KOLKATA: The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII); Eastern Region joined hands with UNICEF to establish a Corporate Social Responsibility Hub for the private sector of West Bengal through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).
The CSR Hub, first of its kind in the country, would be a knowledge center of CSR related information, act as a think-tank and play an advocacy and advisory role for CSR activities.
“CSR is an integral aspect of corporate affairs. It has a double edge impact of creating goodwill for the company and making social and economic intervention to bring about large scale change in the life of people from different walks.” said Partha Bhattacharyya, Chairman, SDCA Sub Committee, CII Eastern Region.
“The hub will help to identify the needs of marginalized communities in the state and suggest the implementation of suitable CSR programs. We would request the various companies in the state to join us in this endeavor to create a better future for the nation through affirmative action and social inclusion.”
The aim of the CSR Hub would be to help multi-national corporations, national companies and small- to medium-sized businesses in West Bengal to identify, design and implement alliances that leverage the strengths of the private sector.
“There is a growing expectation from the companies to integrate social responsibility aspects in their business persuasion. The situation affects the large business houses as well as the small and medium scale enterprises,” said Ranaveer Sinha, Chairman, CII Eastern Region.
The CSR Hub will be housed at CII office and will be jointly managed by CII and UNICEF.
“The immediate focus of the CSR Hub will be to document current CSR activities undertaken by CII members in West Bengal as baseline information,” said Saugat Mukherjee, Regional Director, CII Eastern Region.
“This will be followed up by prioritizing the key social developmental needs of the state of West Bengal through partnership mode.”
Viresh Oberoi, Deputy Chairman, CII West Bengal State Council envisaged that the CSR hub will play a pivotal role in the CSR activity of the state by providing technical guidance for proposal development, partnership building, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of select CSR projects.
The private sector can play a key, positive role in helping to build a healthy and secure future with equity, said Lori Calvo, Chief of UNICEF West Bengal.
“We must ensure that we reach all children and not feel satisfied with the averages that hide the disparities. I would like to invite other corporate bodies to also become a part of this movement. I hope that the partnership between UNICEF and CII will remind us that children are “everyone’s business.”
(India Blooms News Service)
