Many issues of concern to civil society, companies and the government were raised at the recent Omani Forum for Partnership and Social Responsibility.
We focus here on the issue of the social impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) adopted by organisations in country.
Through the CSR mechanism, organisations pledge to abide by international conventions and ethical standards in fostering the growth and development of communities in which they operate.
In Oman, we see many Omani companies showing interest in social responsibility issues, and there is a commitment to promote charitable work and investment in the local community. This is achieved by directing some of financial resources to community support activities, such as securing jobs for the unemployed, funding training programmes, supporting the rehabilitation of young people, providing housing and services to low-income families, and so on.
From this standpoint, CSR must benefit deserving sections of society and the needs of voluntary and humanitarian associations working in this field.
The last forum discussed the need to form an independent institution to manage issues of social responsibility instead of having multiple agencies distributed between the Ministry of Social Development, Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion, the Capital Market Authority, among others. A unified institutions will ensure that CSR funding resources will be distributed equally to the needs of the community.
Further, these funds and services provided by Omani companies must remain inside the country and be spent on internal projects as envisioned under the In-Country Value model.
However, the Foreign Ministry or the Ministry of Finance can have provisions to enable friendly countries that have suffered from natural disasters to benefit from humanitarian support.
Omani laws need to organise the process of social responsibility in the private sector in a way that keeps pace with modern trends.
This is not to prescribe certain percentages for CSR budgets by public share holding companies, but rather to provide advice, ensure support for higher education and specialised programmes for greater to the local economy.
It also requires Omani government institutions to motivate the companies that contribute to enhancing the resources of institutions and local communities with tangible projects, and to assist registered donor institutions in getting approvals for their initiatives.
In the Sultanate of Oman, charitable activities have resulted in more social solidarity among the various segments of society.
However, what we see today in terms of donations and funding for some institutions do not yield the desired results, often resulting in the waste of resources. This requires a scientific methodology for evaluating the impacts of such CSR initiatives.
It is also very important to identify impartial bodies to measure the social impact of social responsibility, and to ascertain how money is spent and to assess their impact on societies and individuals based on governance and transparency principles.
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