Sichuan students salvage higher education

After his parents were maimed in the May 12 Sichuan earthquake, Feng Jianqing had to drop out of senior middle school and find odd jobs in Chengdu to help the family make ends meet.

But Feng, 16, returned to Mianzhu Nanxuan Middle School in Deyang, Sichuan province, this April, excited to study in the classroom once again and promising to work hard to earn a university education one day.

Thanks to a 20-million-yuan assistance program supported by Tetra Laval Group, one of the world's leading food processing and packaging solutions providers, 10,000 kids in Feng's age group in earthquake-damaged areas can continue their high school education.

The program, under cooperation with the China Children and Teenagers' Foundation, will not only help students complete their high school studies or vocational education, but will also support those on their way to colleges and universities.

"Education is very important to children, to the future of disaster-hit Sichuan," said Jorgen Haglind, vice president of the Tetra Laval Group and senior vice president of Tetra Pak, one of the group's three independent companies.

"We hope this timely assistance will help them at this critical stage of their lives," he added.

The Tetra Laval School Assistance Program is the final project of the Sweden-based group's $15 million disaster relief efforts in Sichuan.

Other projects included both immediate relief work and medium-term recovery programs covering rural medical systems, psychological counseling for children, training and re-employment for the disabled, living environment improvement and dairy-farm reconstruction.

Most of the projects were implemented in partnership with various government and non-government institutions in China, such as Jet Li One Foundation of Red Cross China, China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation, Chengdu Handicapped Welfare Foundation and China Forestry Foundation.

"Disaster relief and reconstruction is really a tough task," Haglind told China Business Weekly, explaining that when this kind of disaster happens people always want to do the right thing, but figuring out the best way to help is not easy.

"What we have been most concerned about is the specific needs of the individual groups of people affected, as well as the long-term assistance that our projects can provide," he said.

Tetra Pak China, the first of Tetra Laval's three local companies established in China and the largest in terms of operations, has made tremendous efforts to ensure effective implementation of the $15 million fund. It conducted thorough field investigations to better understand the specific needs of the people suffering from the earthquake.

"We have been looking at how we can make a difference. We were trying to identify the programs where we could add to what the government and other non-government organizations have done," said the vice president, citing clinic construction as a typical example.

The Tetra Laval Group allocated 10.8 million yuan and partnered with the China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation to set up 100 village clinics in February to help restore rural medical systems in Deyang, Sichuan province. Officially kicked off on Feb 25, 2009, the 100 clinics are expected to be complete by the end of October 2010.

"We were told that this need is really there, but no one was really picking it up, so we did," said Haglind.

The high school assistance program is another example. After the earthquake, a lot of companies supported rebuilding schools, but many children had to drop out of school and find work to support families whose income was disrupted by the quake.

"We, in fact, have decided to support building of the schools, but we changed that decision," Haglind disclosed. Since many students from financially challenged families may be forced to discontinue schooling, the company decided to support them in completing their studies.

The panda relief project is another example of how Tetra Laval selected programs. In March, the group allocated 7 million yuan and partnered with the China Forestry Foundation to support panda habitat recovery in Wolong. The program will also support building up new bamboo fields with a total area of more than 1,000 acres.

"We know the panda is a nice symbol for China and it is also well-known around the world. That's the only program we support that is not about human beings," said Haglind.

Feedback and follow-up

The vice president, who has worked for Tetra Laval for 22 years, stressed that the company appreciates timely feedback from its partners.

"We'd like to see the money being well-spent, and we get the side effects," he said.

He cited Jet Li One Foundation as a good example. The non-governmental organization has cooperated with Tetra Laval on emergency relief and setting up waste collection and sorting centers in earthquake-hit areas, with a total fund of 34 million yuan. It regularly reported to the company on how the money was spent.

"They even reported that the milk has been sent to 39 affected communities; it is actually very difficult," recalled Carol Yang, vice president of Tetra Pak China, explaining that some of the regions are tough to reach and the foundation has volunteers in remote areas who deliver food to locals.

"We really encourage these strict and accurate evaluations, because it really gives feedback to us, so we can do some learning for the future, and it helps us set clear goals about what we have to achieve," said Haglind.

Amid the global financial downturn, many corporations have reduced their charity budgets.

The vice president said Tetra Pak will do everything it can in the case of future disasters, and routine charity causes will continue, but the budget for some promotional activities will have to be cut.

For example, the school milk program will go on, while some dairy nutrition education projects will be postponed. Tetra Pak China has conducted school milk programs for nine years to increase the nutrition level of Chinese children.

With a 58-year history, Tetra Laval Group operates in over 150 nations and regions, with over 20,000 employees. It entered China in 1979, and has invested 2.7 billion yuan so far in the emerging market.

(China Daily 04/20/2009 page10)