 Interview with Steve Chan, Chairman, Coca-Cola China
You have been with the Coca-Cola Company since 1979. What has shaped your personal commitment to social justice? When did HIV/AIDS first enter on your agenda? Our China business gave me a great opportunity to get involved in various community programs. Being able to help people is definitely the most rewarding emotion. I am pleased that I was able to lead our China Company to engage in community work since 1993. Both the company and I are gratified of our work and accomplishment in this area. For me personally, it has been a joy to have this opportunity to be involved in HIV/AIDS which had been troubling China for quite a long time. It went through dramatic evolutionary stages involving denial, cover-up, abuse, scandal, and of course human tragedy. However, similar to China’s economic development, social development takes time also. As China’s leadership leads the country towards becoming a more open, equal and just place, sensitive issues such as HIV/AIDS finally got the attention and help it needs. And that is when I decided the timing was right for us to get involved. In 2003, Coca-Cola China began its partnership with the Chinese Foundation for the Prevention of STDs and AIDS, one of the largest AIDS foundations in China. Entering the national discourse on this disease, which is still highly stigmatized, takes courage. Did the company have any concerns or reservations in forming this partnership and addressing HIV/AIDS in China? In the early stage of evaluating our involvement in HIV/AIDS prevention, I did have some reservations. The obvious questions were: Was the Chinese government uncommitted or unwilling to take this issue on? Would the government or local NGOs be comfortable working with someone like Coca-Cola and also with a beverage company? Would the public, our Chinese employees and most importantly our consumers have negative views and perception of our involvement? Needless to say, as it turned out, the answers were "No" for all three questions. Looking back, I must say we made the right decision to take the first step and I am happy with the progress we have made so far. However, much more remains to be done and I do hope more businesses can join us in the fight against HIV/AIDS in China. As one of the most widely recognized brands in the world, Coca-Cola has the unique opportunity to promote social change through its high visibility. How can companies without this prominent public profile respond to HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria? For any company to respond to any social cause, the first thing to do is to take action, then money, people, efforts come later. A prominent name helps but taking action is the key. An ILO report estimates that China could lose up to five million people in its labor force by 2015 if increased efforts are not made to fight the spread of HIV. Coca-Cola recently announced that it plans to distribute about 100,000 decks of playing cards with information about HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria prevention to Chinese migrant workers—of which there are over 200 million—in July. What are your expectations for the project? The link between HIV/AIDS and population mobility has been well established in China. Because migrant workers are isolated from the local social networks, they are prone to engage in high-risk sexual activities that might lead to the spread of HIV. Increasing HIV infection among China’s migrant population means that HIV can travel through the migration routes into China’s major urban centers as well as the countryside. Our expectation is straightforward. Through the distribution of the cards, we hope to educate as many migrant workers working in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Wuhan, and Nanjing, helping them understand the urgency of the epidemic and learn the basic HIV prevention knowledge. We hope more migrant workers will practice safe sex and share their newfound knowledge with other members of their respective communities. Second, we will get more people involved by utilizing the university students we sponsored and our staff to be volunteers to distribute the playing cards and spread the message around. Lastly, since this is the first year of the program, we hope to gradually raise the program’s awareness through increasing external communication and mass media interaction. I hope eventually this may help the Foundation to enlist more company sponsors. However, our project is only one initiative per se. I believe much more has to be done especially by the local government, the local communities and especially the many companies that employ and accommodate these workers. Last August, Coca-Cola China sponsored a Chinese delegation to South Africa to establish an international platform for the exchange of HIV/AIDS prevention practices. Upon return, Coca-Cola China subsequently developed an AIDS orphan care program in Yunnan Province. What important lessons from your HIV/AIDS initiative could you share with other countries? The success of our AIDS Impacted Orphan Care community program is attributed to three key factors. First, the Chinese government is committed to supporting the work of the private sector in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Therefore, for grass-roots projects such as our orphan care program, we have unwavering local government support. Second, we have a very reliable partner. The Chinese Foundation for Prevention of STDs and AIDS enjoys close links with the governments at all levels, which provide them with strong, broad based local networks. As such they can mobilize social resources to improve the efficiency and the impact of our program. Also, we rely on our local partner, Ruili Women Association, to fulfill the day-to-day responsibilities of caring for the orphans, delivering monthly financial subsidies, and monitoring their progress. Third, we applied the learning we got from the visits to South African orphanages. The South Africa experience impressed upon us the critical needs of helping such orphans and that dedicated and conscientious involvement and engagement are necessary in order to make a difference to these children. Therefore, in implementing our local program, we emphasize the deep personal aspect. Besides help and subsidy, we even provide these orphans with soy milk powder from our own Health Journey Project. Therefore, I truly believe that it’s not really just the money, but the thought, care and consideration that go with it. |
