Technical Review Committee on CSR launched
A 12-member Technical Review Committee has been established to hone the work of consultants drafting the comprehensive national policy on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) for Ghana to ensure its success.
The CSR policy, a collaboration between the Ghana Government, the German Development Organisation (GIZ) and South Africa, would serve as a guide to business operations in the country.
Nii Lantey Vanderpuye, Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, said businesses had to be responsible to the people and the environment in which they operate because whatever they did would have a direct effect on others.
He said CSR had gone beyond charity or philanthropy and it was time that the country put together a comprehensive policy to enable it monitor businesses and organisations to be more responsive to the society in which they operated.
The Deputy Minister said companies were increasingly recognizing that addressing the wider social and environmental challenges of the communities where they operated would be crucial in securing their long-term success.
He said it was important for the entire society to develop interest in what organisations did in the various communities that they operated.
Nii Vanderpuye urged the Committee to ensure that every area was tackled in the policy and also to come out clearly and detailing the role that every agency would.
He stressed the need to translate the final document in the various local Ghanaian languages for all to gain access.
Dr Dan Ofori, Head of the Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility at the University of Ghana and the leader of consultants, said the launch of the Committee represented the beginning of a series of initiatives for all stakeholders to arrive at a comprehensive policy for the country.
He said the policy would bring elements of accountability in the way ‘we do our things’ as well as enable the people to speak on how the country wanted organisations to be responsible towards their environment.
He said the draft policy would be ready within five months and it would be presented to government for further advice.
Mr Thomas Wimmer, Acting German Ambassador, commended Ghana in her efforts to redefine the right way of CSR and pledged his government’s commitment to partner with the Ministry to ensure the success of the policy.
Source: GNA