Big business, big help

Thursday, 28 August 2008 15:52

The unspoken business issue of the 21st century is undoubtedly Corporate Social Investment (CSI). Thanks to globalisation and greater media focus on the responsibilities of corporations, many big businesses are including social issues in their overall corporate planning. As one of the poorest regions in South Africa, the Eastern Cape has perhaps the greatest need for corporate social investment initiatives in its communities. Comprising portions of the former Cape Province and old Bantustan states of Transkei and Ciskei, the Eastern Cape has inherited a population of impoverished people. As is the norm across South African society, the rural nature of the area equates to pervasive poverty – and by extension – HIV/Aids. Though dominated by agricultural land, the Eastern Cape is home to two major urban and economic hubs: the cities of Port Elizabeth and East London. It also contains motor manufacturing plants for Volkswagen, Mercedes Benz and General Motors. While the incidence of infection is highest in the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan area, HIV/Aids is having its most devastating effects on the province’s rural communities. According to information provided by the Eastern Cape Aids Council, the Eastern Cape has 80 000 new infections annually, coupled with 38 500 deaths. More than 20 000 children have been orphaned by Aids, with 5 700 babies acquiring infection before birth and 3 800 infected by their mother’s milk. A tenth of the province’s population is HIV positive. That’s nearly 660 000 people living with the disease. The numbers are staggering and are exacerbated by a provincial healthcare system suffering from a severe shortage of financial and human resources, together with poor working conditions and low staff morale. These factors resulted in many health workers deciding to leave the sector, usually to migrate to other countries that offered better salaries and working conditions. Stepping into this bleak picture are a number of corporations intent on alleviating the area’s stresses, by engaging in Corporate Social Investment (See Side Bar). In a global sense, South Africa is a leader as far as CSI is concerned, with nearly every top-50 JSE-listed company participating. According to CSI consultancy Trialogue, whose annual CSI Handbook has become the authoritative guide on the topic in the country, South African firms spend nearly R2.4 billion on CSI initiatives on an annual basis. Twelve percent of that is aimed specifically at HIV and health issues. That amount doubles when you include time and resources, meaning every South African receives on average R100 per year thanks to corporate social spending. As far as the Eastern Cape – and HIV/Aids, specifically – is concerned, the following two companies provide excellent examples of programmes intended to lighten the burden facing the province: Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz South Africa operates Siyakhana, its HIV/Aids project in the Eastern Cape. Founded by Mercedes-Benz South Africa, the Border-Kei Chamber of Business and a German development agency DEG, the project aims to help companies address the Aids pandemic through comprehensive primary healthcare for itsemployees and dependants. The project has been recognised by the Global Business Coalition on HIV and Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GBC), which annually acknowledges the efforts of companies around the world for implementing sophisticated and effective programmes, using business principles to fight these deadly diseases. It includes access to HIV counselling and testing and HIV/Aids treatment and support. The project offers smaller businesses with 50 to 200 employees assistance in addressing HIV and Aids in their workplaces. Smaller companies generally have neither the financial nor human resources to run workplace programmes and Siyakhana offers them an affordable company-wide programme. Since its conception, Siyakhana, which means “building one another”, has provided voluntary counselling and testing to 4 717 employees, of whom 3 129 have been tested, with 272 testing positive. The project aims to raise awareness of the inter-relationship between tuberculosis and the risks of contracting HIV, into its voluntary counselling and testing programme and hopes to improve access to spouses and dependants. Through this project, Mercedes-Benz has given 17 participating firms a unique programme that has been received positively and has improved testing rates and take-up of antiretroviral treatment, keeping HIV-positive employees strong and economically active. This provides a win-win situation for employers and employees. Old Mutual Old Mutual has thrown its considerable weight behind a number of Aids and HIV programmes, with a particular focus on Aids Orphans. Under the auspices of its Aids Orphan Programme, the Old Mutual Foundation offers support to a nationwide network of organisations that assists children left destitute due to the loss of their parents. In the Eastern Cape, Old Mutual partners with Uthando, a Dutch-based charitable organisation. Uthando’s main objective is to raise moral and financial support for children who are infected and/or affected by the HIV/Aids crisis. In the Eastern Cape, Uthando operates in the deep rural area of Keiskammahoek. The group cares for 91 vulnerable children, 11 of whom head households. With Old Mutual’s support, Uthando is able to provide for these children’s basic needs, such as food, anti-retroviral medicines, shelter and education. Courses and workshops about the disease are also organised to increase knowledge of HIV/Aids in the local communities, as well as projects that help local people to provide for their own basic needs. Uthando also initiates and maintains contact between Dutch and South African children, with the aim of making children aware of each other’s cultures, habits and problems. In this way, they aim to create greater understanding for one another’s living conditions. Zaid Kriel What is Corporate Social Investment? Corporate Social Investment (also called corporate responsibility, corporate citizenship, and responsible business) is a concept whereby organisations consider the interests of society by taking responsibility for the impact of their activities on customers, suppliers, employees, shareholders, communities and other stakeholders, as well as the environment. This obligation is seen to extend beyond the statutory obligation to comply with legislation and sees organisations voluntarily taking further steps to improve the quality of life for employees and their families,as well as for the local community and society at large. The practice of CSI is subject to much debate and criticism. Proponents argue that there is a strong business case for CSI, in that corporations benefit in multiple ways by operating with a perspective broader and longer than their own immediate, short-term profits. Critics argue that CSI detracts from the fundamental economic role of businesses; others argue that it is nothing more than superficial window-dressing; still others argue that it is an attempt to pre-empt the role of governments as a watchdog over powerful multinational corporations.

Last Updated on Wednesday, 01 October 2008 15:54