Corporate social responsibility >>Adding value

Social development perspectives can add value to organisations seeking to strengthen their corporate social responsibility in the following ways:

Social appraisals and impact assessments

Assessing the potential social impact of business decisions is increasingly recognised both as ethically important and as making good business sense. At a minimum, social research in the early stages of project planning can help avoid harmful social and economic impacts on local communities and populations. Engaging local stakeholders at an early stage and understanding how a potential development might be harnessed to maximise local benefits, can help avoid expensive mistakes, result in innovative and sustainable approaches and bring positive outcomes for local people.

At SDDirect we are able to offer expertise in qualitative and quantitative social surveys, ex-ante and ex-post poverty and social impact assessments, social and gender appraisals and in developing indicators and methods for monitoring and evaluating social and poverty impacts.

Social development expertise

Trained social development professionals are able to offer valuable insights into local contexts – at national or local levels – by analysing and explaining social and cultural context. This may include, for example, identifying the different social groups in a ‘community’ and analysing the social and political structures and processes that lead to control of, or exclusion from resources. Such understanding is essential in order to assess who does and who doesn’t stand to benefit from a project or programme. Similarly cultural practices need to be understood to determine how an intervention will be perceived and what impact is likely to be on different groups. Developing an understanding of the livelihood and coping strategies of different groups in society is also critical to project planning to ensure that delicately balanced strategies are not inadvertently disrupted or destroyed, leaving vulnerable populations further impoverished or at risk.

At SDDirect, we are able to offer an internationally recognised team of social analysts who can advise on local social and cultural contexts and undertake research and surveys as necessary. Our international network enables us to offer local social development expertise in many countries across the world, with a particular strength in Africa and Asia. Another strength is our breadth and depth of experience in conflict affected environments.

Particular assignments may require more specialised social development expertise. Within our team and network we are able to offer expertise in the areas of gender, human rights, core labour standards, social protection, enterprise and trade.

Training and capacity building

The field of corporate social responsibility is fast growing but still fairly new. Bringing in external social development expertise to advise in the short term is an appropriate first step, but building in-house capacity provides a more sustainable solution. This may mean recruiting an in-house team of social development specialists. As important and a greater challenge, is changing attitudes, behaviours and working practices across the workforce. Building awareness and promoting change in the social dimensions of business may involve a raft of interventions, such as analysing existing expertise and business practices and the incentives and disincentives for change, developing and rolling out tailor-made training programmes to key workers and non social development specialists, mainstreaming social development into induction and management courses and providing hands-on mentoring and guidance.

 

SDDirect is able to offer a full range of training and capacity building in social development.

Partnerships

Partnerships for corporate social responsibility are a key to success. Businesses, civil society organisations, governments, international development agencies and research institutions are some of the key stakeholders. One of the challenges of collaboration is building understanding of diverse and often opposing institutional perspectives and incentives. Most government and non governmental development organisations have limited experience of working with the private sector and vice-versa. A number of successful initiatives such as the World Bank supported Business Partners for Development have recognised the critical importance of partnership-building between the private sector, NGOs and government.

A social development approach is grounded in recognising the value of partnership working towards positive outcomes. Social development professionals emphasise the importance of building up an in-depth understanding of institutional contexts – both formal and informal structures, processes and practices – that determine the ‘rules of the game’. Without such understanding, technical advice alone is likely to be less effective. Similarly, discussion, negotiation and achieving consensus require an appreciation of other stakeholders’ perspectives. 

SDDirect specialises in designing methods and tools that can be used in a range of institutional and country contexts. Our experience involves community consultation and facilitation of dialogue between stakeholders around projects and programmes drawing out different interests and perspectives and working with stakeholders to build understanding and resolve conflict. Methods include workshop facilitation, conducting public meetings, structured and semi structured interviewing, focus groups, as well as use of participatory methods and tools.

CSR Compliance

Adopting more socially and environmentally responsible business practices is largely voluntary. The UN Global Compact, the Global Reporting Initiative (ISO 26000) and OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises set out  internationally agreed aspirations for corporate social responsibility. Business drivers for corporate responsibility are growing. Within some sectors one of the main drivers has been the need for a ‘social license to operate’. For example in the extractive industries sector, the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) and the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights are used by government and civil society to hold industries to account. International investors are increasingly incorporating social and environmental impact assessments into decision making. The International Finance Corporation’s Social Safeguards Policy sets the standard for private sector lending. The Equator Principles have now been adopted by a number of  banks. Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) is one of the most dynamic and rapid growing areas in the financial world. There are currently almost 300 SRI initiatives in Europe. In the United States the Social Investment Forum reports that there was more than $2 trillion in assets under management in portfolios that use screens linked to ethics, the environment and corporate social responsibility.

The demand for social and environmental accountability brings a demand for frameworks, tools and expertise to assess the social and environmental impacts of business operations. Environmental impact assessment is now a well developed science. Assessment frameworks, methods and tools, such as social and ethical audits and social assessment frameworks, are still evolving and experience of their use is as yet limited. 

SDDirect has a wealth of experience of social analysis, appraisal and impact assessments and works with clients to draw on the best of what is available to design bespoke tools that meet international standards as well as specific business needs. Within our team we also provide expert advise on international policies and protocols.

Recent Case Studies


Review of ADB-supported programme to protect female garment workers in Cambodia

The garment industry in Cambodia has been a vital source of income for Cambodia since 1997, accounting for almost 95% of the country’s exports. In 2004 the garment industry provided jobs to an estimated 280,000 workers, of which 85-90% were women. ... read more