Event reports
On invitation of the Shanghai ECO-NOMY magazine and KAS|Shanghai, representatives from Chinese and multinational companies and NGOs as well as several CSR-experts gathered at the Sino-Finish Centre of Tongji University to discuss experiences, challenges and recent developments in CSR in China.
In her opening speech, the editor of ECO-NOMY magazine, Mrs. SUN Yang, stated that sustainable development and environmental protection are topics which entrepreneurs, politicians and citizens all should feel themselves responsible for. Therefore the forum aims to bring together various decision-makers, exchange knowledge and share experiences. Dr. Peter HEFELE, Director of the KAS|Shanghai, introduced the activities of KAS in the field of CSR and expressed his wish that the participants could enhance their knowledge of CSR and expand their national and international networks.
In the first panel, Professor William VALENTINO (China Institute for Social Responsibility, Beijing Normal University), who has been working for 26 years in China, presented the development of CSR-projects in China from the point of view of a former company employee and later CSR-practitioner. He showed confidence that CSR can join the interests of individuals, social organisations and companies, providing a viable concept efforts to ensure sustainable development.
Professor Christoph ZABE-BRECHTL (International Business School, Xi'an Jiaotong Liverpool University, Suzhou) presented first findings of a study on the situation of CSR in the PR China, a research project currently compiled with support of KAS Shanghai. He put emphasis on the public awareness of CSR. According to the study, the vast majority of Chinese citizens has heard of “CSR” before, but most people shy away from the challenges of an active engagement and few of them really take part in CSR-activities. Professor ZABE-BRECHTL also mentioned that CSR should start in early childhoodand emphasized the importance of motivating citizens to take action.
In the following session, CSR-projects of the companies Fuji Film and Ford Motor were introduced. Mrs XU Ruifu (Vice President, FUJI Film (China) Investment Co., Ltd.) presented a reafforestation-project in Inner Mongolia which has been carried out by Fuji Film since 15 years. Therefore the organization and implementation has already reached a professional level. Mrs. XU stated that CSR should be a main pillar of every company’s work. Afterwards, Mrs. ZHANG Langxuan (Ford Motor (China) Ltd.) introduced the CSR-work of Ford Motor in China. She said Ford always tries to use environmental friendly materials where possible. Additionally, Ford has launched the “Ford CEGC Award”, which – together with the non-profit Organization Incubator (NPI) – awards environmental NGOs every year and supports grassroot NGOs.
In the following round-table discussion, the experts pointed out that when it comes to cooperation of companies and NGOs, both sides should be clear about their own interests and core competences, because CSR-projects shall have advantages for both sides, for example they help to improve the image of a company in public. Everybody agreed that CSR indeed has big development potential but on the other side heavily depends on overall legal and political framework for the development of NGOs in China.
In the afternoon, Mrs. SUN Yang introduced the latest publication of “Eco-Nomy” titled “The Third Drive”. It is a collection of reports on 21 CSR-projects in China, compiled by the staff of “Eco-Nomy”. To give an example of those projects, Mrs. CAO Xiaoxia (Executive Director of the Shanghai City Symphony Orchestra) introduced a charity-project of her orchestra that provides autistic children with the opportunity to experiment with music and use it as a tool of communication. Mr. ZHANG Junda (Vice Chairman of Xinhua Compassion Education Foundation) introduced the “Hope for Pearl” project which enables outstanding students with poor family background to get together in so-called “pearl classes” and prepare for the university entrance examination and attend university afterwards, all under financial support of the Foundation.
Mrs.LUO Ying (Junior Achievement China), Mr. ZHANG Ning (Charyou Volun-teer Service Center) as well as Mrs. WANG Yongchen (Green Earth Volunteers) also introduced their main projects. Mrs. HAN Yan described the challenges for NGOs in China and noticed that nearly half of the NGOs in China employ only three or less full-time employees. In the concluding round table discussion, Mrs. SUN Haiyan emphasized that many problems in CSR-work are „human“ problems, for example in the fields of Human Resources and communication.
At the end of the forum a short movie was shown about the “Health Poverty Action”. By sending Chinese staff to a small village in Myanmar and training local women to become nurses, this project successfully improved the medical supply and hygienic standards of this village.