AI spent June 2012-March 2014 as a VSO/Community Self Reliance Centre (CSRC) volunteer, which was a tremendous way for me to learn about Nepali society and share some of my skills. One of my hopes was that I would make inroads into Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR); another to create awareness about my organisations and the third being to take up whatever opportunities presented themselves, including further helping to develop sports for disabled persons. On the second count I feel that I’ve succeeded, taking up journalism through writing for newspapers, magazines, blogging on sharing4good.org and Huffington Post UK, as well as, hosting a TV Show, Inspirations, on NTV2. On the third count I’ve also been able to make an impact through connecting with a large number of organisations working with disabled people, co-coaching the Nepal Army Wheelchair Basketball Team and mentoring a number of Nepalis to take up coaching disabled people.
CSR doesn’t have to be complicated and is open to a number of definitions. But, civil society, the corporate sector and government needs to have more understanding and build trusting relationships in order to further implement this potentially in-depth partnership. CSR isn’t only about philanthropy or giving money to a worthy cause, e.g. scholarships for orphans, although I don’t discount this. However, this is usually a one-time gift, something close to the CEO’s heart and may not be sustainable sans the corporate.
In order to be successful CSR has to create shared value, including civil society and local communities in creating meaningful partnerships. Every sector has its role to play, however the corporate sector and entrepreneurs generate wealth, employ many of us and need to take a lead. This can occur if corporates are willing to work with existing civil society and government infrastructure, not duplicating that which already exists. This might translate into needing more patience, but the longer term results, i.e. creating “common good or agendas”, can only lead to deeper societal benefits.
In 2005, The International Child Resource Institute (ICRI-Nepal) created an Alliance for Corporate Social Responsibility (A-CSR) in order to build a sustainable social force benefiting children through public, private and local partnerships. The National Business Initiative was organized to build sustainable peace and has a business ethics: code of conduct in place. There are education projects between N-Cell and Save the Children , Chaudhary Group-Yunus Centre are developing the infrastructure to start a Social Business Fund and the Phul Kumari Mahato Memorial Trust is working in a number of areas to further positive development. There are also a variety of other corporate efforts taking place and these are all very worthwhile at promoting CSR.
I always want to do more, i.e. really focus efforts in raising the level of conversation and more importantly implementation. This takes direct dialogue with civil society and the government in determining appropriate integrated development models. It is fine to provide, e.g. scholarships for orphans, but what about reducing inequalities by giving all children a head start through pre-school education, creating child friendly environments, with limited class size and brightly painted walls with lots of books. What about having an abundance of well-staffed health centers, as well as, necessary resources based on VDC population size, an enabling entrepreneurial environment, land for those who just want to farm and a plethora of jobs, so that people don’t have to migrate, leave their families, breaking down family structure?
Recently Engage, a social venture promoting flexible, part time volunteerism for Nepali citizens, ICRI and myself collaborated in hosting a meeting to further discuss CSR, to determine what the opportunities/understanding might be in Nepal. The meeting included about 20 people, among others, representatives from GIZ, The Nepal School of Social Work, Summit Hotel, Karuna Foundation, Standard Chartered Bank and NBI. This became an opportunity to try to understand the various perspectives of CSR. What I found was a mixed bag, e.g. Standard Chartered (on their website) states that CSR is an integral part of their business and that it is a mainstay of the Bank's values. The Bank believes in delivering shareholder value in a socially, ethically an environmentally responsible manner. Other people were confused about what exactly CSR means. One participant asked how can businesses be conducting a kind of philanthropic CSR throughout society, when they aren’t treating their employees well or paying a livable wage? I also came to find out that there isn’t much emphasis, i.e. courses in colleges on ethical business practices.
This comes back to my original intention in working on CSR issues in Nepal. There remains tremendous opportunity and curiosity about how CSR can be taken forward in the country. The question then becomes one of how to further understand CSR in a much more in-depth manner, incorporating this into core business objectives, looking at modalities for both internal and external CSR and implementation.
I don’t have the answers, in fact, in facilitating the meeting noted above, I indicated that all I can do is help to facilitate, but that it was up to the Nepalis in the room, who were in the majority, to determine how to take CSR forward. More in-depth CSR is very possible in Nepal with a focus by all sectors, on how to move the country forward for the common good.
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