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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There is a lot of discussion on the vulnerability of environmental laws and the loopholes which makes it easier for the companies to deceive the authorities about their environmental footprint. Recycling of the electronic waste is a major headache as it involves a lot of bucks. The easiest way of getting rid of the e-waste is to dump it in the developing countries and this practice has been in place for many years.

A recent research by the Government Accountability Office revealed that many companies are exporting e-waste materials, including CRT monitors, to the third world countries instead of recycling at home due to relaxed regulations. In environmental reports, however, they claim that they have recycled it by themselves and in full compliance with the international standards.

What these companies have failed to comprehend is that their negligence is killing people in those countries where these parts are ‘recycled’. Pakistan along with India and China are major importers of e-waste. The recycling of these materials is done under extremely dangerous procedures without any safety measures. As a result, the workers involved in the recycling industry become victims of debilitating diseases.

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CDF Software, parent of Social Bridges, and Telenor recently issued a press release in major dailies of Pakistan announcing the launch of our blog. The PR was aimed at creating awareness about our efforts and to engage with more and more people.

Here is the statement as it appeared in The News:

By our correspondent
9/20/2008 ISLAMABAD: CDF Software and Telenor Pakistan on Thursday announced the launch of Social Bridges (socialbridges.org), a corporate social responsibility (CSR) blog on the internet.

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

1. Is a CSR slowdown in the making or is it just a hoax?

While we can have an endless heated debate on the issue but what should be an ideal strategy to stay responsible in troubling times. Osbter Lancaster gives us some tips.

Here is Social Bridges opinion on this whole debate.

2. Green intent is the key

Motivation and intent play a key role when it comes to green consumerism, isn’t it?

3. Transparency of sustainability reports

As we recently reported, a research discovered that the sustainability and environmental reports of many giants are lacking a core pre-requisite; sustainability.

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Safeguarding of employees’ rights and implementation of labour laws is now a deep rooted phenomenon in the developed countries and increasingly in many developing countries as well. It’s inconceivable for a western employee now to think about any cruel labour practices of the past. But for employees and labourers in many developing countries, it is actually an everyday fact.

I’ll focus my attention on the labour practices and employees persecution in Pakistan here. We do have ample labour laws and employees protection acts but often times they are not implemented in the true sense of the word. Many employers, including the global giants, usually come down like a ton of bricks when it comes to labour laws and fair trade practices. Take the case of Unilever for example. The company has dismissed scores of workers as they were demanding their basic right to join a trade union. As discussed before, this FMCG has some really dubious practices when it comes to the protection of employees rights.

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Samantha Cleaver from the WorldChanging team not-so-recently wrote a good piece on the infamous relationship between money and happiness which is worth reading - Social Bridges.

Imagine a ladder with 10 rungs. Now, imagine that the lowest rung (0) is the worst possible life that you could have and the highest rung (10) is the best. Where would you fall on that ladder?

If you’re like almost half (49 percent) of Americans, you’re “thriving” on rung seven through 10, according to the most recent Gallup World poll. Another 47 percent of us are “struggling” on rungs five through six, and four percent are “suffering” below rung four.

Looking into the backstory behind the overall estimates of “thriving” vs. “suffering,” we learn that the vast majority of Americans surveyed (84 percent) experienced enjoyment the day before participating. In comparison, only 38 percent experienced stress, 30 percent were worried, and 23 percent felt physical pain. A large percent (67 percent) ate healthy food the day before, 60 percent did something interesting, while only 33 percent worried about money. It’s these factors—not feeling pain, not worrying about money, and having options to do and eat what we enjoy—that are associated with happiness.

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Proctor & Gamble is a global giant when it comes to consumer products. The Fortune 500 company is making huge profits since its establishment and has also been involved in community work. P&G commenced its operations in Pakistan in 1991 and since then has captured a large share of the consumer goods market. The Pakistani subsidiary, like its parent, has been involved in community projects mainly revolving around health and education. Social Bridges arranged an interview with Ms. Nausheen Jivani of P&G Pakistan to know more about the CSR activities of the company. Nausheen is currently working as Associate Manger, External Relations at P&G Pakistan.

Social Bridges: How would you define the CSR policy of P&G?

Nausheen: CSR is actually ingrained in the core business strategy of P&G, in our values and literally what the company stands for. The actual motto of the company is Touching lives, Improving lives and that’s incorporated in every single thing we do. It’s the philosophy of the company that the corporate sector can be source of good for the world. The way CSR works for us is that every single thing we do whether its brand related or marketing related or totally on a corporate level without any connection to our brand, it should have an element of taking responsibility and taking responsibility for the community we operate in.

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It’s quite sometime that companies have started printing corporate responsibility and sustainability reports. While this trend has also got some supporters in the developing world but many are still not coming up to the standards. The procedures used for environmental reporting, among other things, are quite dubious according to the experts.

Many also opine that these reports are a mere eyewash and a source of image building and an easy way of boosting PR. Another very important aspect, which is often overlooked at least in developing countries, is the transparency factor. Do the researchers dissect the environmental and social claims put forward in these reports? A recent research study found that 80% of the Fortune 50 report environmental sustainability information online, mostly in dedicated sub-domains.

The study also found that accountability is way lower in these reports as no third-party verification has been used nor the readers can access the actual data sets. Some other very startling facts have been revealed in the study.

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