On May 27th, business leaders, representatives from international and national Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), and members of the media gathered at the State Folklore Center of Georgia, in Tbilisi, to officially establish a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Club. EWMI ACCESS local implementing partner, the Civil Development Agency (CiDA), and its counterpart, Public Relations and Marketing Communications Company (GEPRA), initiated the ceremony.
To date, several Georgian businesses have been implementing their own social responsibility programs with lower interaction with CSOs. While CSOs serve and work with various social groups and maintain the most up-to-date information about the needs of their beneficiaries, the club provides great potential for synergies between the two sectors that would result in more efficient social initiatives and improve environment for social responsibility in Georgia.
In total, more than fifty members of the Georgian business and CSO community have committed their companies to the virtues of social responsibility agreed upon at the club’s inception. The club is led by a governing board of eight core founders, including TBC Bank, Bank of Georgia, Borjomi, Aversi, GPI Holding, and GEPRA, as well as some of the most prominent CSOs in Georgia including Transparency International (TI) Georgia and the Civil Development Agency (CiDA).
The CSR Club put its ideas of social responsibility to work after flooding devastated Tbilisi’s neighborhood along the river of Vere in June this year. Within days of the disaster, CSR Club members have collectively donated over 10 million GEL to affected families and relief efforts. Additionally, members were quickly on the scene of the disaster using their skills, contacts and resources to organize volunteer cleanup efforts and meet urgent needs of the disaster- affected families – It is safe to assume without the agreed-upon structure of the CSR Club (information-sharing system and close coordination of relief needs among the member organizations) such solidarity could not have been so quickly and efficiently organized. Furthermore, the club has maintained a database of donations made by members and other companies to properly catalogue the stunning response of the business and CSO communities to the disaster.
On September 29th, the CSR Club held its second meeting where it reflected on the successes and challenges of its first four months of operation. Additionally, twenty-one new members joined the group, amounting to 71 members. The meeting also looked to the year ahead and planned several exciting volunteer opportunities and philanthropic endeavors for 2016. The club currently maintains a website, where anyone interested can get the Club news.
The EWMI ACCESS’ will facilitate and fine-tune the club’s operations to implement joint (CSO-Business) projects and campaigns.
