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;JP; ANPAd..r.. Corporate-CSR-program

Helping the needy through CSR programs

Debbie A. Lubis Contributor Jakarta

Although awareness of the importance of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is still relatively low in the country, several Indonesian companies have started to include CSR in their business agendas.

PT Coca-Cola Indonesia, mobile phone distributor Nokia Mobile Phones Indonesia, Bank Central Asia (BCA) and Citibank, have begun to develop CSR activities as an integral part of their business.

These companies generally implement CSR by providing assistance in the fields of education, health and environmental protection. Many natural resource-based companies have also paid more serious attention to CSR, activities that are mostly part of their community development programs.

Coca-Cola Indonesia has implemented a nation-wide CSR program through its Coca-Cola Foundation Indonesia (CCFI).

"For Coca-Cola which has operated in Indonesia for more than 70 years, our social activities have become an integral part of the business system," said Titie Sadarini, the corporate affairs director for Coca-Cola Indonesia.

In education, CCFI focuses its activities on developing educational programs for children and youth. Since September 2000, CCFI has transformed 24 libraries in 14 provinces into learning centers. Since 2002, IT facilities have been made available in 10 learning centers, with three of these going on line this year.

The foundation first helped educate teenagers about health education, especially HIV/AIDS, in Jakarta, Bandung, Surabaya, and Yogyakarta in 2003. About 80 teenagers were trained as Peer Educators and now actively disseminate information on HIV/AIDS to their peers.

Regarding the environment, CCFI launched its Indonesian Biodiversity program for children in 2002. It has published a series of books on Indonesian Biodiversity that have been donated to its learning centers, schools and public libraries.

All the Coca Cola branch offices in the country also have localized community development programs, many of which include free medical services at company clinics, circumcision services, educational scholarships for local children, access to clean water programs, blood donation facilities, and local community charities.

To empower small enterprises, Coca-Cola System provides the Micro Enterprise Development Program implemented in Cikarang, West Java (in 2003-2004) and Surabaya, East Java (2005).

When the tsunami struck Aceh, Coca-Cola System also took part in emergency relief support.

Like Coca Cola, Nokia Mobile Phones Indonesia, has also developed a good CSR system.

The company has launched a program called Nokia Connects with Nature to increase the awareness and understanding of young people about the importance of conservation.

Together with Yayorin, a non-governmental organization (NGO), Nokia Indonesia has organized educational field trips for students living in Pangkalan Bun, Central Kalimantan. The two- year program, which will finish this year, involves 20 students on each trip. Under the supervision of Yayorin, the students study and explore the Tanjung Puting National Park in Central Kalimantan, visit an education center and observe the life of orangutans at Camp Leakey in Tanjung Puting.

The program aims to increase the awareness of the need to protect the nation's forest and all of the creatures in the national park, especially the orangutans. A series of environmental-themed competitions and activities, including a poster-drawing contest, an environmental debate and an environmental clean-up competition, are held as part of the program.

To realize its commitment to grow together with the community and environment in a sustainable manner, PT Unilever Indonesia is also among the pioneers of CSR in Indonesia.

In late 2000, the company created Yayasan Unilever Peduli (YUP Foundation) in order to carry out its CSR activities more effectively. The foundation focuses on four main programs that include developing small and medium enterprises, environmental awareness, along with programs on public health education and those teaching public relations.

Together with Yogyakarta-based Gajah Mada University, the foundation provides technical assistance to farmers in East and Central Java to plant black soy. It also provides good quality seeds and interest free loans to the farmers. The company then buys the harvest as the raw materials for its soy sauce.

As of today, there are 2,500 farmers involved in the program, working on 400-hectares of land, said Okti Damayanti, General Manager of Unilever Peduli Foundation.

Unilever also cooperates with the farmers to breed fresh water fish, which is the raw material for its seasoning product, Royco. The fish is also used in the production of liquid seasoning without monosodium glutamate (MSG).

The foundation assists the residents of a village in Jambangan subdistrict, Surabaya, East Java to manage household waste and improve its sanitation. Together with government institutions, NGOs, academics, community and the private sector, the foundation educates residents on how to separate organic and non-organic waste, make fertilizer from it and also to recycle products. It also encourages the community to improve health infrastructure by helping them build public toilets and provides trash cans along with garbage transporters. This program gave PT Unilever the runner-up position in the Environmental Excellence Awards presented by the Asian Forum on Corporate Social Responsibility.

Unilever has also actively conducted programs on public health education in its Lifebuoy Shares Health, Pepsodent Initiative for Dental Health and Integrated Health Promotion Program, the latter which collaborates with the Ministry Health Yogyarta region, as well as local NGOs and the media.

The campaign on dental and mouth health has gone to 7,000 elementary schools in Jakarta, Bandung, Semarang, Surabaya, Medan, Palembang, Banjarmasin, Pontianak and Makassar.

Nickel producer PT International Nickel Indonesia (Inco) has developed a number of community development (CD) programs to help the people living near the company's mining sites in Sorowako, South Sulawesi.

One of the company's main CD program is to improve the skills of high school graduates living near its mine areas so that they will be qualified to work with the company

At least 140 senior high school graduates from Nuha, Towuti and Malili and other sub-districts close to Sorowako have taken part in the program which was firstly launched in October, last year. At present, 75 percent of the 3,400 people hired by PT Inco are residents living near the company's mining sites.

PT Inco's CD programs in the education field also include the provision of scholarships and research funds for students of Hasanuddin University, Makassar.

The company's people empowerment program also includes the improvement of the local villagers' farming skills, by providing trainings. In addition to trainings, PT Inco also provides farming equipment to the local farmers.

Besides education, the company's CSR programs also cover many other areas such health and public infrastructure facilities.