An AidPod Made in Zambia!
March 25, 2009 by Simon Berry · 3 Comments
Image credit: Alison Pearson
This is the first AidPod to be made in Africa (to my knowledge). And it was made in Zambia which is where the ColaLife idea was born way back in 1988. My friend Alison has been volunteering in Zambia for a couple of decades (or more) and currently helps out in the N’gombe Compound in Lusaka. Alison took this photo and here is the story behind it in Alison’s words:
Dear Simon,
Eh, they got a bit excited - there WAS a crate in there somewhere but it was
swamped in the melee!! However the boy is holding a coke and they are
shrieking with laughter so I thought it was a good one.
I got a teacher to explain what you were doing and why we wanted a photo
and they understood very well and were very eager to take part. Not many
of them would have reached their age without facing the death of a sibling
in their own homes so it’s close to their hearts for sure. They are from
N’gombe Compound in Lusaka. I volunteer there mainly raising cash for books
and desks, do a bit of teacher training and workshops etc and I run a feeding
programme for 60 kids two meals per day. I mainly pester friends and
relations and the Wild Geese etc but this year I was very fortunate to get
a little funding from the Catholic Secretariat which took the pressure off a bit.
If you want another pikkie with a crate I can try again.
All the best with the campaign.
Love, Ali
Thanks Ali! You’ve made my day!
How could Coca-Cola possibly say ‘No’?
No more organisations needed?
February 18, 2009 by Simon Berry · Leave a Comment
It would be very attempting to set up ColaLife as an NGO but I strongly believe that the organisations needed to implement the ColaLife already exist and that we should focus on joining things up and facilitating relationships to make things happen. Now and again I receive a message that reassures me that this is correct and that this is the right approach. This arrived yesterday from Cami Allen who is the Program Manager at an organisation called ‘Vitamin Angels’. Check them out here. Cami has now joined the ColaLife Google Group.
It is a pleasure to find Colalife. In the past year we have approached Danone and Nestle regarding the potential for piggybacking vitamin A supplementation onto their existing distribution systems in markets with deep penetration down to the household level. Obviously these markets are more limited in global scope than is CocaCola.
Vitamin A may be an ideal “social product” to add to the pod. I am not sure to what extent you have been involved specifically in health care interventions in developing countries, so I will give a short overview of vitamin A if you will bear with me:
Vitamin A supplementation in over 60 priority countries is a key health intervention recommended by WHO/UNICEF. Vitamin A is known as the anti-infective vitamin, guarding against external infection. It is essential to the immune system, especially in children under five who are most susceptible to infectious diseases. Deficiency of vitamin A (VAD) is a major contributor to the mortality of children under five. Leading causes of death, including measles, malaria, acute respiratory infections, and diarrhea are reduced substantially by vitamin A supplementation alone.
% reduction of U5MR due to vitamin A supplementation:
- Measles (50%)
- Diarrhea (33%) an
- Overall mortality (23%).
Operational research also shows evidence that vitamin A supplementation of neonates (in the first 2-3 days of life) can reduce mortality by a further 23-60%.
Vitamin A supplements are practical:
- Need to be taken just once each six months. The body is able to store vitamin A in the liver, making it possible to get adequate vitamin A status with one high-dose capsule each 4-6 months.
- No special storage or transport conditions (usually) required. Vitamin A very stable; relatively cool, dry environments are all that is needed
- Some basic training is required to distribute, but no specialist medical personnel required.
- Not controversial, and as a policy is already supported by virtually all national governments (as well as WHO and UNICEF).
In addition, it is considered to be one of the best investments possible from an cost-efficiency and efficacy standpoint:
Vitamin A supplementation is also aligned with the Colalife goals to address MDGs 4 and 6 – and when given to deficient mothers, MDG 5 as well. It’s also aligned with Aims 1, 2, 4 and 5.
Anyway, we are pleased to have found your group and look forward to contributing to this discussion whenever possible. Down the road, if vitamin A supplements were to be selected as an appropriate “social product” for the Aidpods, we would be more than willing to supply this product for the trial and beyond. In addition, Vitamin Angels is deeply committed to exploring new distribution systems via public-private partnership, and there is some possibility that we may be able to commit other resources as well in order to make this happen.
If you’re interested in reviewing us further, our website is at www.vitaminangels.org. I have to warn you that the site is quite dated and not reflective of the strategic focus that we have adopted over the past 18 months. (A new site geared toward both our professional associations and cultivating our supporter base online will launch in May.)
Moo Cards just work!
January 29, 2009 by Simon Berry · 1 Comment
Today my mobile buzzed announcing the arrival of a text . . . from Tanzania! It read:
Hi simon! i hope ur fine,
I am grace mdc from
kinondon area since u
come u r 2 quiet why?
nothing is going on
from grace mdc tanzania
Frontline SMS! That is Grace in the pictures. She owns and runs one the Coca-Cola MDCs (Manual Distribution Centres) in Dar Es Salaam. I had the pleasure of visiting and talking to Grace during my trip to Tanzania in November. I explained what I was doing and gave her a ColaLife Moo Card. She was delighted (but then so is everyone I give a Moo card to - they are just lovely).
Anyway she must have kept the card and today she made contact. I called Grace and she says she has access to email so we are going to continue communicating that way. I hope she’ll be able to get to an internet connection to watch the video I took at the Freeman MDC.
Moo are ColaLife supporters.
Guerilla Report on Saturday Live
July 6, 2008 by Simon Berry · Leave a Comment
Just emailed ‘Saturday Live‘ suggesting that the Coca-Cola campaign be featured in their ‘Guerilla Report’ slot. Let’s see what happens.
My letter to Annie Lennox of 30/5/08
May 30, 2008 by Simon Berry · 1 Comment
Here’s the transcript:
Dear Annie
On Desert Island Discs you said:
We can distribute Coca Cola all around the World but we can’t seem to get medication to save a child from something as simple as diarrhoea and I think that that is wrong. You know, you have a choice you either get involved with an issue or you walk away from it. I think it’s a human rights issue and I feel very passionately about human rights.
I was so delighted - I had to stop the car! I am trying to get Coca Cola to use their amazing distribution network in developing countries to distribute rehydration salts. Your comment inspired me to set up a facebook to gather people around this idea. For a week or so the group has been growing by about 2-3 per hour. Today it has really taken off and is growing at about 15 per hour.
You can read the full story of the campaign here: www.simonberry.net.
Would you be willing to lend your support to this cause? A person of your stature would make an enormous difference and may mean we could actually make this happen.
I hope you get to see this letter.
With best wishes
Simon
Further information:
All of the Coca Cola campaign posts
Coca-Cola have responded!
May 23, 2008 by Simon Berry · 12 Comments
Many thanks to Rupert Allman of the BBC for his work contacting Coca Cola over the last few days.
This is just in via Rupert from Salvatore Gabola, Global Director Stakeholder Relations at Coca-Cola. I’ll be taking him up on his offer of a chat. We will get there a step at a time.
“This is an extraordinarily interesting discussion. And it is one
which goes to the heart of the key question of how we can make better
use of the successes of business to serve the development needs of the
world in general and of Africa in particular. The recent Millennium
Development Goal Call for Action by Prime Minister Gordon Brown stems
from this simple starting point.It is also something we take very seriously at Coca-Cola. We are
proud of what we are already doing through the Africa Foundation - for
example, providing safe drinking water to communities throughout the
continent. But we are also asking ourselves how our core business
operation can do more. And this includes whether we can use our
distribution network to deliver other goods which will help improve
lives in local communities.The challenge, of course, is to do this without undermining the
successful model which helps explain why you can get a Coke across
Africa. Because the very success of this network rests on the fact that
it is not owned by Coca-Cola but made up of many small independent
local distributors.Our bottlers do help these small firms get started with training and
start-up capital. But the system works so well because the better they
distribute our drinks, the more money they make. It taps into Africa’s
entrepreneurial spirit of and gives people the means and the incentive
to develop their business and create more jobs.So what we are considering is if, and how, this system can be tweaked
so it remains economically successful but can be extended so it does
more to help the common good.We don’t have the answers yet. As often happens, it is not as
straightforward as it looks at first glance. But I can promise we are
working hard to find solutions.This summer, we are beginning a research project and pilot in Tanzania
to analyse in depth our distribution model and examine how it can be
used to enhance its development potential. The Harvard Kennedy School
of Government and the International Finance Corporation are helping
with it.Our hope is that this research will come up with concrete measures we
can then apply to our distribution systems across the African continent
and beyond.Together I hope we can come up with the right solutions. And I am happy
to have a chat on this subject with Simon in the near future.”Salvatore Gabola, Global Director Stakeholder Relations, Coca-Cola.
I am really pleased. Thanks to everyone for signing up and posting resources to the Facebook Group this MUST keep growing if we are to make things happen so please keep spreading the word.
Further information
You have built this …. they will come!
May 22, 2008 by Simon Berry · Leave a Comment
Today the Coca Cola facebook group has received a big boost in terms of content but I am a bit concerned that it is not growing as fast as it might. So PLEASE join if you haven’t done so already and invite your friends to do so as well.
In terms of content. Fully narrated photos have been uploaded by Nand Wadhwani of the Rehydration Project in India. Fantastic stuff.
Nand also emailed me and the email is reproduced here with permission.
My understanding is that the logo to the left was produced in 1985 to support a UNICEF report that Nand mentions.
Dear Simon,
Thanks for the link to the site. I’ve added information and links about the Campaign to my home page … http://rehydrate.org
fyi … UNICEF first proposed the idea of making the ORS sachets more
available in a poster in their State of the World’s Children report in
1985. Please see [ http://rehydrate.org/resources/selling_survival.htm ]. I’ve also updated that page with links to the Campaign pages.
I had spoken with Coca Cola in Atlanta, about 20 years ago, about
putting a small sticker on their bottles which stated that a portion of
their profits would go towards rehydrating a dehydrated child. With
Coca Cola being the largest ‘rehydrater’ in the world … with the
variety of Coke products, water, juices and other soft drinks … it
made perfect sense to me … great advertising and good will as well.
The proposal got lost in the maze of Coca Cola’s management.
With Facebook, a new awareness, and ….. I trust you will have more
success. I will also contact Coca Cola here in India and keep you
advised of their response.
Please let me know if I may be of further assistance in helping you get
your FIRST 1,000 members. You have built this …. they will come!
Good luck.
regards,
nand
Nand Wadhwani
Rehydration Project • Health Education To Villages
Further information
Calling Annie Lennox and Coca Cola
May 16, 2008 by Simon Berry · 9 Comments
If you’ve come here from the iPM Blog, please consider joining the campaign on Facebook: Let’s talk to Coca Cola about saving the World’s children Thanks.
An incredible coincidence has happened, involving this lovely woman - and it might even save some children’s lives.
A couple of weeks ago I finally got around to blogging an idea of how Coca Cola could save lives by using their distribution muscle in developing countries.
Since then I have been trying to get through to Coca Cola with some success. I got an email reply from their CSR people (see image). Unfortunately, it’s very defensive and points out all the good work they are doing already. I followed up the email with a call to Etlyn Thomas (you could call her too!). She was very nice (and so was I!). I made the point that I was not critisising Coca Cola in anyway. I was simply suggesting how they might build on the good work they are already doing in a way that would save lives and greatly enhance the Coca Cola brand.
Encouragingly, Etlyn said she had escalated the suggestion to someone more senior in the CSR department.
In the meantime - and this is the exciting bit - Annie Lennox, on the 11/5/08 edition of Desert Island Discs (repeated today) seemed to be on exactly the same wavelength. She pointed out that we live in a time when we can distribute Coca Cola to all corners of the World but children still die, usually of dehydration. (If you have a recording, it’s right at the end, around the 42 minute mark). I’m going to write to Annie next.
I also tried to get this idea debated on IPM on 10/5/08 and they said they’d call Coca Cola. I don’t know if they did. I’ve followed this up today. I’ve also followed up my call to Etlyn with this:
Hi Etlyn
Thanks for speaking with me on the phone about the dehydration salts distribution idea. Did you hear Annie Lennox on Desert Islands Disks? She said “We live in age where we can get Coca Cola to all corners of the world but where children die, usually of dehydration.” I’m going to write to Annie but would also like to speak to the person you escalated my idea to if that was possible. My mobile number is 07932 107109. I hope to hear from you again soon.
Regards
Simon
16/05/2008
If you’ve got this far, you’re interested in this too! Why not pick the phone up to Etlyn yourself or register and comment on the IPM Blog.
I’ve feeling we might just get through!
Further information
What others are saying about ColaLife- ColaLife on Flickr
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