By Nathaniel Ekue MENSAH
An organization is said to be sustainability conscious and functioning within the tenets of what a good Corporate Social Responsibility(CSR) should be when it conducts its business in an ethical and sustainable manner while dealing with its environment and social impact.
Operating sustainably also implies that the organization has a high degree of a good and careful consideration for human rights, the community, environment, and society in which it operates.
Interestingly, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) may not be a requirement imposed by law in most sectors except where some legislation is put in place to enforce local content among others.
However, CSR is largely seen as an acceptable practice among businesses who value the community and the environment in which they operate by solving social and environmental issues that pertains to their businesses.
According to a 2015 study by Cone Communications/Equity Global CSR, a whooping 91percent of global consumers expect businesses to operate responsibly to address social and environmental issues. Also, 84percent say they seek out responsible products wherever possible.
A good Corporate Social Responsibility solves practical societal problems such as provision of basic social amenities like chip compounds, portable drinking water, places of convenient, classroom blocks among others.
A lot of debates have been held about the contribution(s) well-established and viable businesses like the Volta River Authority (VRA) and other multi-national businesses have made and continue to make to communities within which they operate.
One cannot drive through communities like Prang, Buma, Labum and Yeji all in the Bono East Region, to Tamale and down to Keta without scraps of goosebumps all over as a result of the remarkable human centered impacts the VRA has had on the inhabitants all over.
As far back as 1961, the Volta River Authority then the Volta River Project took into consideration the well-being of project affected persons who at the time were resettled as a result of the construction of the Akosombo Hydroelectric Power Station popularly known as the Akosombo Dam located at Akosombo.
The decision to resettle project affected persons was an arduous one. However, what was more daunting was the commitment to provide them with basic social amenities as the resettlement was to change their way of life forever.
As a result, the Volta River Authority and the government of Ghana established a special fund known as the Volta River Authority Resettlement Trust Fund in 1995 aimed at providing socio-economic interventions and economic empowerment solutions to 52-resettlement townships or communities as approved by the Managing Trustees.
The VRA Resettlement Trust Fund, seen as an offshoot of the VRA, has a primarily focused over the years on the areas of access to quality education, health and water among others. Some have advanced the argument that social infrastructure helps affected communities to feel compensated partly for whatever inconvenience they may have suffered during the developmental stages of organizations who operates within their communities. As a way of giving some credence to the above, most organizations build schools, construct places of convenience, provides portable water among others for some of these communities.
At the Volta River Authority, Corporate social Responsibility is practiced religiously since it synchronized with the mission of the Authority which is to improve the living standards of people living within its impacted areas.
In order to give CSR a life, VRA has been deliberate in building Schools, teachers and nurses’ quarters, mechanized solar powered boreholes, organizing employee volunteer programs, offering community development program scholarship to needy but brilliant students from the Authority’s impacted communities, and support for cultural activities among others either directly or through the VRA Resettlement Trust Fund has extended to its communities.
While these supports were just not dished out at the discretion of the Authority, the painstaking needs assessment and stakeholder consultation that went into the decisions to implement the supports could simply be downplayed when members of the communities make it seem the initiatives were not warranted. Instances where they showed appreciation, one could not vouch for their commitment to take good care of them and their ownership of such facilities.
At the heart of VRA’s great organizational culture is the deliberate effort to work sustainably and responsibly-it means implementing policies and projects that positively impacts on the socio-economic lives of project affected persons.
A sustainable Corporate Social Responsibility is a strong social license for the Authority to continue to operate in an environment that allows it to be productive while having a social legitimacy to go about its sophomoric business which is power generation.
Furthermore, embarking on a sustainable Corporate Social Responsibility inures greatly to the benefit of the VRA just as it benefits the environment in which the organization operate. It is interesting to note that, implementing a sustainable Corporate Social Responsibility results into how the public see the organization. In VRA, a careful look across the diverse public sphere would reveal a positive public image which is as a result of varied factors with the Authority’s social responsibility being a key contributor.
A top of the mind awareness of the VRA brand is an off shoot of our organizational culture key among is the brands commitment to solving the social needs of the communities in which it operates.
In a world where competition is increasingly becoming key, a great Corporate Social Responsibility effort would mean that the brand is constantly ahead of the competition since multilateral and development intuitions would prefer to do business with the brand than look elsewhere.
It is said that an engaged employee is an active workforce therefore, organizations like the VRA who appreciates the essence of CSR would continue to attract the best talents into its fold.
Employees are constantly excited to belong to an organization which has a productive and positive work environment as a result of the promotion of volunteerism where employees give back to the community by way of CSR.
For every CSR initiative the VRA engages in, there is deliberateness and intentionality that goes into it in ensuring that it does not only enhance the visibility of the brand but also project the Authority as a brand with kind hearted human faces behind it.
>>>the writer is a Ghanaian Corporate Communications Executive within the Energy sector, a seasoned speechwriter, consultant, trainer and Community Relations Officer
