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©IMD MBA Class of 2006

MISSION

Our Inspiration

We, 90 MBA students from 45 countries at IMD International Institute for Management Development in Lausanne, Switzerland, are privileged to attend one of the world’s leading business schools. As part of our MBA education, we traveled to Argentina on a Discovery Expedition to gain first-hand experience of what it is like to do business in a challenging environment. We left Argentina not only with a better understanding of the country’s business climate but also with an appreciation and empathy for its people and its development challenges.

In a shantytown on the outskirts of La Plata we met Monika, who at 32 -- younger than many of us -- is already a grandmother of two. While we are preparing for a future in international business, she is fighting to live with dignity and to provide for her family. It was here that we committed ourselves to making a contribution to the lives of Argentina’s poor.

Our Goal

To make a difference, we are aiming to raise at least CHF 50,000 for LEER, a nonprofit organization in the north of Argentina where child poverty is at its worst. LEER’s mission is to help children under the age of five who are socially, economically and educationally at risk, so that they can get access to early education and break the cycle of poverty. The funds we are raising will be used to build two community centers that will benefit more than 800 children and 250 families. In addition, we have committed to working with LEER as consultants over the next three years. To ensure a successful outcome, HelpArgentina, a group that bridges social investors with Argentinean nonprofit organizations, will help us administer the project and create a social venture fund.

Our Challenge

As Lausanne is the world’s Olympic Capital and there is no better way than sports to demonstrate commitment, endurance and teamwork, the 2006 MBA class will cycle, run, swim, kayak, and rollerblade 560 kilometers across Switzerland in 45 hours. The intense fundraising relay will start early morning on Saturday 30 September 2006 and conclude on Monday 2 October. We have named our challenge HandsOn Argentina.

A Broader Message

To highlight that fighting poverty requires not only development funds but also international cooperation, we will begin the challenge at the venue of the annual World Economic Forum in Davos and end it in front of the World Trade Organization in Geneva. We will contact Swiss and international media to convey our message to a wider audience.

We Need Your Help

We have committed to raising funds for Argentina’s poor children to help improve Argentina’s future -- and we need your help to do it. We have committed ourselves, not just as business students, but as responsible citizens, to making a difference. As future business managers, we feel that we have a responsibility to give back. We hope you will join us in this challenge. Companies and individuals donating more than CHF 1,000 can choose to have their names or logos highlighted on www.hands-on-argentina.org Donors giving more than CHF 5,000 can elect to have their logos included on some of the participants’ sports gear. We thank you for your support. Contact Us to make a donation.

SPONSORS

Sponsors

The MBA class of 2006 wish to thank the IMD community, including faculty, staff and alumni, for their support and encouragement.

PROJECT

Project's objective:

The objective of the Hands On Argentina project is to increase the opportunities of access to early childhood quality education, thus contributing to future school success, school completion and full social insertion.

Real Impact:

Help more than 800 children in poor communities in the Northern province of Misiones in Argentina.

The problem to be addressed by the project

In spite of obligatory preschool attendance in Argentina since age 5, as set forth by Educational Federal Act (1993), the offer of preschool services is not enough to guarantee access to all children that age. The situation of children between 3 and 4 is even worse. Attendance in this range of ages is not obligatory and consequently only 15% of children age 3 and 44% of children age 4 are presently attending.

Studies confirm that children who do not attend preschool have greater chances of repeating grades and dropping out of school early in life. Likewise, it is worth considering that an ample percentage of these children spent their first years of existence at homes with no contact with writing materials, with adults who do not read nor write and who do not encourage them to develop language or mathematical skills. All the above accounts for the great inequality of educational opportunities affecting a big percentage of children with no access to Preschool, as compared to those who do attend.

What the project will achieve

The project we are funding seeks to address this problem at Villa Blanca de Delicia Centro and Barrio Pueblo Nuevo, both communities located at Puerto Mado, Misiones province. The project is directed to two precarious huts, which presently attract children due to a milk service program, and is conceived to turn these huts into Community Centers prepared to promote literacy and provide educational assistance, therefore compensating the impossibility of attending preschool.

Fundación Leer has planned this project to be implemented in two years:

• Year 1: The work will be focused on the creation of literacy encouraging environments and the training of local leaders to work with the children and adults of the two communities.
• Year 2: Getting Ready to School program will be implemented at both locations. Both centers will acquire the necessary capabilities to render early childhood literacy services to children 0 to 5 years of age, thus preparing them for transition to primary school.

Direct Beneficiaries

120 children ages 0 to 5 + 700 children above 5 + 280 families and the adults who will be trained as literacy promotion agents.

Indirect Beneficiaries

Eldorado Teachers School students who will work as project volunteers.

PRESS RELEASE

Pre-race press release

IMD MBA class tells global decision-makers: commitment, endurance and teamwork needed to reverse global poverty,

LAUSANNE, 25 September 2006--IMD’s MBA class of 2006 is taking time off from their job searches to prepare for an intense multi-sport relay across Switzerland. The twin purpose: raising funds for an anti-poverty project in Argentina while sending a stark message to global leaders.

IMD is a leading international business school based in Lausanne. Its 2006 MBA class, consisting of 90 young managers from 45 countries, will cycle, run, swim, kayak and rollerblade 560 kilometers from Davos to Geneva between Saturday 30 September to Monday 2 October.

The challenge, dubbed HandsOn Argentina, will mobilize resources for a project helping children from poor families in Argentina, the destination of the class’ Discovery Expedition this summer. The funds raised will support LEER, an Argentinean NGO, in building two early childhood learning centers benefiting more than 800 children and 250 families.

“In Buenos Aires, we met incredibly courageous and skillful community leaders and entrepreneurs busy rebuilding an economy and a country. But we also saw gut-wrenching misery and suffering in the shantytowns, so we felt compelled to make a contribution,” said IMD MBA participant Paru Sankar (Indian). According to the World Bank, no country in recent history has seen a greater increase in poverty and inequality over one generation.

The HandsOn Argentina challenge seeks to connect the fight against poverty to a broader theme: cross-border collaboration and exchanges of goods, services and knowledge. That is why the relay will end in front of the World Trade Organization’s headquarters in Geneva, where representatives of the class will be met by WTO Deputy Director Valentine Rugwabiza to deliver a message to political and business leaders: commit to reviving global trade talks in favor of development, or face growing poverty, increasing instability, and diminishing business opportunities across the world.

“There is no silver bullet for reducing poverty, in Argentina or elsewhere,” said MBA participant Ivar Slengesol (Norwegian). “Tearing down high trade barriers won’t be enough. But we know that trade can spur technology and innovation, which are important drivers of economic development.”

Leaders of the 149 countries making up the WTO came together in 2001 a few weeks after the September 11 terrorist attacks to launch the so-called Doha Development Agenda. This round of trade negotiations was supposed to benefit developing countries. But the talks broke down in July this year after leaders failed to reach agreement on how to cut agricultural subsidies and tariffs.

MBA participant Cristianne Close (Argentinean) said: “The collapsed trade talks risk poisoning international relations, in politics, economics and business. The ripple effects will be felt everywhere, from my country’s poor shantytowns to corporate board rooms across the world. We need a world built on collaboration and solidarity, not self-interest and defeatism.”

The IMD team will start the race in Davos on Saturday 30 September at 9 AM, taking a route via Bern and Lausanne before ending up at the WTO in Geneva on Monday 2 October at 10 AM.

“As members of the world’s top-ranked international MBA program, we count ourselves among the winners of globalization,” said MBA participant Fabiano Costa (Brazilian). “We feel responsibility for shaping a more inclusive world. Because if we don’t, we’ll all end up losing. I have joined this challenge because there is no better way than through sports to convey to decision-makers what we think they should now demonstrate: commitment, endurance and teamwork.”