Leadership and Organizational Behavior

IKEA is a social initiative that works together with UNICEF in various capacities, such as strategic social investments, fundraising promotional activities, cause-related marketing promotions, and sales of UNICEF greeting cards. The compatibility of the two organizations is attributed to the deep commitment to being socially responsible and taking care of the children's needs and the problems affecting them in society, such as child labor. IKEA social initiative donates more than a hundred and eighty U.S. dollars in a bid to facilitate UNICEF programs that are inclined towards improving and saving the lives of the children and their families.

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IKEA social initiative was formed in 2005 with the aim of advancing its commitment and take care of the children's rights regarding their health and facilitate their access to quality education. The above social children's social programs are carried out globally. Before IKEA, the social initiative grew and developed into an organization that creates an enabling environment of different aspects to children; it had started as an organization that once fought against child labor.

Currently, the organization is focused on ensuring a change in the lives of the children and women through investing in a varied range of programs that target their education and empowerment to women that will create a better future for them. IKEA social initiative has researched and identified regions with a high prevalence of violation of women and children's rights, which are parts of South Asia with a high number cited in India. Here, the organization has embarked on disbursing its services based on the needs of the victims.

Commitment on the part of the IKEA social initiative has also been portrayed in India where the organization has integrated with UNICEF in the country to promote economic and social empowerment of women and education rights of the children, their survival, protection, and their participation in the carpet belt region of India. For the continuity of the organization activities towards child support in India, the organization signed an additional contract with UNICEF pledging more than a hundred million dollars.

The organization engages other stakeholders that are concerned about the welfare of the children and women throughout the world by advocacy campaigning and conducting cause-related marketing campaigns in support of UNICEF. Donations have been made by IKEA for the past five years yielding millions of shillings to support the educational programs in a bid to provide a better future for the children around the world.

Consequently, some of the in-kind donations that have been made by the IKEA social initiative include the donation of tables that have been used in health care facilities and schools in countries like Liberia and Burundi. The organization has also offered quilts in tsunami-hit countries like Sri Lanka and Indonesia and blankets, sheets, bowls, sleeping bags, and bath towels for the earthquake-stricken China and Pakistan.

IKEA social initiative also has an emergency response and rehabilitation programs that are focused on helping out during the initial stages of an emergency, particularly with the donation of products. The above is supplemented by investment in the long-term recovery measures and rehabilitation efforts. A good example of the above is the effort that was rendered by the organization in China in 2008 during the earthquake that happened in Gansu province in China. The organization responded immediately with material goods addressing the urgent needs of the children and the affected communities.

References

United Nations. (2020). IKEA Social Initiative. Retrieved from https://business.un.org/en/documents/8372