CSR is not only a charity

In a couple of months I read some news and announcement about implementation of CSR program in some unit of my company. There still a lot of it are not implemented appropriately.

A lot of program tends to be a charity program. It is true that some of company’s income should be given as a part of social responsibility. Since it is not only for company’s image but also gives some value-added of the existence of company itself.

But one thing that some CSR implementor forget is about sustainability. The existence of company itself should be “accepted” by environment. It’s activities have to be friendly to ecosystem around it.

I remember when I was in the biology class, teacher said that this nature should be well-balanced. And from time to time, the nature has a capability to sustain its composition ever since. And this also behave in modern human life but in complex means.

In Timika-Papua, the ecosystem itself is the tribe with their environment, including mountains, rivers, plants, animals, and the tribe’s life itself. It’s ecosystem is just working flowly by their normal life. But, once a company start to exploit it’s environment, the equilibrium of it starts disturbed. We can imagine how Freeport McMoran exploit Grasberg, a mountain that have a huge deposit of copper and gold. People of Timika started complain about their life. Maybe not complain about the company, but the operational effects of the company. This can be a form of decreasing water quality, tree stock, fresh air, livestock/fish migration, diminished food reserve, and also social disruption.

CSR is a kind of obligation for company that have one or more those influence to their environtment. It’s existence should be environmental and ecosystem friendly. So that the goal of company is not only gaining product and revenue as much as possible, but also being “compatible”, blend, acceptable, and gives more value. The more company exploit enviroment, the more CSR quality should take place.

So that, CSR practitioner or manager should have do it strategically by heart and mind because implementing CSR is a desert tasks.

CSR Activities in Indonesia 1 – Pertamina & PLN

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in Indonesia still developing it’s own form. One thing that CSR being obligatory is caused by Indonesian’s Limited Company Regulation (Undang-Undang Nomor 40 Tahun 2007 tentang Perseroan Terbatas). Since CSR is a must for company that established energy sector, then it is more implemented in state-owned company and joint venture company. In Indonesia, there’s some state-owned company that running on energy sector. These called Badan Usaha Milik Negara (BUMN).

In this writings, I want to compare large scaled company that utilizing their budget or revenue for CSR program. Here’s PT Pertamina (Persero) and PT PLN (Persero).

Pertamina has five main categories for CSR activities (website):

1. Pertamina dan Kesehatan (Pertamina and Health)
2. Pertamina dan Masyarakat (Pertamina and Community)
3. Pertamina dan Pendidikan (Pertamina and Education)
4. Pertamina dan Lingkungan (Pertamina and Environtment)
5. Pertamina Youth Program

PLN has four main categories for CSR activities (website):

1. Community Relation
2. Community Service
3. Community Empowering
4. Environtment Conservation