The Corporate Social Responsibility Network Zimbabwe has challenged the corporate work to put more resources towards Corporate Social Responsibility in order for the country to achieve vision 2030 of attaining the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
“Let us be cognizant that as corporates it must be no longer a case of green washing but a case of community upliftment. I understand that corporates are in business to make profit and see return on investment (ROI). But isn’t it about time that CSI projects are relooked into and re-engineered to fit in with the national agenda of our country. The business fraternity is always engaged by government in terms of the needs of our country and how they can get involved on a long-term basis. If corporate Zimbabwe is serious about making a difference on a sustainable basis to the lives of those communities they choose to assist, they could utilize their CSI projects effectively so that their projects have a positive sustainable impact on the poor”, said Willard Razawo the organization’s Executive Director.
ROI should be a two-way street. CSI projects need to be contextualized and redressed to mean that when a company decides to adopt a child or children, they not only feed and clothe those children for a day, but, could educate, absorb, train and mold to make a meaningful difference to their lives, so that they in turn can give back to their communities.
Giving away once-off material things needs to be a thing of the past when the CSI directors start developing their strategies. We need to come up with long term strategic solution and involvement with communities in terms of enhancing their lives on a sustainable basis. Paying varsity fees for the first year for 10 children from disadvantaged households would surely go a long way as opposed to buying shoes for 20 children, which would outgrow them before the yearends.
I am not underplaying the importance of giving the needy and helping out, these can still be done at various times, but let the CSI projects be meaningful, sustainable and assist in building our nation’s future leaders. We need to look at the future we want our children to have and help towards it.
We get what we give. Companies that run successful CSI projects are said to have a heart of gold by the recipients of their goodwill. We surely would not need a post-mortem to prove that this heart of gold really exists now do we?
