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Corporate SoCial

reSponSibility
how often have you come across an organisation that capitalises its responsibility rather than profits? or perhaps an organisation that emphasises on keeping customers happy rather than shareholders?

Where money iS not everything...

by casse y o l i v e i ra

UNITED EFFORT
(seated from l-r)maryam al-mansoori, fatma ali alKhater, luisa Gentile, Cindy diCKman, ahmed habib (standinG l-r) ashraf hamouda, alberta stevens, arif Zaher and Gabriel salome.

his may not transcribe as an average business strategy of organisations minting money; but of late several corporate houses are moulding their core business policy in a way to amalgamate elements of social responsibility into their way of functioning, paving the way for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). This change in business trend according to a study by the Institute for Business Value proves that when companies comply with their CSR strategy, they will be more competitive, attract and retain the best talent, and gain access to new business opportunities.

When experts from leading industries came together for the Qatar Today Round Table at the Knowledge Enrichment Centre, they tried defining these elements of CSR in the local context. Concerns were raised regarding how far CSR has reached in the country. To avoid CSR being restricted within the corporation alone, what is required of every corporation is to showcase and share their initiatives with others to produce a ripple-effect across the consortium of stakeholders employees, customers, suppliers and stakeholders. Moreover, for sustainability to thrive alongside CSR strategy, sync between the organisations goal

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and that of the CSR initiative is a prerequisite. Engaging employees to share the same passion as that of the organisation will further aid in assuring a concrete foothold for CSR within the organisation. Sharing their experiences, knowledge and commitments were the eminent group of panellists comprising: Maryam Al-Mansoori, Human Resources Manager, Dohaland; Luisa Gentile, Head of CSR, Vodafone Qatar; Ashraf Hamouda, Senior Partnership & Business Development Manager, United Nations World Food Programme (WFP); Ahmed Habib, Head of Communications, MADA; Cindy Dickman, Student Development Coordinator, Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar; Fatma Ali Al-Khater, Community Relations Group Communications, QTel; Simon Winetroube, Director, British Council; Gabriel Salome, Country Operations, Manager, THE One; Alberta Stevens, Head of Reach Out To Asia (ROTA), Qatar; and Arif Zaher, Director, Al Mana and Associate. The session was moderated by Vani Saraswathi, Managing Editor of Qatar Today. work on a platform where organisations can partner with us to make a direct impact on the community. But the bottom line is about integrity. How much ever engaged you might be in charity or philanthropy in the community, if your organisations or your employees practices and policies dont reflect that; the community is not happy. Conceptually, CSR engulfs everything charity, philanthropy, investment and responsibility. Its incorporating elements of human rights, ethical issues, environment and transparency into your core business strategy to better serve the objectives of the society as a whole.

where to begin?

the fact that every organisation comes across an entire thesis on csr doesnt help when it comes to adopting a policy practically. the Question is: how does one begin a csr initiative? the experts shared their insights on the stepping stones to an effective csr policy.

What is CSR? There are several ways of looking at CSR. The most inappropriate description is looking at CSR as charity donate a part of your profits for a noble cause and you have suddenly turned socially responsible. Unfortunately, charity is less of doing good and more of an easy way out to build a good image of your company in the market. Or maybe some would consider CSR as philanthropy, which is a step ahead ofcharity. In philanthropy, one tries to tackle a particular cause by endowing financial aid and simultaneously imparting the right resources to eliminate the cause of concern. There are a few who even consider the word CSR to be an oxymoron after all, corporations are innately not supposed to be socially responsible. How much of it is true, is for us to decide?

Integrating CSR into corporate culture Many felt that the best way to have a successful CSR approach is by aligning your organisations mission and vision with the needs of the community and customers you deal with. Says Gentile who launched CSR in Vodafone Qatar in March 2009, As a corporate we believe CSR has to be embedded in our companys mission and values. Our company value is to make a difference to the people in Qatar, and we do believe in it. the best way to have a successAccording to Al-Mansoori, engagement of employees and ful csr approach is by aligning corporate culture plays a very your organisations mission important role. If employees and are not engaged in the companys purpose and mission, vision with the needs of the company will not be able the community and to engage itself with the comcustomers you deal with munity and also not be able to have a successful CSR programme. Linking CSR with HR policies Embedding CSR activities in corporate culture requires the right resources the best being employees themselves. Having them passionately engaged with every step is vital for a successful CSR within the company. And taking a step further to contribute to the society voluntarily, even if it crosses the boundary of your actual work is a crucial way of igniting passion. ROTA, for instance, is involved in a lot of volunteering. And being a part of Qatar Foundation, it shares a similar vision of developing the Qatari community in terms of education. But Stevens feels that there is a difference between taking up volunteering as a job and taking up volunteering by your self. Until you engage peoples hearts and minds in that process it doesnt become conviction. Hence during Ramadan, ROTA staff takes up volunteering within the community themselves. The staff need to understand the emerging trends of the community, though this is outside of our work. THE One shares the same idea of engaging em-

And there are some who refuse to use the word CSR as such. Consider THE One, who prefers to call it Socially Responsible Investment. Why? Because all our Do Good initiatives are investments, be it in our people, communities or the future of our children and the planet. Besides doing it from our heart, we believe it makes perfect business sense as customers will rather shop with a company that cares than with a soulless corporation, says Salome. In the case on non-profit organisations like ROTA and British Council, the word is civic responsibility because it involves the community. Stevens says, We

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making the disabled accessible

very individual deserves an equal opportunity of employment irrespective of his or her shortcomings such as disabilities. Despite being a basic human right, organisations are sceptical in terms of productivity when it comes to hiring disabled people. How can I hire him, if hes blind? is the question surfacing the minds of organisaAccEssIbIlITy IssUEs tions says Ahmed Habib who has ahmed habib of worked in areas related to advomada speaKes of the cacy for people with disabilities, ChallenGes earlier from Toronto, and now faCed by the disabled from MADA. Community Sometimes companies might come to you for PR purposes when it comes to hiring disabled people, but you procurement policy is such that they dont buy can take this opportunity to discuss about the abil- any web solutions that are not accessible. We are ity of people with disability to become leaders in also working on accessibility policy for the entire country, says Habib. their workplace or communities. Apart from the web platform, Habib also voices Unless we start implementing these principles ourselves, it will be difficult for people to do it, his concern over the accessibility of the countrys infrastructure, especially transport. says Habib. Mosalawat, which is countrys leading transThe launch of MADA can be perceived as a solid proof of one of the CSR goals of employee satisfac- port-service provider, has only two cars for chaltion and investment. It is the regions first Assis- lenged people which are often booked for a month tive Technology Centre which helps people with or given for maintenance. disabilities to maintain abilities that they possess or gain new ones. They aim to connect disabled So how does Habib plan in making transport with people to the world of information commu- accessible? We could work with Mowasalat and chip in to nication technology in order to develop an accesbuy sets of accessible vans. We could tell them how sible ecosystem. MADA has been working in partnership with to train staff to better serve challenged people, and ICTQatar, Qtel and Vodafone Qatar to enforce ac- also could have a dedicated hotline for people with disabilities, he suggests. cessibility. Habib says, One of the important steps to develop an effective CSR policy is to change the way Infrastructure is developing rapidly in Qayou conduct business yourself as a company. Since tar, but seeing it not correspond to accessibilwe work in the areas of disability, we ensure that ity is painful. In the forte of equal opportunities, THE One also our workplace is accessible, that we are actively employing disabled people, and that we are try- advocates this initiative through their CSR policy. ing to use our leverage with our partners to ensure Our purpose is to integrate those with challenges into the workplace, encouraging greater social that they are accessible as well. integration while providing them with a sense of Even though MADA has contributed a lot to purpose, empowerment and independence, not to empower people with disabilities, is it happy mention an income. In our experience, these individuals have a trewith the way the country is shaping up in mendous amount to offer, inspiring staff and custerms of accessibility? One of our main concerns is the accessibil- tomers alike, says Salome. THE One currently ity the worldwideweb in the country. So we are employs 16 challenged individuals all over its working with ICTQatar to make sure that their stores, four in Qatar itself.

where to begin?

identify the csr activity you are passionate about. and then build a team with the right entrepreneurial principles to start this project just as you would start your business Arif ZAher
direCtor, al mana and assoCiate.

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ployees in CSR activities. Our employees get to choose which causes they wish to support in their local market through local volunteering initiatives and all members of staff are encouraged to take part. Furthermore, all SRI Initiatives are documented and updates shared with all staff (via our intranet) and the world (via our website). This generates pride in the hearts of staff. Even Dohaland has started a recent CSR activity which requires employees to adopt a plant. Says Al-Mansoori, By engaging employees, they become empowered and volunteer to come up with ideas and contribute on how to execute a number of CSR initiatives as part of Dohalands commitment towards the community. Linking CSR with work Since every company deals with a particular domain of service, another perfect way of enforcing CSR is to link the CSR policy with what your organisation is involved with. According to Zaher, the best CSR is the core CSR that you do everyday. Al Mana and Associate are in the construction sector, so we could think of investing in labourers benefits. Being in a particular field, first you focus on your core business strategy and then to other opportunities that arise with partnerships along the way. Moreover, most organisations are bound to have an impact on the environment or even the community, owing to the processes they are involved in such

where to begin?

we were successful in following our companys csr vision. we are ready to teach people about csr, but its necessary to get support GAbriel SAlome
Country operations, manaGer, the one

DEbATING sEssION Qtrt in proGress

youth: the future of csr?

where to begin?
ThE yOUTh OF ANy cOUNTRy ARE DEFINITEly hERAlDs OF csR
alberta stevens is of similar opinion too. our investment is in younG people. beinG the Custodians of the future, they are ChanGinG the world. we train them so that they Can advoCate responsibilities without the need of fundinG. our new development strateGy inCludes four different proGrammes that are enGaGinG at least 400 younG people aCross Qatar. we now have 11 youth orGanisations that are foCussinG on various international and loCal issues, says stevens. the eduCational seCtor is hiGhly effeCtive to steer the Course of youth enGaGement. says diCKman, the eduCation City in Qatar is home to several top universities in the world that train 1000 plus students, and these students will finally be employed by orGanisations. henCe we are tryinG to instil Csr awareness in the students from the first year of their Course itself. even before they Get employed by Companies who would want to train them in Csr, we would have already instilled a personal value reGardinG Csr in them. this may have a Greater impaCt sinCe they already have the KnowledGe. so the next time they Go for any interview, they would easily find out if a partiCular Company inCorporates the same values as of theirs. its a passion of ours to move our students in the direCtion of soCial responsibility, she says. thouGh CmuQ is pretty reCent in its foray into Csr-buildinG, they do have a few serviCe initiatives loCally and internationally throuGh whiCh they are CollaboratinG with Companies, loCal institutions and nGos to weave Csr into those projeCts as well as into the CurriCulum. this year, they have started worKinG with Qa and vodafone Qatar to initiate Csr aCtivities.

mentor young people for such initiatives and share your success story as an individual as well as an organisation with others AlbertA StevenS
head of reaCh out to asia (rota), Qatar

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as the construction industry, aviation industry or oil refuse the amount, even though it could make a huge and gas companies. Every company has an elemen- difference. And the dual intelligence process has been successtal problem that it is part of, and we have to think on how to solve it, says Stevens. Rather than pointing ful in evading a particular case of human rights abuse, fingers at others for a particular problem, wed rather says Hamouda. The case involved a certain company find solutions. What you do has a ripple effect. People who wanted to engage in charity but was marred with will start competing on goodwill rather than market the fact that they were involved in hiring child jockeys. When we cautioned them about the way the share. Meanwhile Hamouda believes that there are ways UN deals, the whole country stopped hiring children ahead of us, to choose how we want to engage our- from Bangladesh for jockeys within two months in selves. Maybe one could try tying two initiatives to- addition to implementing strict rules and fines. According to Stevens, since people are emotionally gether, take education and school feeding, he says. WFP who is primarily involved in fighting hunger tied to ROTA because of the kind of work they are inworldwide has initiated one of its biggest programmes volved with, it makes it all the more necessary for the school feeding programme. Through this, almost organisation to be perceived as dealing with the right 20 million students are provided with meals on any people as it finally reflects their activities. Even THE One, whose stores primarily deal with given day. Firstly, you are empowering children with education. Secondly you are taking them out of the furniture, are very cautious in terms of the source of labour market. Thirdly its cost-effective - when you all their materials. We work with a carpet company feed a child, youre actually fixing the problem at the called RugMark who go around Asia to ensure that no child labourers are being core. employed. Even a portion of Gentile made a point that the money we pay them goes in some cases, one doesnt for educating the children of even have to look further to workers who make these carincorporate CSR into work pets. Eventually, the profit of culture, because there are alour shareholders goes to the ready existing initiatives withcsr banks on awareness. community. in the organisation. Look at what is existing, appreciate unless the word spreads A wider audience it, and build on what you alacross all strata of CSR banks on awareness. Unready have. Appreciate what the society, any social less the word spreads across employees are doing in their all strata of the society, any everyday job and then build a initiative will gradually social initiative will graduCSR from that. take a backseat. ally take a backseat. What is required is that people be Do shareholders comply? informed about the organisaOften, when an organisation tions commitments towards tries promoting CSR initiaa social cause, they relive evtives, other than employee ery CSR experience simply by engagement, it has to ensure learning about it through the that the other stakeholders organisations profile. (contactors, suppliers, partTo spearhead awareness, organisations can lay ners) associated with it also meet its CSR demands in their marketing campaigns strategically for other especially in areas of ethical sourcing of materials. organisations to come forward and speak about the How necessary does it then become to involve social concerns, not on a company-basis, but more on a community-basis. shareholders in your CSR strategy? Stevens believes the best way to raise awareness In Dohaland, Al-Mansoori says, common competence and interests with their partners is ensured. They is by showcasing best practices. We need to realise share the same commitments for the community and that the community we serve are very intelligent people. With the internet, it is easy for people to learn the initiatives in the future. While for the WFP, the UN has strict guidelines re- about your companys policies or image in the margarding who not to work with. Says Hamouda, We ket. Hence, we need to be cleverer in how we solicit dont deal with tobacco, alcohol or defence compa- goodwill. Meanwhile Al-Khater also believes that along nies, or any company having even a slightly questionnable reputation. In fact, they have a dual intelligence with raising global awareness, there is a need to raise process that keeps a tab. Hamouda recollects, Once awareness locally. When we launched our backa big multinational electronics company wanted to to-school campaign, we learned that there were give us $150,000 (QR546,000). For us that is a lot of approximately 35 kids per school that relied on the money because QR10 can actually feed a child for two school for food, bus fees, books and stationery. Unless weeks. But then we found out that it faced humans we exhibit a transparent statistic of the communitys rights abuses and defence dealings; hence we had to concern, people will not be aware of the concerns pre-

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where to begin?

organisations need to understand their vision and goals. they need to integrate csr with their business strategy as well as the hearts and minds of the people. mAryAm Al-mAnSoori
human resourCes manaGer, dohaland

where to begin?

like individuals, every organisation has to be true to its core values too. your csr programme reflects how you are as an organisation. Simon Winetroube
direCtor, british CounCil

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challenges in a nutshell...
where to begin?
the experts shared their opinions on what challenges organisations generally face when it comes to adopting a csr strategy.
csR DOEsNT FIT A cORpORATE ImAGE
sinCe Csr involves philanthropy it ideally suits nGos or Charitable orGanisations. for a Corporate whose main objeCtive is profit, it Gets triCKy to ConvinCe them to involve in somethinG liKe that. some Companies enGaGe in Csr to marKet themselves. this miGht even be an indireCt attempt to overshadow their Contribution to the environmental impaCts. but larGe-sCale advertisinG, in turn, maKes people believe that they are Committed to the soCiety. every orGanisation is assoCiated with staKeholders and shareholders. sometimes they miGht be the same, but Generally its not Quite so. therefore, alterinG Company poliCies to manaGe both toGether, may be diffiCult. many Companies are a noviCe in Csr and dont Know where to beGin. there is a need to CommenCe free worKshops for Companies to learn how to start Csr proGrammes based on their Corporate Culture. several of the Csr initiatives and proGrammes are on a low-sCale. people need to be made more aware about the impaCt of a sustainable Csr straterGy and how they Can support it. ConvinCinG Companies to hire disabled people miGht not be that easy. as a result, many of the disabled are left hidinG in rehabilitation Centres and refuse to use their abilities to worK. maKinG them aCCessible is the need of the hour. when suppliers are based abroad, reGulatinG and auditinG their way of funCtioninG is problematiC. also, Countries abroad adhere to different laws and reGulations, whiCh miGht be ContradiCtory to the ones prevailinG in Qatar.

Is csR A pR sTUNT?

WhO TO plEAsE?

integrating csr strategy into your whole business culture and stakeholders from suppliers to the end users, is the best way fAtmA Ali Al-KhAter
Community relations - Group CommuniCations, Qtel

hOW TO sTART?

A lOUDER AWARENEss

hIRING ThE DIFFERENTly AblED

AUDITING sUpplIERs

where to begin?

in partnership, the main objective should be how to fit your projects to the csr of the corporation. we are flying under your wings and not the other way round.

where to begin?

AShrAf hAmoudA
senior partnership & business development manaGer, united nations world food proGramme (wfp)

to create csr from scratch, you reQuire a compelling vision that has to be integrated into your business. secondly its not about projects; its about passionate people who want to make a difference luiSA Gentile
head of Csr, vodafone Qatar

vailing within the community itself. In the lines of local awareness, many people perceive ROTA as a body which promotes volunteering in Asia and not particularly in Qatar itself. While dismissing this misconception, Stevens says, ROTAs volunteering initiatives often require Qatari locals to visit other nations. Our aim is provide locals with a global exposure of what is going on in other parts of the world. This helps them in becoming enriched global citizens who learn to value and appreciate what they already have, and at the same time we are creating a sustainability plan that goes back in their education. Al-Mansoori added, A companys CSR should not only be linked to its vision but also the local need of the country. We need to survey the needs of the com-

munity and come up with initiatives to bridge the gaps in the society and also promote awareness in these aspects. There is also a lack of awareness within the community in terms of sustainability and green initiatives, she says. One of the main pillars of Dohalands vision is sustainability, and it sponsored several activities and programmes within the organisation to promote sustainability and green activities on daily basis and share the knowledge with the community. What seemed like a popular vehicle to accelerate the pace of awareness, for some, was the web. Every single staff has access to the internet from where they can learn about the companys projects and its experience. The only way to encourage par-

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Qatar today round table

Qatar today round table (Qtrt) aspires to brinG toGether Captains of industries and Key deCision-maKers, and enGaGe them in a debate on topiCal issues. past Qtrts have witnessed vibrant and dynamiC disCussions on topiCs ranGinG from penChant for white Collar jobs and islamiC finanCe to best eCo-praCtiCes and healthCare reforms.

where to begin?

dohalands knowledge enrichment center

a new landmarK moored off doha CorniChe, dohalands KnowledGe enriChment Center serves as a linK between Qatars riCh heritaGe and the promisinG future. it Celebrates and enhanCes the Countrys traditions and Culture and initiates KnowledGe-enriChment exerCise, suCh as the Qatar today round table, amonG people in Qatar

ticipation is to bring people together and show them what is happening in other nations. Show people why they have to help, says Salome. Gentile also feels using Facebook is yet another great vehicle - its free, simple to use and has millions of active users. And the word is spread quite effectively. Sustaining CSR Even if an organisation adopts a successful CSR strategy, how does it ensure sustainability? Unless the CSR approach fits well into your organisation in a broader sense, it will not be sustainable, feels Winetroube. The CSR policy has to be part of the companys strategy. We need to apply commercial business entrepreneurship in CSR as well. Speaking about entrepreneurship, CSR is more like social entrepreneurship, professes Zaher. When new companies start up, they are guided by entrepreneurship skills and strategy. The same holds true for CSR implementation. For a successful sustainable CSR initiative, it has to be entrepreneurial. You need to have the proper strategy, vision, passion and marketing and partners. And the key is empowerment changing peoples attitude to make a difference. Gentile also agrees that by simply engaging in core business, you can till do good. Maybe your investment may not be in terms of cash; but investment can be more in terms of customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction and satisfaction of stakeholders and shareholders, she says. So adding social entrepreneurship to your CSR might work. Is there any other way to propel ones CSR policy towards sustainability? According to Winetroube, partnership is another step towards sustainability. Start small collaborations, build mutual understandings and gradually grow from there. The British Council too is looking forward to work with commercial partners and deploy their CSR agenda in various fields like arts, languages, social development, etc. Initially companies used to see us as sponsorship opportunities for any event. But now partners are

looking for opportunities to undertake projects and engage their employees to be a part of this project. There is a lot of strength in coordination, says Habib. When corporations talk about social responsibility, its about tackling a common issue in the society workers condition, environment or accessibility. Rather than a corporation tackling this issue individually, there has to be a wider discussion as to how all can contribute to it. Even in terms of accessibility, our organisation for example, brought in different sectors like telecommunications, IT sector, banking sector around the table and spoke to them about accessibility. This is a better approach than saying we will talk about it individually, and set policies individually and force other corporations to follow suit, he says. Given the fact that two organisations are addressing a common issue; wouldnt one try to compete with the other to portray themselves as a better contributor to the society? There is no competition, claims Al-Khater. For instance Vodafone and Qtel are two competing industries in the telecoms sector, but setting competitive demands aside, they still work together for a social cause. Companies should come together and partner to work on a particular focus area. Apart from extinguishing competition, forming a partnership, is not necessarily about money, advocates Hamouda. Its to be able to serve or provide. There are thousands of companies who want to do undertake initiatives, but refrain from indulging due to lack of resources and knowledge. And partnerships can aid in this respect. A call for action would be to start workshops for small and medium companies on how to implement CSR campaigns in their companies. Everybody can come in together and choose what they would like to do, he says. Would it be beneficial to make CSR mandatory? Hamouda doesnt think so. A strongest heart is a heart of a volunteer! If you mandate somebody to do something, the effort is lost. CSR should be voluntary for it to be passionate.

students are passionate about doing things for the community, and we have to harness that passion. partnerships are vital for propagating csr in education Cindy diCKmAn
student development Coordinator, CarneGie mellon university in Qatar

where to begin?

greater dialogue is reQuired for us to come together to work. discussing a problem may not be a best approach, as discussing a solution Ahmed hAbib
head of CommuniCations, mada

FEEDbAck Qtoday@omsQatar.Com

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