Promoting Pro Bono in Georgia

Exclusive Interview

Taking place during the penultimate week of October, Pro Bono Week is a global celebration that is held simultaneously in more than 20 countries and sees a multitude of pro bono events. In 2016, Georgia joined this group of countries, and on October 27, the Center for Strategic Research and Development of Georgia (CSRDG), in cooperation with the Bank of Georgia, held this year’s Pro Bono Marathon at the Bank of Georgia Headquarters.

The Pro Bono Marathon is organized within the framework of the Georgian Civil Society Sustainability Initiative (GCSI). GCSI aims at improving the operational environment for civil society in Georgia, empowering civil society organizations (CSOs), increasing their accountability towards constituencies and amplifying their linkages to other actors. The project is co-funded by European Union and the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. By the end of 2020, with a total budget of EUR 5.07 Million (the EU contribution amounts to EUR 3.8 Million) GCSI aims to: execute over 110 activities, award 79 sub-grants, and target more than 5000 representatives of civil society across all Georgia. The project is implemented by Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung in cooperation with the Civil Society Institute (CSI), Center for Training and Consultancy (CTC), Center for Strategic Research and Development of Georgia (CSRDG) and Kutaisi Education Development and Employment Center (KEDEC).

The beneficiaries of this year’s Pro Bono Marathon were CSOs whose work deals with combatting various social issues in Tbilisi and other regions of the country: Association Anika, the Guria Agribusiness Center, Association Atinati, Association of Young Psychologists and Doctors XENON, Union Step to the Future, Civil Development Association of Georgia, Charity Humanitarian Center Abkhazeti (CHCA).

During the Marathon, GEORGIA TODAY sat down with Lela Khoperia, the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Program Coordinator at CSRDG, to find out more about the event and her work.

Introduce yourself, your company, and what you do within the “Georgian Civil Society Sustainability Initiative”?

I’m the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Program Coordinator at the Center for Strategic Research and Development of Georgia (CSRDG), and our organization is one of the oldest civil society organizations in Georgia, having been active for 22 years. One of our core programs is developing corporate social responsibility in the country : actually, all our programs are linked with sustainable development in one way or another. I’ve been leading the CSR program for 12 years and, within this program, for the last two years, we’ve been implementing initiatives that promote pro bono work in Georgia.

As to the Georgian Civil Society Sustainability Initiative, this is a very large-scale program that will have a huge impact on the development of Civil Society in Georgia. This program is implemented by four Georgian CSOs with the lead of Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung and financial support from the EU and German Government. Within this Program, CSRDG is responsible for the implementation of a number of components and one of them is Promoting CSR and Pro Bono in Georgia.

Tell us about the Pro Bono Movement in Georgia

Pro bono entails the provision of professional services, free of charge, for public benefit organizations; in Georgia itself, the movement is in its infancy, though in Europe and the United States pro bono has quite a long history.

In 2015, we initiated the creation of the Georgian pro bono network which unites 11 leading Georgian companies and two business associations, with more and more companies joining our network every year. For example, we’ll have an annual network meeting that will see three new companies join our ranks. Members of our network commit themselves to providing pro bono services, like consultation, mentoring, and expert support, to non-profit organizations. Indeed, there exists a global Pro Bono network uniting mediator organizations from over 20 countries. A mediator organization is an organization like ourselves which connects businesses with beneficiary organizations, facilitating pro bono services. CSRDG is a member of this global network which gives us access to global trends and expertise, considerably helping us with the promotion of pro bono initiatives in Georgia.

What are the main achievements of the CSRDG’s CSR program?

It has been a dozen years since we started the program, working together with companies to promote their responsible business behavior. Today, I can say that we’re proud of the results we’ve achieved. Of course, we’re not the only ones responsible for the level of success that has been had, but we’re very proud of how much our input has contributed to the cause so far. Compared with the state of affairs 10-12 years ago, in present day Georgia, more and more companies are paying significant attention to corporate social responsibility, trying to embed responsible attitudes in their business behavior, as well as making the effort to become involved in CSR initiatives, joining different networks that unite responsible businesses, like the Georgian Pro Bono Network, Global Compact, the CSR club, CSR Commission of the ICC Georgia, etc. We believe that CSR is developing very quickly in Georgia, and we are very proud of having been able to contribute to this.

What challenges do you face in ensuring the sustainability and future development of your work?

There are a lot of challenges that perhaps hinder the development of CSR in Georgia that are more general in character, like political instability, economic difficulties, and the relative infancy of the corporate sector of the country. You know, we ask Georgian companies to introduce activity standards equal to those of European companies: companies that may have already existed for more than a century. Conversely, while the Georgian private sector is developing quite rapidly, it has only been around for 25 to 30 years, so a lot of the companies are facing the difficulties that come with this reality.

Another, maybe not challenge but stimulus, for companies will be whether or not the Georgian government introduces more well-articulated and clearer policies on supporting CSR development in the country. To that end, we are working closely with the government, and fortunately there are indeed many indications of their willingness to closely support the development. For example, on November 30th we’re organizing a very large-scale, multi-stakeholder forum on CSR and labor rights, that three different ministries will be supporting. So the government is definitely starting to declare its position on supporting CSR.

Political stability and steady economic development definitely remain a key precondition for the continued development of CSR in Georgia.

Mate Foldi