Community outreach through corporate social responsibility: corporate social responsibility is the continuing commitment by business to behave ethically and contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of their stakeholders and society at large. The Young Expedition Project may be one way for companies to achieve this

Today's Manager, Dec-Jan, 2008 by N. Ravindran

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CORPORATE social responsibility (CSR) is a concept that frequently overlaps with similar approaches such as corporate sustainability, corporate sustainable development, corporate responsibility, and corporate citizenship. While CSR does not have a universal definition, many see it as the private sector's way of integrating the economic, social, and environmental imperatives of their activities.

It has its roots in the recognition that responsible practices can help organisations to innovate and develop new products and services, access new markets, and minimise risk. A company with strong corporate social responsibility will often be more successful in generating economic value added, for reasons rooted in business strategy. Thus, organisations implement initiatives and programmes to improve their positive impact in society, not just to minimise their negative impact.

Different organisations have framed different definitions, although there is considerable common ground between them. For instance, it is agreed largely that CSR is about how companies manage the business processes to produce an overall positive impact on society. So by balancing profits with an overall understanding and awareness of the short- and long-term consequences of an organisation's activities on the environment and community, a company can help to ensure that future generations not only enjoy its products but also the environment.

As organisations seek various initiatives to expand their CSR efforts, the National Youth Council offers one option that could fit the bill. Called the Youth Expedition Project (YEP), its mission is to inspire youth through meaningful community service, to make a difference to the lives of others, at home and abroad. It supports groups during all phases of an expedition--planning, organising, funding, and training of expedition leaders and facilitators.

Theodore Teo, assistant director of youth engagement and expeditions at National Youth Council, explains how the YEP would be applicable to a business organisation: "YEP's issue-based approach enables the matching of interests of the organisation with related social issues such as those pertaining to education, healthcare, environment, and conservation. This flexibility sets the framework for a development programme that can meet the company's CSR objectives, with YEP as a complementary, CSR platform that is built on the concept of International Service-Learning, which can be integrated into the company's CSR blueprint."

The definition of "youth" in this case, includes anyone between the ages of 17 and 35 years. Thus, it should be something that most organisations can consider as their younger, and often junior, staff would fit this age group.

YEP expeditions develop human capital to help achieve the HR objectives of a company. Available corporate training focuses essentially on job skills and leadership development. However, through the YEP, the experiential learning that employees could gain from an expedition would add significant value to the company in the long run, as staff participants get to provide services related to their work, and gain a community perspective of it as well.

Developing Leaders

Teo says that YEP also nurtures leaders for the future in that a team co-leader from the organisation will have ample opportunities to build his or her leadership and teambuilding qualities outside of the work environment, and subsequently be empowered to lead the next YEP-Corporate Team.

He adds: "Understanding the issues of working adults, the YEP-Corporate Package allows flexibility for companies such that the corporate teams can fully experience the benefits of YEP without having to compromise work in office. For instance, companies have the option to undertake a shorter nine-day trip instead of the usual 14-day minimum."

There has to be a certain size or level of commitment from a company towards the overall success of an adopted YEP project. The recommended team size, for instance, is between 14 and 20 persons, but quality is valued over quantity.

"To maximise the potential of participating employees and achieve the most meaningful results for the company and the beneficiaries involved, employers are encouraged to provide their staff flexibility to strike a good balance between YEP and their work commitments," says Teo.

Companies with insufficient manpower to send a team on an expedition may choose to participate in YEP progressively through sponsorship and consultation for existing projects. They can also collaborate with teams from tertiary institutions from the departments that are in line with the core business of the company.

A project is not a short haul effort. YEP-Corporate teams have six months to spread out the learning and complete their pre-, overseas, and post- projects, while building relationships and establishing their corporate presence in these communities. After this period, teams are encouraged to continue their positive contributions to the local community.