Interview with Pramod John in Business Recorder Pakistan

Business Recorder: Now Prakruthi is reporting on CSR activities taking place not just in India, but in Pakistan and other countries of the region.

How did this role emerge?

Pramod John: The activities that any company performs have myriad affects on the environment and the society around them. Many companies are cognisant of this impact and many others are not. The understanding and practice of CSR activities in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka are all at very different levels. Similarly there may be very different levels of compliance for a similar operation, product or service within these countries and across borders.

So we realised that cross border learning in the region can really help all corporations improve their business models in terms of their impact on the environment, the impact on society and the impact on the company's own gains.

Another incentive for us was that we had already started developing expertise in some sectors such as sugar. We realised that sugar is not just a major source of income for many farmers in India but also in Pakistan and Bangladesh. So by sharing these experiences with organisations in other countries we could help people in other countries reaping similar gains.

You can read the complete interview here

Corporate Conscience report in the news

Remember Financial Management 101, back in school - profit maximisation is the sole motive of a typical firm, we were taught. And that we see mostly around, especially when it comes to the SME sector.

Yes, any business is to work on driving maximum economic benefits, rest fall in the domain of philanthropy. Nonetheless, its a myopic view - a short term approach, not sustainable over decades.

For any business to prosper in the long run; it needs to focus on social and environmental returns in addition to economic returns.

You can read the complete article here

SANSAR multi-stakeholder discussion document: Sugar industry in Pakistan

Open publication - Free publishing - More csr

This research aims to understand the dynamics of CSR in the sugar production sector in Pakistan. It examines the sugar arena and attempts to verify the barriers to CSR implementation. The sugar sector plays a vital role in Pakistan's economy. Key stakeholders have been interviewed to understand the value chain and its governance. The sector is analyzed on various levels: structural, environmental and developmental, to establish a framework for understanding the fragile relationship between farmers and millers and the existing policy and governance gap. SDPI will bring together the main stakeholders in the sector to discuss this study and develop a common approach to promote sustainable sugarcane and sugar production in Pakistan.

SANSAR launch

South Asian Network on Sustainability and Responsibility. Organizations of South Asia promoting Corporate Social Responsibility such as CSR Centre (Bangladesh), Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI, Pakistan), Centre for Afghan Civil Society Support (CACSS, Afghanistan) and Prakruthi (India) are cooperating in a new regional network called SANSAR. This network will enable the promotion of sustainable development through sharing of best-practices in different value chains. 

presentation of SANSAR's research publications 

SANSAR's core strategy is to make stakeholders redefine and commonly understand the concept of CSR and promote it actively to address social, environmental and business related issues across different sectors in the region. To achieve this, SANSAR employs strategies such as policy outreach, capacity building, research and networking.

New study by SDPI: CSR in Pakistan

Open publication - Free publishing - More csr

The purpose of this study is to contextualize CSR in Pakistan, where it is an emerging concept. The potential of CSR in a developing economy calls for a greater role of businesses in addressing development issues. The trend for CSR related activities is increasing, both in terms of more companies developing CSR policies and investing an increasing percentages of gross sales to community service and sustainable development.