Beverage maker donates over $23m to project

BEIJING -The 100th primary school sponsored by Coca-Cola Co under the China Youth Development Foundation (CYDF)'s Project Hope was inaugurated in Chongqing in Southwest China on Aug 19.

"Coca-Cola is the first multinational company to join in cooperation with us and has donated the most to Project Hope of all transnational corporations up to now," said Tu Meng, secretary-general of the CYDF.

Since establishing the partnership in 1993, Coca-Cola has donated more than 150 million yuan ($23.44 million) to Project Hope. Its donations have provided subsidies for about 3,600 students from impoverished rural families and financed the training of more than 1,000 primary school teachers.

"We are more inclined to focus on establishing a sustainable development mode for these schools than dwell on how much we have donated," said Tian Wenhong, sustainability director of public affairs and communications for Cola-Cola Greater China.

"We've been aiming to build a mode that promises our beneficiaries sustainable development. The sustainable development doesn't refer to the school itself, but a mechanism in which government plays the dominant role and non-governmental organizations coordinate with it to promote sustainable development," Tu said.

Coca-Cola was a large contributor to Project Hope's internationalization in the initial stage of its development. At the Atlanta Olympic Games in 1996, as the biggest sponsor, Coca-Cola involved three Project Hope beneficiaries in the torch relay. After that, it invited students from Project Hope to large-scale international competitions or sporting events, increasing the program's influence overseas.

It is also the first corporation to equip primary school classrooms with the Internet, Tu said.

After the devastating 2008 earthquake in Wenchuan, the partnership entered a new era. Responding to post-quake reconstruction efforts, Coca-Cola disbursed 20 million yuan in an immediate relief fund after the quake and donated 80 million yuan afterward toward the reconstruction of schools.

"All of my colleagues are very excited to learn that all of our four sponsored schools in the quake-hit areas are still standing after the disaster," said Tian.

Against the backdrop of the earthquake, the CYDF and the beverage company set a new standard for building schools in Sichuan province, ensuring students have better conditions for living, eating, exercising and personal hygiene.

After building the schools, Coca-Cola builds follow-up facilities such as libraries and multimedia classrooms.

To assess the achievement in its efforts in Project Hope, Tian said, the only standard is whether the beneficiary really benefits from the program.

"How to help students develop to their full potential is our biggest challenge in the future," Tian said.

With 100 schools in operation now, great efforts are required to manage them well in a sustainable manner, not just in capital investment, but also through the investment of other resources, she added.

By the end of the year, more than 50 schools will have been constructed after the disaster in quake-hit areas, expanding the total of Coca-Cola-sponsored schools under the Project Hope program to 118.