Ini Onuk, Lead Consultant/CEO of ThistlePraxis Consulting Limited, Lagos, has urged media practitioners to explore the opportunities inherent in social media for investigating and disseminating stories on CSR. Speaking during a three–day residential training hosted by the firm for professionals drawn from the print, electronic and online media organizations, Onuk illustrated her point with an August, 2010 Harvard Business School report titled: United Breaks Guitars; in which Dave Carroll, a professional musician vigorously pursued a case against United Airlines, who recklessly damaged his guitar. Carroll had spent a year and a quarter, seeking compensation; but the airline rebuffed him through a customer service representative, who told him that the damage was his responsibility. He posted a song about his experience on YouTube, the video-sharing site, on 6th July, 2009; following the unseemly response from United Airlines. At the same time, he wrote a blog entry, detailing the ordeal and ‘tweeted’ about the YouTube video on his Twitter page.
Within a week, the video had been viewed about three million times with more than 900,000 views on 10th July alone, four days after the song was posted. United Airlines was forced to reach out to Carroll, offering him compensation within that period. Meanwhile, the story’s mention in mainstream media for 25 days was less than 600.
Onuk, who noted that the objectivity of the mainstream media is in question, asserted that it is not the media, but the issue and asked journalists to device creative means of telling their stories. She tasked the participants on the imperatives of reading widely in order to stay abreast of developing stories and trends, adding that it is crucial to carry out studies and link reports before writing good feature stories that would get people thinking. She reminded participants of the statement by the United Nations Environmental Programme that: “The media sector – broadly defined – could become the dominant industry of the 21st century ... No other industry will so powerfully influence how people and politicians think about CSR and Sustainable Development priorities.”
The intensive training, which was hinged on the imperative to differentiate between philanthropy, CSR and Public Relations, assumed the style of executive education programmes and had two other facilitators: Dimeji Belo, Partner/Director, CESC Limited and Toni Kan, Managing Partner of Radi8, a PR/Advertising/Events company. In discussing CSR and Sustainability, Mr. Belo emphasized the strategic tasks of the media in CSR, which include: identifying business goals and the purpose of an accompanying Social Responsibility programme; doing research to discover current business standards, using business cases; identifying the key stakeholders of such programmes; understanding the visions/missions of organizations and refining same where necessary. He equally stated that the media should make it clear to organizations that if their CSR initiatives are not in line with their core competencies, they should engage credible NGOs/experts to execute such projects.
The point of convergence between PR and CSR, according to Toni Kan, lies in reporting; which is done in these four steps: definition, performance, measurement and improvement. In definition, an organization states how its business is to be conducted and its responsibilities managed. Performance denotes outlining projects that are to be carried out and the performance indicators, which are to be noted. Conversely, measurement means taking inventory; the entity holding itself to account and seeking metrics for determining and reporting performance, for example the GRI and the UN Global Compact. Through improvement, an organisation ensures that drawbacks identified in the project are corrected.
Kan informed the participants that one of their roles in CSR compliance is ensuring that organizations are held accountable. The media, he says, is supposed to do this by charting agenda for such organizations. They are equally expected to inform and educate the public by reporting events as they occur, showcasing a history of events and trending topics. However, he noted that the job of the media is jeopardized when showcasing takes precedence over investigation. He reminded journalists to be armed with their cameras at all times, reiterating the need for integrity.
Differentiating between CSR, Corporate Charity and Philanthropy, Onuk asserted that whereas philanthropy is dependent on profit, CSR subsists whether there is profit or loss. Often, charity is used in connection with the money and goods given to the needy in society. According to her, if CSR is not tackling a social problem, then, it is not CSR. She said, “CSR is not goodwill, corporate community involvement or strategic corporate philanthropy. It is not just giving. Rather, it is a genuine process, through which an organization builds an enduring relationship between the corporate sector and the rest of the society, a feat that can only be achieved when a business adapts all of its practices in ways that meet or exceed the legal, ethical and economic requirements needed for its operations.” In other words, CSR takes the whole business model into consideration as organizations seek to act as a force for the good of society through CSR. She decried the contemporary practise in Nigeria and most parts of Africa, where CSR is a unit under the corporate communications departments of organizations, allowing elements of PR and branding to come into play.
Sustainable Conversations for Sustainable Development
According to Ini Onuk, the idea behind Sustainable Conversations is Thought Leadership, which involves talking and taking action. It was borne out of the need to engage credible and sensible individuals, who have practical/usable ideas aimed at a better society.
It will be recalled that at the maiden edition of the Africa CEO Roundtable and Conference on Corporate Social Responsibility, Onuk had canvassed an African Alliance on CSR. She called for synergy that would boost the credibility and brand profile of organizations, strengthen their ties and offer them access to networks whilst providing assistance for capacity building and increased impact. Therefore, Sustainable Conversations is an advocacy front that seeks great and realistic standards that stakeholders should aspire to.
The theme of the first edition was Fast-Tracking Sustainable Development in Nigeria. Ecological protection; Nigeria’s abysmal Human Development Index; energy conversion and conservation plus the triple bottom line of people, planet and profit were some issues that formed the thrust of that meeting.
A highlight of the occasion was the Executive Director, Marketing, Nestle Nigeria, Iquo Ukoh’s, discourse on her company’s collaboration with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, IITA, Ibadan; MATNA Foods, Akure; Nigeria Starch Mills, Uli, Anambra State (two large-scale cassava processing industries) and cassava farmers. The partnership is aimed at the long term and sustainable commercial production of high quality cassava starch in Nigeria with a view to increasing its commercial value. It is also expected to reduce poverty and generate employment among rural dwellers while ensuring food security in the long run.
Under this scheme, small scale farmers in target communities would be supported to increase production per unit area while effective markets would be developed for the product. IITA would develop clusters of farmers; supplying them with cassava varieties that are high yielding (high starch content), disease resistant and commercially viable. In turn, the farmers would provide a constant supply of tubers to the processing industries to enable them satisfy Nestlé’s demands. The large-scale processors will be responsible for marketing the tubers produced by the farmers; thereby raising production at the grassroots. Through this project, the farmers would be exposed to beneficial management practices. Ukoh noted that the cassava initiative is in tandem with Nestlé’s policy of procuring raw materials for its business from local suppliers.
The second edition of Sustainable Conversations, tagged: Driving Sustainable Agriculture for National Development, was sponsored by the Etisalat CSR Centre of the Lagos Business School. Ibrahim Dikko, Etisalat Nigeria’s Director of Government and Regulatory Affairs, said that although Agriculture is not his organization’s forte, they bankrolled the event in order to catalyze development in Agriculture and compel other organizations to take practical actions that would culminate in Sustainable Development. The meeting proffered solutions to almost every problem, militating against agricultural development in Nigeria; including commodity and financial value chain, cultivation, processing, transportation, marketing and distribution, consumption plus Research and Development. Resource documents, emanating from the first and second editions of Sustainable Conversations; which would be forwarded to the government through the ministries of National Planning and Agriculture, are underway.
Panellists on both occasions, who are experts in various fields, include: Dr. Shamsudeen Usman, Nigeria’s Minister of National Planning and Vice Chairman of the National Planning Commission, who was represented by Dr. Dapo Oyewole, his technical adviser on non-profits and internal agency liaison; Ndidi Nwuneli, pioneer Executive Director of FATE Foundation, founder, LEAP Africa and the co-founder of AACE Foods, an indigenous agro-processing company; Dr. Akudo Ikemba, Founder/CEO Friends of the Global Fund, Africa; Dr. D. K. Twerefou, senior lecturer, Department of Economics, University of Ghana; Lucy Kanu, Executive Director, Idea Builders Initiative; Larry Umunna, West African representative, Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN); Zano Mataruka, Team Leader, Agribusiness, International Finance Corporation; Rasheed Sarumi, GMD, SARO Group; and Jite Okoloko, GMD/CEO, Notore Chemical Industries, who was represented by Ivana Osagie, MD, Notore Seed.
--By AMARACHUKWU IWUALA
