"The Awards are given for programs that achieve excellence in engaging stakeholders and developing innovative and sustainable solutions to pressing social challenges," explains Dr. Francisco L. Roman, Jr., Executive Director of the AIM-RVR CSR Center. "The companies receiving the Asian CSR Awards have demonstrated their leadership, sincerity, and ongoing commitment to integrating ethical values, compliance with legal requirements, respect for individuals, involvement in communities, and protection of the environment into the way they do business."
The Asian CSR Awards have four categories: Poverty Alleviation, Environmental Excellence, Education Improvement, and Health Enhancement. The recipients of the 2014 Asian CSR Awards are the following:
- Poverty Alleviation - Jollibee Group Foundation's Farmer Entrepreneurship Program: Linking Farmers to the JFC Supply Chain. Jollibee Foods Corporation is recognized for practicing a business model responsive to societal needs, particularly in pushing for enabling people to develop business ventures to become part of a progressive society.
- Environmental Excellence - DOW Chemical Thailand's DOW Chemical for Sustainable Industry. DOW Chemical Thailand is cited for its strong leadership across various industries to promote environmental sustainability and safety standards, designing a program that created impact in both scale and quality. Its holistic approach is towards creating shared value for both the company and the industries it serves.
- Education Improvement - Jollibee Group Foundation's Busog, Lusog, Talino (BLT) School Feeding Program. Jollibee Foods Corporation is honored for having a corporate social responsibility program aligned with its core mission and competencies as a business. Jollibee also extends its expertise in food safety to address food handling issues in the feeding program.
- Health Enhancement - P.T. Unilever Indonesia for their School Program - An Integrated Health Hygiene Promotion. P.T. Unilever Indonesia is awarded for its program that addresses the health and sanitation needs of a community, as well as encourages the youth to adopt good hygiene practices - underscoring the importance of behavior change among the youth in remote areas, where health and sanitation systems are poor.
This year's board of judges also handed out the CSR Impact Award to a program that has an ongoing track record of generating significant sustainable impact. This year's recipient of the CSR Impact Award is the Valsad District Cooperative Milk Producer for the Tribal Development through Co-Operative Movement Program. The program has established more than 1,000 "societies" composed of at least 100,000 farmers. The focus on indigenous women has both direct and indirect social benefits that go beyond income generation.
The AIM-RVR CSR Center also has a long-standing partnership with Intel Corporation, with both institutions awarding the Intel-Asian Institute of Management Corporate Responsibility Award (IACRA). This honors companies in Asia that have embedded corporate social responsibility into its operations, especially with how they have engaged with both shareholders and stakeholders. Awardees are also seen as role models, exerting positive influence to their stakeholders, peers, and communities.
This year's recipient of IACRA is Magsaysay Maritime Corporation, which is seen as fully understanding the needs and concerns of its key stakeholders, primary of which are its employees. Through its training and scholarship programs, the company has consistently produced quality seafarers for the manpower industry. They are also given training on financial literacy to better secure their future and are provided with ways to easily communicate with loved ones through Magsaysay Maritime Corporation's partnership with a telecommunication company.
"It is the AIM-RVR CSR Center's belief that corporate social responsibility can be genuinely sustainable only when it is integrated into the company's business model and is regarded as fundamental to strategy," shares Dr. Roman. "The Asian CSR Awards recognize the companies that have been creating sustainable positive impacts, enabling them to become case studies of best practices for other companies in the region."
About Asian Forum on Corporate Social Responsibility (AFCSR)
The AFCSR is the premier platform for showcasing CSR thought leadership and best practice in Asia. Established in the Philippines and convened in a different Asian location each year, the AFCSR (now in its 13th year) attracts more than 500 delegates from 30 countries and is the largest and longest-running major CSR conference in Asia. The AFCSR features prestigious CSR Awards: the Asian CSR Awards and the Intel-AIM Corporate Responsibility Award for outstanding initiatives in four key areas - education, environment, health and poverty alleviation. It is co-convened by the AIM RVR Center for CSR and Asia Inc Forum. For more information, please visit www.asianforumcsr.com.
About AIM-RVR Center for Corporate Social Responsibility
The AIM RVR Center is a research and program center within the Asian Institute of Management (AIM). The main thrust of the AIM RVR Center is to undertake CSR-focused research relative to the competitiveness of corporations and their impact on society. The AIM RVR Center is one of the first research centers in the region to concentrate on CSR issues. The Center also provides consultancy and training services on CSR issues to organizations throughout Asia. The AIM is the Asian pioneer in international management education. For more information, please visit http://rvr.aim.edu.
About Asia Inc Forum
Asia Inc Forum (AIF) is a leading facilitator of business and public policy dialogue in ASEAN and the Asia Pacific region. AIF is the convener of the influential ASEAN 100 Leadership Forum and the co-convener of the Asian Forum for Corporate Social Responsibility (AFCSR), Asia's leading platform for CSR thought leadership and practice. The company has a proud history of partnership with the APEC CEO Summit - the foremost meeting of business and government in the Asia Pacific region. For more information, please visit http://asiaincforum.com.
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Editor: PR Wire
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