‘Make CSR more beneficial to local communities’

Professor Haruna Yakubu, Vice Chancellor of the University for Development Studies (UDS), has urged corporate organizations to be more practical in their social responsibility programmes to facilitate the development of the country.

He said it was worrying that instead of supporting activities that would directly improve the wellbeing of citizens in their local communities, many companies preferred to invest in beauty pageants and the like.

“These are things that will not help society,” he cautioned, and stressed that, “companies must promote the welfare of communities by providing development-oriented projects that would enhance the livelihoods of people in their geographical areas to complement the work of the government.”

Prof. Yakubu was speaking at Tamale, on Tuesday, at a signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) ceremony between UDS and Professor Wayne Dunn of the Corporate Social Responsibility Training Institute (CSRTI).

The CSR Training Institute is collaborating with the UDS to design training programmes that would imbibe corporate social responsibility values in individuals and organizations to promote an attitude of a positive giving back for the common good of humanity.

The UDS would soon offer certificates, degree and post-graduate programmes in the field of Corporate Social Responsibility. Professor Dunn, the President and Founder of CSRTI, said the collaboration was a well-thought partnership intended to build the capacities and orient the corporate world in achieving laudable objectives.

He explained that corporate social responsibility was not just about donating or presenting items to communities but about creating the enabling environment that would give more opportunities to people in organizations’ operational areas.

Professor Dunn, a Lecturer at the University of McGill in Canada, said the collaboration if effectively managed, would develop positive ways that businesses would best serve shareholders and society through innovative programmes to help both the people and the government.

Dr Daniel Bagah, Dean of the UDS School of Business and Law, said the programme would be launched on September 18, in Accra, to attract nationwide patronage. Dr Bagah announced that very soon, the UDS would start offering Bachelor of Law Degree programmes alongside business and development to give legal training to the people of the North.