DSM Zambia: Make it rain!

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Make it rain!

On 11th June, 2008, we arrived for a formal orientation course (communication strategies, stress management, security briefing etc.) at the WFP HQs, Rome. Light showers greeted us as we made our way to the reception passing our way through the security cordon with ease even though we learnt Laura (Bush) was expected to arrive there a little later to be part of the Quarterly Executive Board Meeting of WFP. Unmindful of roar of the helicopters, we set for an introduction to the representatives of the Private Partnership and …..who gave a first hand experience of a WFP assignment in field in general and Zambia in particular. We signed the UN contracts and from now we are the UN Staff for assignment Zambia. Great

http://www.thetimes.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=784042
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23856792-23109,00.html

1 comment:

@win said...: Dear team,

Wishing you success on your assignment in Zambia. I like the fact that this is an ongoing program, not just stoppiing after 2 weeks: you are setting the foundation for teams that will follow up on the results you achieve. I am looking forward to your next postings!

Edwin; June 16, 2008 at 12:44 AM

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Carolien van Heerebeek

Hi, my name is Carolien van Heerebeek, 25 years old and I work at DSM Sourcing at Sittard, the Netherlands for the department (Bio) Chemicals.

My personal motivation to join this project is that during my stay in India I have seen many poor people, but as girl on my own there I was not able to help them. This project does give me the opportunity to help people that we born in a less developed part of the world in a sustainable way. Especially young children, but also their parents will benefit from the information on healthier food usage and with this a better future for the whole society in the long term can be build.

Furthermore my department shows a lot of interest in sustainability since the economical footprint of DSM is for a large part determined by the raw materials that are purchased. DSM Purchasing has also adopted one of the schools included in the School Feeding Program, the Community School at Lusaka. I am very eager to visit this school and find out what we can do to support them even more!

Vikram Sharma

I lead the site Human Resource (HR) function for the manufacturing facility of DSM Anti-Infectives India since 2005. Besides the core functional aspects of HR, I have keen interest in Social Responsibility/ Sustainability and have been actively involved in various initiatives at the local level (for instance fundraising for victims of natural disasters, organizing run for AIDS awareness, village development schemes around the DAI manufacturing site, blood donation camps etc.); Torch; Water 4 Life (www.water4life.eu) etc. I enjoy participating in the Employee Engagement interventions of DSM-WFP partnership and the Global Children Arts Competition in Jan 2008 was a great success, in India.

I stay in Chandigarh which is a modern, well planned city located at the foothills of Shivalik range of mountains in Northern part of India and was designed by the famous French architect, Le Corbusier.

My wife works for a school which provides free education and food to almost 900 students who come for economically weaker section of society. My daughter studies in grade II and younger son in Kindergarden. I love watching soccer and indulge in gardening as well as socialising. Reading Business subjects keeps me engaged on weekends besides spending quality time with family.

I have done my Masters in Business Administration and specialized in Human Resources from Symbiosis Institute of Business Management, Pune, India.

I consider myself really fortunate for having got an opportunity to represent DAI as well as India in the DSM-WFP assignment in Zambia (June 2008 team)

Marianne Kuppens

I am Marianne Kuppens and work since January as a chemical engineer for DSM in Geleen (DMC – DME).

Who/what: I studied chemical engineering in Eindhoven and after graduating I studied a year at the College des Ingenieurs in Paris (MBA). After working for ExxonMobil in Meerhout (B) and in Rotterdam, I started this year in Geleen for DSM - moving back to the south of the Netherlands.

Why did I apply for this assignment:

It’s a great opportunity to be able to go to Africa – an impressive continent with its own culture – and try to make a difference, do something!! We will have the chance to get to know the people of Zambia in a different way than when ‘just visiting’ as tourists. We will be working together on a very important task: improve the (knowledge of) nutrition and health, focussing on 4th graders (who can then in their way spread their knowledge to all the community). It is a challenge, especially since we will only be working with the Zambian people for 2 weeks, but we are with a group of 4 enthusiastic people and the next groups in October will built further on the ground work we have done..

Adri Geeve

I work as R&D Chemist at the Analytical Department of DSM Resins in Zwolle (Netherlands). The Analytical team is a shared service for research, marketing and customers' service for performance materials world wide. It's really challenging to accelerate innovation with our knowledge base. DSM Resins in Zwolle is a beautiful site with a wide variety of business groups such as Neo Resins, Powder Coating Resins, Composite Resins and New Business Development. More information look at our website http://www.dsm.com/en_US/html/dcr/legal.htm

For the last 6 years I was also involved in the work counsel. Sustainable Entrepreneurship is a very important statement for our company. It gives a focus on people, planet and profit.My motivation to participate in the Zambia project together with the World Food Programme is my belief that we as individuals and as a company can make the difference.

Once I visited the mountain people in Peru and friends came up with arguments as: 'Why should you help them….they have their own values and we have ours'.My answer was that 'hunger' is not a value…. it's our enemy! It is the number one killer on our planet!Passion for people is my motivation to make the difference in the fight against hunger.Let's fight together with the weapons of innovation, knowledge, money and love.

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Make it rain!

1 comment:

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