The government is planning to formulate a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policy soon aiming at providing necessary guidelines for enterprises and companies working in the country for making their impact on the society.
"The Ministry of Planning has already undertaken a move to formulate the policy after consulting the stakeholders including the central bank, said Bangladesh Bank (BB) governor Dr Atiur Rahman while addressing an international conference on 'Responsible Business Conduct and CSR'.
Social Responsibility Asia (SR Asia), a professional network of socially responsible professionals, organised a two-day conference on 'Responsible Business Conduct in Poverty Alleviation through Financial Inclusion, Green Banking and CSR' at the Bangladesh Bank Training Academy in Mirpur, Dhaka.
Terming CSR increasingly important for competitiveness of enterprises, the Governor said it can bring benefits to the company as well as to the society through discharging real social responsibilities.
It can bring benefits in terms of risk management, cost savings, access to capital, customer relationships, human resource management, and innovation capacity, he added.
According to the BB Governor, the banking sector has taken a leading position in discharging CSR in the country. The CSR practices by banks have become an integral part of their businesses in recent years.
"Because of its strong CSR activities, green banking and various financial inclusions, the country's banking sector could avoid the recent global financial crisis," he said.
The Bangladesh Bank is the only central bank in the world which has such a vibrant green banking, said Dr Atiur Rahman, who recently received the Gusi Peace Prize International 2014 in Manila for his work in the field of economics focusing on the welfare of poor people.
"It is the only central bank now being discussed internationally for green banking," he added.
Speakers, mostly representatives from banks and corporate houses, earlier highlighted the urgency for a proper policy guideline in this regard.
They said many of the enterprises and companies are in the dark and could not implement the best practices due to lack of any policy.
"We do not know how much amount of profits of an enterprise will go to CSR and how they will use it," said a former Secretary Dr Mahfuzul Haque stressing the need for proper rules and regulations in this regard.
To make the CSR policy effective, we have to clearly define what CSR is, how the policy will be implemented, what would be the roles of different stakeholders, who will monitor and how long it will continue, said Dr Mahfuzul Haque.
The speakers said, the business community can play a very vital role in alleviating poverty through CSR activities by supporting broader economic and social development, turning poor and excluded people into customers and employees, and neglected areas into new markets and new sources of supply.
By improving the lot of local communities, they could obtain greater quality and reliability from their partners in local supply chains.
Birendra Raturi, SR Asia International Director, who presented the CSR-Research and Survey Report 2014 highlighted four models - providing vocational training, basic education, free food and water and creating employment opportunity -- which, he said, are suitable for alleviating poverty in Bangladesh.
Mr Birendra said, poverty reduction could be attained by giving priority to labour-intensive industrialisation, creating opportunities for low-income group, agro-based industrialisation and formulating a national policy for poverty reduction with fixed terms and targets.
"Job creation, skill development and export markets are key to poverty alleviation," said the expert.
Speakers said the country is facing a lot of challenges in poverty alleviation and the situation demands serious evaluation and actions.
They urged the business enterprises as well as the civil society to play an active role by performing their due responsibilities.
Poor facilities and infrastructure in the rural areas are major concerns as there are no employment opportunities. These demand combined efforts of the government and businesses.
About 300 representatives from banking sector and corporate houses, researchers, academics and officials of various government and non-government organisations attended the two-day programme.
The inaugural function of the programme was addressed among others by Bangladesh Bank Deputy Governor SK Sur Chowdhury, CIRDAP director Hissein Shahbaz and SR Asia country director Sumaya Rashid.
The Deputy Governor discussed in details the mobile financial service launched a few years ago and its revolutionary impact on the society. The rural society, he said, has been transformed greatly because of the financial inclusion including green banking, especially in the field of IT, SMEs and solar energy.
mzrbd@yahoo.com
Govt plans to frame CSR policy soon
FE Report | Published: November 30, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00
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