Sustainable Development
Goals and
Corporate Social Responsibility Convergence
Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) were adopted on September 25, 2015 by 193
countries as a follow up to the Millennium Development Goals. The SDGs
focus to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all,
as part of a new sustainable development agenda. A total of 17 goals and
169 targets are set to be achieved by 2030 and the realisation of the
same calls for a collective effort from the government, the corporates
and the civil society organisations.
India has
also signed the declaration for sustainable development along with other
countries. While the government initiatives in India are linked to
achieving SDGs, local implementation and data validation becomes a
challenge. To add on to the slow progress, India ranks 116 of 157 on the
SDG index, thus calling for immediate action through a collaboration
between the corporate sector, civil society organisations and the
government. Corporates are now being seen as the key drivers of SDGs as
they can apply their creativity and innovation in solving the
sustainable development challenges and can play a strong role as
facilitators to catalyse implementation of the SDGs.
This
article talks about leveraging Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to
achieve the SDGs for sustainable growth in a holistic manner for the
people and the planet.
The
Sustainable Development Goals provide a powerful framework for
businesses to engage in corporate social responsibility. In India, the
CSR policy under section 135 of the Companies Act (2013) came around the
same time as the formation of the SDGs. CSR policy was established to
address the various development challenges. CSR and SDGs together have
tremendous potential to develop an interconnected model for sustainable
growth. There is a lot of overlap in the thematic development areas of
both the SDGs and CSR.
SDGs have
immense opportunities for the corporate sector’s participation. These
goals are bringing private players from various sectors to achieve the
common aim of sustainable development by exploring synergies between
different stakeholders for cumulative synchronised growth. For example,
when an organisation defines its CSR focus area on enhancing livelihoods
through skill development training of women and youth, it is
contributing to various SDGs like creating a means to end poverty, zero
hunger, quality education, gender equality and decent work and economic
growth.
While the
Indian Government has made bold moves through its various schemes to
reach out to the masses and contribute to achieving the SDGs, civil
society organisations like Development Alternatives have initiated
various innovative programmes in collaboration with the corporates to
add to the impact. One of the key programmes of Development Alternatives
is the ‘Skills to Livelihoods programme’ that is supported by many
corporates. This programme has been designed to provide productive
employment and decent work for all. Currently, it is being supported by
a leading non-banking financial company called Fullerton India Credit
Company Limited (FICCL) which offers various retail finance products for
rural households and small and medium enterprises in India.
Through the
‘Skills to Livelihoods programme’, youth and women are trained in
alternate vocations to build sustainable livelihoods that are a means to
increasing their family income. This helps in reducing poverty, reducing
inequalities and providing a means to decent work and economic growth,
thus contributing to achieving SDGs 1, 8 and 10. Till date, through
FICCLs financial contributions under their CSR, Development Alternatives
has impacted 1000 individuals by giving them sustainable livelihoods
through the skill development programme.
Another
company that Development Alternatives has partnered with is one of
India’s largest FMCG companies (company not to be named, as per the
company publicity guidelines). This company is committed to operate and
grow it’s business in a responsible way by reducing the environmental
impact of it’s operations and increasing positive social impact. The
company redefined its CSR to achieve three big goals under the
activities listed in the Schedule VII of Section 135 of the Companies
Act, 2013. The first goal focusses on improving health and wellbeing of
people. The second one is to reduce the environmental impact of making
and using it’s products and finally enhancing livelihoods of a large
number of people. The company has also identified water scarcity as one
of it’s key areas and has initiated various water conservation
programmes in India. Taking into account all it’s key focus areas, it
has collaborated with Development Alternatives to undertake skill
development programmes that focus on employment generation and
entrepreneurship among youth and women, water sanitation and hygiene
(WASH) programmes, nutrition for girls and all other types of target
groups. The company not only manages to meet its CSR mandates but also
helps in largely contributing to the SDGs as a final outcome. This FMCG
company is an ideal example that showcases diligent and optimal use of
its CSR resources in convergence with the knowledge, implementation and
grassroots experience of civil society organisations like Development
Alternatives to achieve the SDGs. Through the various programmes
undertaken and implemented by Development Alternatives, this company has
contributed to six key sustainable development goals of ending poverty
(Goal 1), promoting sustainable economic growth and decent work for all
(Goal 8), achieving gender equality and empowering women and girls (Goal
5) and reducing inequalities (Goal 10) through its skill development
initiatives for youth, girls and women. It has also directly contributed
to ensuring healthy lives and promoting wellbeing for all (Goal 3) and
sustainable management of water and sanitation for all (Goal 6). This
partnership between Development Alternatives and this FMCG company has
till date impacted the lives of over 50,000 individuals, directly and
indirectly.
The above
cases strongly show how the convergence of corporate resources with the
knowledge and expertise of civil society organisations are key in
achieving the sustainable development goals seamlessly. Corporates now
understand the value that can be derived from working towards the SDGs
and a large number of corporates have already started taking measured
steps in this direction. Along with strategic business benefits, SDGs
also serve as a tool to manage increased scrutiny from various
stakeholder groups over various social, environmental and labour issues.
Although significant strides are being made by the corporates, the need
still remains to engage in meeting the SDGs in a way that helps in
developing strategies to manage the social and environmental performance
of companies so that it results in developing smart businesses that
capture opportunities and come up with innovative products and services
to achieve the highest standards of sustainability.
■
Pulari Kurian
pkurian@devalt.org
Reference:
Sustainable Development Goals – Linkages with Corporate Action in India
FICCI-TTC-March 2018
Back to Contents
|