Sri Lanka’s CSR to be directed towards national priority needs
In a farsighted move to direct corporate social responsibility (CSR) projects towards national priority needs, CSR Lanka has taken an initiative to bring private sector firms under one umbrella organisation for the benefit of the society.CSR Lanka will provide knowhow and expertise for its membership of over 40 private sector corporate entities spending around Rs. 4 billion annually for CSR projects to recognise and identify critical development projects of national importance, Chandula Abeywickrema, Chairman of CSR Lanka told a media briefing in Colombo this week.
He noted that that these development projects come under seven strategic pillars of youth empowerment and social entrepreneurship,education, health and welfare , water and sanitation, disaster relief, food security and environment.
Most of the business enterprises were voluntarily practising corporate philanthropy contributing towards the social and environmental needs; he said adding that such companies should be directed towards implementing national priority projects.
CSR Lanka plans to set up a platform for resource sharing, build a network of organisations to facilitate relevant partnerships, develop a frame work to assess the effectiveness and value through varied CSR efforts, Mr. Abeywickrema revealed. He noted that this initiative encapsulates the core concepts of sustainability and shared value creation.
MVO Nederland (CSR Netherlands) is to provide a unique training opportunity for Sri Lanka’s leading CSR specialists and two of their experts will visit the island later this month to conduct as special workshops, he disclosed.
MVO Nederland is the largest CSR business network in Europe, and renowned as a knowledge centre for CSR.
Deputy Chairman of CSR Lanka Rizvi Zaheed told the Business Times that they are planning to issue internationally recognised certificate like the certificate of country of origin for corporate entities practising good CSR under their umbrella organsisation.
An effective monitoring and evaluation system will be implemented by the organisation to harness maximum benefits for the society through CSR projects.
The organisation will conduct a CSR Conference on October 3 at the Cinnamon Lakeside. This will be the first conference of this nature in Sri Lanka.
“This conference will kick start our goal of creating a more structured and cohesive CSR strategy for the country and will see the participation of most corporates in the country and a host of renowned speakers, both international and local,” said Mr. Abeywickrema.
The founder of CSR International and world-renowned speaker Prof. Wayne Visser will take centre stage speaking on the importance of sustainability leadership. Economist, author and Executive Director of the Institute of Policy Studies, Prof. Saman Kelegama will share his expertise on the national priorities and importance of stakeholder focus.
The other notable speakers include Udena Wickremesooriya, Director – Brandix Lanka Ltd, Pearl Tiwari – Joint Vice President of CSR at Ambuja Cement, India and Kushil Gunasekara – Founder and Trustee of the Foundation of Goodness.
“This will be an ideal platform to start the first phase of understanding the importance of a cohesive and strategic CSR structure for the private sector, and also initiate the initial networking opportunity to get things started,” said Mr. Abeywickrema adding that a white paper will be prepared after the conference with the concurrence of participants.