Pakistan's Hashoo Foundation Wins the World Challenge 2008
Back after a long hiatus, and with interesting news too: The Hashoo Foundation's Plan Bee project has won the 2008 World Challenge. The World Challenge competition, which is organised by the BBC, Newsweek and Shell, aims to recognise social entrepreneurship initiatives and the 7-member judges panel, which includes Richard O'Brien of Outsights and Dr. Camilla Toulmin of the IIED, selected Plan Bee over the the Agricultural School (Paraguay) and Shanti Sewa Griha (Nepal)projects.
Plan Bee helps female beekeepers in the northern areas of Pakistan boost their income by selling high quality honey. The project hopes to train and link around 215 women with the market by the end of 2009, helping with organic certification, participation in trade fairs and global recognition of the brand. Commendable effort indeed. You can watch the BBC clip on the project here.
Mind you, the Hashoo Group, which is the main sponsor for the Hashoo Foundation, has drawn considerable flak from the International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Associations (IUF) which had been campaigning against the Hashoo Group over what it termed as 'Pakistan's longest-running labour dispute' relating to alleged 'sackings, harassment, violence and hardship' of members of the Pearl Continental Karachi Hotel Workers Union. The IUF stepped up its campaigning against the Hashoo Group in the wake of Plan Bee's shortlisting as a finalist, calling upon members and stakeholders to lobby against the hotel chain. Subsequent to Plan Bee's victory, the IUF also posted its regrets that the BBC Panel of Judges ignored what it claimed was the parent group's 'record of vicious union-busting' and chastising the judges for using a 'dubious Corporate Social Responsibility logic'.
This episode reveals two things: one, that there are always two sides to a coin; and secondly, that CSR begins at home. Without being privy to the details of the dispute between the Hashoo Group and the Pearl Continental Karachi Hotel Workers Union and without meaning to belittle Plan Bee's achievement, as a general comment it would be fair to say that CSR practices, principles and policies need to be internalised within the company itself before any entity can lay claims to following a CSR agenda. Anything otherwise would be a sham.
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2 comments:
I think this is the nice job done by Corporate Watch Pakistan to unvail this paradox. This is true CSR starts from home first, if employes are not happy there is not way to be prudents with other environmental entities.
I think the BBC and its panal had not gone through the holistic research process.
Thanks for your comments, which I agree with. Although the BBC obviously claims that the due diligence was carried out by the panel of judges, it does raise questions about the process, despite the fact that the judges on the panel are all people of established credentials and integrity. Whatever the process was, the normative view--that CSR practices including recognition and internalisation of labour rights--holds.
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