Eradicating poverty through CSR programs

Eradicating poverty through CSR programs

Rudijanto, Contributor, Jakarta

The harrowing drama of thousands of Indonesian overseas
workers (TKI) returning home, some simply leaving with their
salaries unpaid to avoid detention by the Malaysian authorities,
has struck another blow to the country, which has not yet
recovered from the tsunami in Aceh.

While President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was quick to respond
to the TKI problem by making a visit to Malaysia, his
government's success lies not so much in preventing the expulsion
of illegal Indonesian workers from Malaysia, but in tackling the
root of the problem, namely poverty and the lack of job
opportunities in the country.

The task of uprooting poverty and creating more job
opportunities is a gigantic one that will not be successful
without the participation of all sectors in the country,
including the corporate sector.

The corporate sector's participation in responding to the
challenges of poverty, dengue and other endemic diseases, lack of
job opportunities and even the eradication of corruption in this
country is expected to bring a more positive outcome.

After all, as Indian-born author C.K. Prahalad noted in his
new book The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid, Eradicating
Poverty Through Profit, after more than 50 years of efforts, the
World Bank, donor nations, aid agencies, governments and others
have failed to eradicate poverty, the root of many social
problems.

Prahalad seems comfortable with the idea that a company's
approach to corporate responsibility must be integrated into the
company's business strategy to reap more profit.

The awareness among Indonesian companies of the need for a
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) program has been
encouraging in the past few years.

PT Unilever has, for example, provided free dental check ups
and treatment for city dwellers as well as the rural population.

The free dental check ups and treatment conducted by Unilever
for the past 10 years is an example of a CSR that is based on the
local context in which 90 percent of the population suffer from
oral and dental problems and disease.

While the program helps raise the awareness of people of the
importance of oral and dental health, the program also boosts the
image as well as the sales of Unilever's Pepsodent toothpaste and
other oral and dental care products. No wonder the company plans
to launch a more coordinated CSR, The Pepsodent Initiative, next
month.

When the tsunami hit Aceh province, multinational express
delivery and logistics company TNT used its corporate strength in
logistics by teaming up with the United Nation World Food Program
(WFP) to facilitate WFP's emergency relief operations.

The company quickly deployed its staff from Jakarta,
Singapore, the UK, Finland, Holland, Australia and Sweden to
assist WFP efforts in Medan in North Sumatra and Banda Aceh,
Melauboh and Singkil in Aceh. The company has provided, among
other things, extensive transportation services.

TNT has worked in partnership with the WFP since 2002 as part
of the company's CSR program. WFP is the world's largest
humanitarian agency, which, in 2003, gave food aid to a record
104 million people in 81 countries, including 56 million
malnourished children.

TNT Logistics Southeast Asia Managing Director Colin Moran
said that TNT had selected this particular CSR with WFP as it
fitted well with the company's core business and strength, namely
logistical services.

However, Moran emphasized that the company has no financial
interest in carrying out its CSR program. Any improvement in the
company's image as a highly professional company in its field is
just a logical consequence of the program.

Moran added that another logical impact of TNT's CSR is that
its employees will be inspired to have more loyalty to the
company as they have a sense of pride because of being involved
in a humanitarian mission.

The employees of PT Indocement Prakarsa Tbk (Indocement) are
likewise proud of their company's CSR involvement in battling the
spread of HIV/AIDS in Indonesia.

With 7000 employees, many of whom are highly skilled, and more
than 15,000 family members of those employees needing education
and protection against HIV/AIDS, one can understand why
Indocement is serious about its chosen CSR program.

PT HM Sampurna Tbk (Sampurna), one of the countries major
domestic cigarette producers, in cooperation with Tempo Magazine
is fully committed to boosting entrepreneurship among small- and
medium-scale enterprises through the Dji Sam Soe Award (DSSA), a
prestigious award given to small- and medium-scale entrepreneurs
in Indonesia.

Sampurna's Dji Sam Soe Award may have encouraged the growth of
entrepreneurial spirit through its awards to three DSSA winners
presented in Jakarta last Thursday (Feb. 17). But at the same
time, Sampurna benefits from the positive image generated by the
program.