On February 14 at the Park Inn by Radisson Pulkovskaya in St. Petersburg tye news agency Vedomosti hosted the conference "Corporate Social Responsibility: Practices of the Russian Regions".
The conference began with a business breakfast, at which they discussed the use of digital technology in charity. Evgenia Chistova, Head of Corporate Social Responsibility, Beeline, shared the experience of the implemented project: “Lisa Alert” and other initiatives developed by the company demonstrate the possibilities of digitalization in solving social problems in practice. ”
“SMS informing of citizens also gives tangible results: for 2019, ten times more people are involved in finding the missing, and 30% more volunteers offer their help. Improving the efficiency of programs is possible only with a high level of civic engagement and public responsibility, ”said Georgy Konnov, director of product development for e-commerce, KIWI Bank. The results of ongoing projects, demonstrated by the participants in the discussion, showed the prospects for digital technologies in the field of solving social problems, and also revealed new trajectories of their development and improvement.
The next stage of the conference was a plenary session at which representatives of Russian and international companies discussed the UN Global Compact as an initiative in the field of sustainable development. Marina Vashukova, Executive Director of the National Network of the Global Compact Association, identified the main issues of discussion: can the company move towards sustainable development without the Global Compact, and how does the business involved in the Global Compact change. “On the one hand, of course, yes. On the other hand, this is a question of the maturity of a company in this capacity, the depth of its entry into the international agenda and the international community. The question of the desire to really change their practices, standards, policies, taking into account the principles of sustainable development. The Global Compact helps to move in this direction, to develop the necessary skills, to understand the overall picture of the trans-mission of the business mission. This initiative is both a tool for developing competences in the field of sustainable development, and a community, and an intermediary between business and all interested parties in the context of the UN agenda, and leverage, and a motivator, and a driver. ”
According to Elena Feoktistova, Managing Director for Corporate Responsibility, Sustainable Development and Social Entrepreneurship, RSPP, Deputy Chairman of the Governing Council of the National Network of the Global Compact Association, joining the global treaty opens up opportunities for increasing transparency and promoting responsible business ideas. Maxim Ivanov, Deputy General Director for Regional Policy and Corporate Projects of Kola MMC JSC, showed on the example of Norilsk Nickel that important in achieving CSR goals are annual investments in the development of the regions of presence: “The main idea that drives our CSR is that employees of the company are residents of the territories. We realize that the cities of presence are single-industry towns, and in fact all their life is connected with the company. Therefore, the goals of those programs that are implemented in the territory are connected with the development of our cities.”
Anastasia Savelyeva, representative of Metallinvest MC, continued the theme of the previous speaker and noted how to involve stakeholders in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals: “Sustainable development is built on communities that are not indifferent to what is happening at the enterprise”. Tatyana Ryzhkova, head of social policy at NLMK, said: "The concept of sustainable development lies in the balance in the environment, economy and social sphere." Elena Seregina, director of the corporate social responsibility department of MTS, showed that one of the important Sustainable Development Goals is decent work and economic growth: “The relevance of this topic has greatly deteriorated, and many companies do not know how to behave.” Using the example of the project “MTS is a company for all ages”, they also discussed the impact of pension reform on business and ways to overcome age limits in the professional sphere. The final speech of the speakers was the conclusion that close contact with the global treaty contributes to the realization of the goals of sustainable development and changes the business for the better.
At the discussion panel on the topic of social responsibility of business in the field of education support, representatives of business and higher education institutions discussed the importance of qualified personnel for modern companies and the quality of interaction between business and educational institutions. The head of Corporate Citizenship at IBM, Irina Efremova-Hart, noted that it’s not the investment figures that become important, but the end result and “how it will affect the educational program at the university itself and what the students will get”. Darya Belyakova, a representative of the company BIOСAD, spoke about the practices of NGOs with talented schoolchildren.
“Business and education are doomed to cooperation,” Mikhail Kupriyanov said. The Higher School of Economics shared its successful experience in interacting with business through a streamlined system of communications and an active movement of the university towards multidisciplinarity. According to representatives of universities, in addition to determining the required competencies and financial support from companies, it is valuable to get real-life cases. Coca-Cola, through an environmental quest for students, introduces its values and engages them in work on the Sustainable Development Goals. For example, universities act as ambassadors for company projects. On the other hand, institutions of higher learning in institutional terms are agents of changing the community around themselves, ”said Alla Samoletova, head of the rector’s office at the European University. Thus, everyone is socially responsible to society.
The parallel discussion panel discussed the interaction of NGOs and businesses in the regions of presence. Marina Ageeva, head of corporate programs at the Life Line charity fund for the rescue of seriously ill children, noted that it is not easy to interact with business now, but big business is open for cooperation. She cited the example of several successful charity events: “Candy of Goodness”, “Good Popcorn”, co-branded card for business together with “Alfa-Bank”, “Make the World a Kinder” and “Good Salat”.
Elena Gracheva, Administrative Director of the AdVita Charitable Foundation, paid special attention to the fact that many companies strictly comply with their corporate and social responsibility, however there are many projects that do not fall within the company's CSR area.
“So far I see a conflict of interests between CSR and philanthropists,” concludes Elena Gracheva, arguing that the previous stage of development, corporate egoism, and current, corporate rational egoism, are untenable in current realities. An example of Anastasia Potapova, head of social programs of the DIXY group of companies, provided an opportunity to assess the case of beneficial relationships between business and NGOs. Stanislav Yushkin, director of regional projects at RusFund, reports that for charity, 2011 turned out to be the most effective in terms of performance. The emergence of charitable foundations on television, Stanislav Yushkin mentions, showed “the emergence of a trend from targeted to programmatic."
Based on post-release organizers.