specifically, the AMSME team helped grow the percentage of wom- spirit of women across IFC. "Each nomination told a great story," said Zouera Youssoufou, en in the small and medium enter- entrepreneurs." head of IFC's Gender Program. prises portfolio from 14 percent to 37 "We were impressed by the va- ­ Lars Thunell, IFC CEO percent in one year at NBS Malawi, riety of interventions that IFC staff the country's 4th largest bank. undertook to better reach women It also recently signed an agree- Also participating was Standard entrepreneurs through our advisory ment with ETI, a leading regional Chartered CEO Peter Sands. Standard and investment work: reaching bank, to work on an advisory ser- Chartered will host the 2009 Global from cotton lending in Tajikistan vices program that will reach 1,500 Banking Alliance for Women Summit and training seed farmers in Ban- women with small and medium in Singapore in October. The Alliance gladesh to promoting women in enterprises in five countries. is an essential IFC partner comprised mining in Ghana." Cho: Comedy, the Best Policy (continued from page 1) anything about anybody as long as As the crowd filed out of the it's followed by a `Bless their heart'"). auditorium, Isabel Dai and Kather- Playing off the audience for much ine Park stood outside talking with of the show, Cho gently jabbed staff friends before heading back to work. about their engagements, partners, "It was refreshing to laugh in the and kids. After raising two boys, middle of the day," said Dai, who having a daughter has changed his works in the LAC's resource man- whole attitude on life: "Every guy I agement division. see now, I just want to punch him in "I was worried the content the face." wouldn't relate because it's such an He concluded with some sage international audience," said Park, advice about marriage, including who works with the Bank's Leader- whether, after an argument, it's a bad ship and Organizational Effectiveness idea to go to bed angry with your unit in HRS. spouse: "Sometimes you just gotta But she was pleasantly surprised. marriage had wide appeal: "Every- sleep," he said. "In the morning, my Cho's unique experience, and one, no matter where they're from, wife's still mad. But I'm well rested." humorous takes on life, love, and can relate."