BEING THE largest parastatal company in a country where a lingering civil war threatens to thwart every attempt at social development often proves to be a frustrating responsibility. As the revenues of the national oil company, Sonangol, increase, more money is available to the government for development projects, education, health and humanitarian aid. But at the same time, the conflict makes every improvement at the social level precarious. In a bid to ease international concern that national oil funds were being used to finance the country's war against UNITA rebels, Angola entered into a monitoring agreement with the International Monetary Fund that establishes transparency and accountability within the government.

The agreement was a clear sign that Angola was willing to work with the international community on a wide range of social issues that affect not only Angola, but the rest of the region as well. Long before the international community became involved, however, Sonangol had been working on its own to improve the lives of Angolans through numerous social projects. One of its major victories has been the company's well-managed and far-reaching campaign to educate Angolans on how to prevent the spread of AIDS in the country. Between 1985 and 1999, about 470,000 Angolans were reported to be HIV positive.

Those numbers remained steady during 2000 thanks to the Health Ministry's education strategy in which Sonangol plays a key role. Each month in its in-house publication NGOL, for example, Sonangol devotes an entire page to teaching thou-sands of employees how to prevent the spread of the disease and donates money to finance similar campaigns throughout the nation. Sonangol's commitment to the well-being of the nation, however, goes beyond health education. The company also spends a good deal of its resources on training. Its subsidiary Sonangol Distribuidora, for example, is currently concentrating on the development of organizational projects and human resources by training specialists in more mature and more competitive markets.

The company is also setting up social security systems in order to attract experts in state-of-the-art technology, advanced management techniques and modern information technology. Sonangol also provides support to institutions of higher learning outside the oil sector. Thanks in a large part to Sonangol contributions, the Angola Education Assistance Fund, Inc. was created as a non-profit organization to pro-vide financial and logistical sup-port to the Catholic University of Angola. The national oil company also sponsors sports and other cultural events. Sonangol sponsored seven members of the Angolan National Basket-ball team to train in the United States in preparation for the African championships and a place in the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia. The group of players took part in a three-month intensive conditioning and training pro-gram which began in December 1998 at Southwest Texas State University.

Other humanitarian areas in which Sonangol is involved in have to do with alleviating the effects of the country's civil war. In areas hardest hit by the conflict, Sonangol has become a household name among local residents in need of aid. Recently, the oil company donated medicine to the northern Malanje province's military hospital and the local national police health center. Sonangol's good deeds have not gone unnoticed by its multinational partners.

Not only do they provide much-needed jobs, but most of these international oil giants also carry out development programs throughout the communities in which they operate. Chevron, for example, is one of the largest investors in sub-Saharan Africa and has been making additional investments in educational, health and job training programs in Angola for some 40 years. As one top Chevron executive notes, "we are in a position to help Angola achieve its twin objectives of boosting its economy and better meeting the social needs of its people… and we are committed to helping."

PARTNERS IN development

ALTHOUGH THE United States is the main market for Angolan oil, U.S. relations with this key Southern African nation go much deeper than the deepest Atlantic well. To further nurture those ties the two countries have formed a Bilateral Consultative Commission to promote a strategic partnership. In a show of support for the commission, Chevron recently hosted a delegation of Angolan business leaders on a tour of the U.S. to meet with their U.S. counterparts in the fishing, poultry and timber industries and discuss business opportunities in Angola.

The so-called reverse trade mission was underwritten by Chevron with the support of the U.S. government and the U.S.-Angola Chamber of Commerce and was described by its organizers as a "significant first step in transferring knowledge and technology from experienced business people in the U.S. to their Angolan counter-parts." In October 2000, senior Angolan and U.S. officials met in Washington for the third meeting of the Bilateral Consultative Commission.

The talks focused mainly on the state of bilateral relations as well as political, economic and social developments in Angola. According to the Angolan Health Ministry, social and humanitarian issues included Angola's plans to implement a poverty reduction program, while both sides agreed on the need for close consultation on raising funds to combat HIV/AIDS. Both delegations praised the contribution of several U.S. companies to the Angolan government's pro-gram to fight against HIV/AIDS as it demonstrated a new public- private partnership in Angola toward social development issues. Another public-private partnership was announced in Luanda last August, this time between Texaco and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to assist development activities in Angola.

According to Texaco officials, the support to be provided by USAID and the Texaco Global Fund will assist in developing agricultural and educational programs throughout the nation. Upon announcing the partner-ship, Texaco's managing director for Angola, Martin Eldon, explained that the Texaco Global Fund was created "to identify and support particularly innovative approaches to pressing community needs in those countries where we do business. The first project under this unique collaboration will provide support for homeless children," he said.