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Up Front: Green card or green wash?

Matthew Pudney, chairman of business communications and sustainability specialists The Hannover Consultancy. He has worked with a range of not-for-profit organisations.

This project goes a lot further than the standard team-building andleadership scheme. Real thought has gone into it, along with a fairdegree of ingenuity and practicality. It appears that not only did theColliers CRE and Nationwide employees who volunteered have a good time,so did the pupils from the schools involved. What particularly impressesis just how teamwork, sustainability, informal education,skills-building, citizenship and community relations are all broughtinto play. But what really adds to its distinction is that it isreaching out to support the needs of orphans a world away from Swindon,Leeds or London.

Hopefully this HR-led scheme is to be properly evaluated as to thebenefits to the companies, the volunteers, the children, and to therecipient communities in the developing world that received 40,000. A great foundation on which to build.