In the last post, I discussed the religious giving trends of Pakistan. Religious giving represents a major chunk of philanthropy in Pakistan - roughly around 70-80% of the total donations. Charity for social causes or natural and man made disasters comes second. Social philanthropy is not a very developed concept in Pakistan, both in the masses as well as the corporate sector. Let me remind you that the masses can’t give much as Pakistan already has abnormally high rate of those living below and just at the peripheries of poverty line.

Corporate sector, on the other hand, has the resources to help. Donations for organizations working in the field of education, health and general uplift have seen a steady increase in recent years. While many NGOs are dependent on foreign funding for their operations, some are also receiving significant corporate donations. However, many corporate entities are still reluctant to open their coffers for social causes. Read more…

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ENGRO Chemical Pakistan Ltd., is the premier fertilizer manufacturing and marketing company of Pakistan that has also ventured into chemicals, foods and energy sector. Being a highly profitable company, its involvement in the socially responsible activities is also quite significant. Social Bridges recently conducted an interview with the company’s resident manager at Islamabad, Mr. Nauman Shaikh, to know more about the company and its social values.

Social Bridges: How would you define CSR and what’s ENGRO’s vision of CSR?

Nauman: CSR in my opinion is linked with triple bottom line spectrum. In recent past, companies’ annual reports mentioned just one bottom line; profits. Now the things are changing. The thinking and philosophy of ENGRO complies with the global guidelines and initiatives. We are a signatory of UN Global Compact and have based our CSR program on its 10 principles. Our CEO says,

My vision for ENGRO is to see consistent focus on objectives and investment in a sustainable future, as the way forward.

Sustainability comes with everything. If your stakeholders are happy with you, if you are equal opportunity employer and if you are not polluting the environment then you are a sustainable company.

Social Bridges: What about the environmental footprint? I went through CSR reports as well as annual reports and some of your environmental targets especially those related to emissions were not met. Why?

Nauman: We have accepted in our reports that we have failed to achieve those targets while others don’t even care to mention that; infact they hide such facts. We actually set very high standards for ourselves. Each year we set our targets quite higher than the previous year. So what I can say is that we strive our best to reach those benchmarks and many a times we do achieve these targets. Read more…

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Social Bridges presents the weekly rundown of the best posts on corporate social responsibility, sustainability and greener options.

1. Climate change poses a major road block to MDGs

Rapid climatic changes, especially those in the poor countries, are proving to be a major bottleneck in the achievement of millennium development goals but we’ve got the solutions.

2. What is thoughtless environmentalism?

Are we heading towards a customer-friendly environmentalism where we don’t have to go through the ordeal of sorting green products out or is it just a fantasy? Quinn McKew elaborates.

3. How to be socially responsible during economic recession?

The economic downturn has become a source of major debate all over the world. Companies can maintain their social activities by acting on these tips.

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Google has come up with an excellent idea titled Project 10¹⁰⁰ which is actually an open invitation for every citizen of this planet to put forward his/her ideas for change in the form of 30-seconds videos or proposals or both. The basic theme of the project is to help people achieving their goals. This help can be in the field of environment, education, health, community or any other sector.

Google has already committed $10 million for the implementation of the proposed projects. That’s what we call social responsibility and we hope that Google will increase its commitment in future.Do participate if you want to bring your ideas to life!

Here is the official video of the project.

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Combating climate change has never been an easy task. Also it was never considered as a profession and volunteers were often looked down upon by the corporate folks. They were partially right in their approach as climate change had very little employment opportunities to offer with very low success rates.

Fortunately that’s not the case anymore. Recently ILO, UNEP, the International Trade Union Confederation and the International Organization of Employers joined hands to examine the job opportunities in the climate change sector. They have come up with a detailed report titled Green Jobs: Towards Decent Work in a Sustainable, Low-Carbon World which can prove to be a landmark for a green road map for jobs creation.

Read more…

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In one of my earlier posts, I discussed India’s leap forward in microfinancing medical treatments as a pilot microcredit scheme has started disbursing loans for heart surgery. Although the CSR scene in India is not very different from that of other developing countries, at least one of their state governments is ready to adopt CSR in a more viable manner.

The Government of Karnataka is about to take a landmark decision as it’s drafting a law, which if promulgated, will result in mandatory CSR activities by companies working in the state. This is the same state which started the aforementioned microcredit scheme. The state government has rightfully sensed the double standards of these companies where they were out boasting about their CSR efforts while their employees were working in pathetic conditions.

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Corporate Social Responsibility is a much debated topic these days. This topic is so diverse and can lead to so many discussions and possibilities that one can’t even imagine. However, we have to draw some lines and set some standards. There are some unified roles for CSR activities for example. The basic one is that you have to venture out in community in the same sector which is your specialty, your industry.

Compliance with this basic pre-requisite is on the rise but there are still some glitches. Many businesses, especially those of the developing countries, generally abstain from being a good corporate citizen within their own scope of business. They might be involved in charity or education related activities but if you look at their socially responsible efforts you would find some serious discrepancies. Starting with socially responsible business, many industries are not complying with the environmental laws thus posing serious risks to lives and natural resources.

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Acid Survivors Foundation has been working on acid violence issues since 2006. The ultimate goal of ASF is to eliminate acid violence from Pakistan. Social Bridges recently conducted an interview with ASF Executive Director Ms. Valerie Khan Yousufzai to extract details about her organization.

Social Bridges: When did it all started. What was the idea/motivation behind starting an organization for acid victims in Pakistan?

Valerie: Well I got this idea after visiting a beauty salon in Lahore. There I came across many acid victims who were undergoing treatment (Smile Again Foundation). Since I discovered the issue, I decided that we ought to do something as well. Some British donors approached us who were eager to help but wanted us to create an NGO for that. So that was the start of our journey.

Social Bridges: I went through your Web site and found that your focus is on Southern Punjab. Do you have any plans to expand in other regions of Pakistan?

Valerie: Most of our victims are from Southern Punjab, certainly. But that doesn’t mean that we’ve restricted ourselves to just that region. We are also expanding to other areas. Right now we are exploring the possibility to expand our operations to Sindh, especially Karachi.

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Andrew from Good Honest Dollar continues his discussion on socially responsible investing. This time writing from a company’s point of view.

This article is the sixth in a series on Socially Responsible Investing (SRI), otherwise known as ethical investing.

In this post, I would like to discuss the consequences, from a company’s point of view, of being successful or otherwise in attracting ethical investment.

Some commentators argue that attraction of the ethical investment dollar provides an incentive for firms to adopt positive ethical behavior. But is attracting ethical investment really important to a firm? Does attracting SRI really matter?

In order to understand the consequences for a company of attracting socially responsible investment, we first need to examine two issues - the nature of these consequences and the magnitude of such consequences.

In this post, I will examine the nature of the consequences for a firm in attracting ethical investment – the question of why it matters.

The following post will deal with the magnitude of such consequences – the question of how much it matters.

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Social Bridges continues enlightening its readers with the recent trends and innovations in the green sector. This time we have focused on only a few but really promising green innovations.

• 3-D Solar Cells

A Chinese kiddo has come up with a mind blowing design for the solar batteries. His invention provides nine times more solar power as compared with the most advanced 2-D solar cells. Click here for more details.

• Bikers may go green

The bikers culture might go green if this bike is able to garner massive attention and popularity.

• Green minis to power your gadgets

Tiny wind generators can be handy when the battery of your gadgets take a break.

• Gandhian energy

The spinning wheel that was popularized by Gandhi can be used and some people are actually using it to generate power.

• Yo Yo iPhone

A new and greener way of charging your iPhone can be found here.

The last post of this series can be read here.

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