Some 600 IBM volunteers will be dispatched in teams over the next three years. Current Service Corps markets include Romania, Ghana, Viet Nam, the Philippines and Tanzania. Additional markets strategic to IBM's business will be added.
Participants will work on initiatives such as developing growth strategies for the Africa Wildlife Foundation and providing operational expertise to micro businesses. When one team leaves, a second group may pick up the threads of their work, with the goal of sustainable improvements.
Created by IBM's corporate citizenship group, the program includes partnerships with nongovernmental organizations. "NGO partners play a critical role in the Service Corps. They handle on-site logistics, identify the small businesses and organizations where we structure projects that utilize the skills of IBMers," explains Kevin Thompson, a former Peace Corps volunteer who manages the program.
Last year, IBM pulled some two thirds of its revenue from outside the U.S. The CSC allows it to gain a foothold in newly emerging markets and volunteers get invaluable international experience. "As a development tool, this is four-for-one," said Allan R. Cohen, dean of the Olin Graduate School at Babson College, near Boston. "It's stretching to work in another culture, to work in a nonprofit where the measurement of accomplishment isn't clear, to take a sabbatical from your everyday routine and to learn to accomplish things when you can't just bark orders." 1
1 New York Times, "Volunteering abroad to climb at IBM," March 26, 2008
Photos: John Tolva and Andrew Levy.
