CSRDG Runs Media Training on CSR & the Role Media Reps Can Play in Promoting It
On March 29-30, the Center for Strategic Research & Development of Georgia (CSRDG), within the frames of the EU project ‘Georgian Civil Society Sustainability Initiative,’ held a training for 16 regional media outlet representatives from Tbilisi and Imereti. A further training is to be held in the Ajara region next week.
The Sairme Hotel and resort played host to the occasion, making a pleasant and snowy mountain backdrop to a very valuable two days of learning. The subject? Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).
Most of the journalists and editors present had a good understanding of the topic (up from the mere handful who knew about it at the last training we attended three years ago), yet weren’t quite sure how and where it could be applied and the vital role the media could play in spreading the good word.
Through a comprehensive and entertaining mix of informative material- including PPT, video, discussion points and group-projects, CSRDG’s trainer Lela Khoperia guided those present from the basic concepts of CSR embraced worldwide, to what CSR can involve, how it can be misunderstood and how it has been successfully employed both abroad and locally.
In December, the very same CSRDG organized and held the award ceremony of Georgia’s Responsible Business Award ‘Meliora’ within the above EU-funded project.
41 Georgian companies with 76 CSR projects/initiatives participated in Georgia’s Responsible Business Awards, with the winners announced as: Micro-Finance Organization ‘Crystal’ in the category ‘Best Responsible Large Company of the Year;’ the Bank of Georgia, which was awarded in the Best Green Initiative category for the project ‘Gzad;’ the small and medium company TRC for the project ‘Do not dump what can be recycled;’ Policy and Management Consulting Group (PMCG), which was acknowledged in the category ‘Responsible Employer’ for its ‘Employee Development Program;’ GPI Holding, which was named the best in the ‘Responsibility in the Marketplace’ category for its support to small and medium businesses; TBC Bank, awarded for ‘Supporting the Community’ with its project ‘Tsereqartulad’ (Write in Georgian); small/medium company ACT, which was awarded for its support to social entrepreneurship; Natakhtari, recognized for its ‘Care about the Future;’ advertising company Holmes&Watson, which was acknowledged for the project #argambolo in the ‘Best Creative CSR’ category and the Palitra Media Holding, whose project ‘Makuliteratura’ was awarded in the special category of ‘Waste Management Initiative.’
The take-away from the media training this weekend was that Georgian media representatives should not only themselves aim to take on a socially responsible role in their everyday workings (taking into account social, ecological, economic impacts), but to hold the companies they encounter up to and above the internationally recognized standards of good CSR: to not only highlight and report on the good that is being done in the singular charitable act that may be promoted by a particular company or organization, but to ask: is it sustainable CSR? Are they doing enough? And could they do more?
More on this topic in next week’s GT Business.
By Katie Ruth Davies