Health and education remain top priorities

Companies that are not natural resources-based are also showing a strong commitment to promoting social accountability in their operations.

However, most of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) practices, which are carried out through companies' community development programs, are still focused on education and health programs.

The educational programs are usually in the form of scholarships for students, free education for street children, non-formal education and training for school leavers and teacher training programs.

Among of non-mining and oil companies that have demonstrated a strong commitment to CSR practices are Coca-Cola Indonesia through its Coca-Cola Foundation, Citibank, N.A. through its Citibank Peka project, PT Bayer Indonesia, PT Roche Indonesia and consulting company Accenture.

One of the newest programs launched by Citibank is called CitiSuccess Fund, which provides financial assistance to high school teachers in Tangerang and Bekasi.

The program, which was launched in May last year in cooperation with HOPE Foundation Indonesia, is part of the Citibank Peka program, an umbrella for the bank's community programs focusing on education for the poor.

This year, Citibank has selected 33 teachers for its CitiSuccess Fund. Each will receive US$500 to implement learning and teaching programs they proposed. The winners were selected by a panel consisting of education experts and teachers, including Dharmayati Utoyo Lubis, vice dean of the School of Psychology at the University of Indonesia, and senior education experts.

"We hope that this program can encourage teachers in their role as educators. Moreover, schools are also motivated to come up with more creative and fun educational activities that make learning an interesting activity for both teachers and students," Citigroups' country officer in Indonesia, Michael Zink, said.

In environmental-related programs, PT Bayer Indonesia has cooperated with the Kebun Raya Bogor botanical gardens to promote environmental awareness among children. Their program includes the sale of compact discs (CDs) containing a story called Lintang, Sahabat Alam (Lintang, Nature's Friend).

Proceeds from the sale of the CDs are donated to the Kebun Raya Bogor botanical gardens to support its work in promoting environmental awareness among children.

"We are very happy to find that Kebun Raya Bogor, as one of the nature conservation centers, has the same commitment as us to improve children' awareness of the need for forest conservation," said Bayer Indonesia president Hans-Josef Schill.

Schill believes that storytelling is one of the most effective ways to send an environmental message to children.

"It's also interesting as well," he added.

Besides launching the Lintang, Sahabat Alam discs in mid- January, last year Bayer also worked with the United Nations Environment Program and the University of New South Wales to launch Eco-Innovate '03. This program invited young people between the ages of 17 and 23 from the Asia-Pacific region to speak out and share their ideas on sustainable development.

A student from the Bogor Institute of Agriculture represented Indonesia at the forum, which was held in Sydney, Australia, in July last year.

Pharmaceutical company PT Roche Indonesia focuses its CSR programs on community health projects. The company, in cooperation with the School of Public Health at the University of Indonesia, provides health guidance to Cisalak villagers in Depok, West Java.

The program is aimed at improving awareness of nutrition, contagious diseases and maternal diseases.

Consulting company Accenture takes a different approach to its CSR programs. Accenture is involved in the selection of the best small and medium-scale companies, called the Enterprises 50 Awards.

Through this program, the consulting company, in cooperation with SWA magazine and Bisnis Indonesia daily, recognizes the 50 top small and medium-scale companies in the country.

Accenture says that the program provides a platform for well managed small and medium-scale companies to gain more recognition from the business world. -- Agustina Wayansari