CSR for Moldova: Too Soon, Too Late?!
Eurasia Foundation, American Chamber of Commerce and United Nations Development Programme in Moldova joined their efforts and organized an international conference Corporate Social Responsibility for Moldova on November 8 in Chisinau City. An outstanding fact is that this project was financed primarily from corporate sponsorship. Eurasia Foundation came with the idea, attracted two like-minded partners - the AmCham and UNDP - and conducted a fundraising campaign, which resulted in 10 companies making financial contributions to cover related costs. 
The funds came from companies, the skills came from the non-profit sector. Who benefited? Because the actual value of this Conference – knowledge and information about CSR practices abroad and in Moldova – is inherently a public good accessible directly to participants and indirectly to a wider audience - via media outlets that covered the event, this blog, private and public discussions, and debates – it is difficult to identify and quantify beneficiaries. Although knowledge about CSR – and for Moldova CSR is new knowledge – is important, there is something even more important for Moldova. Cooperation as process, cooperation among sectors – pubic, non-profit, private, media – towards achieving a mutually advantageous societal goal – be it knowledge creation/dissemination, or policy implementation, or job creation – was the most valuable Conference result of all.
Genuine CSR practices exist in Moldova, and this was the most vocal conclusion of the Conference. CSR is good for companies and society at large, both internationally and in Moldova. Government needs to understand this and encourage CSR-friendly policies and laws, media needs to learn to distinguish between CSR and corporate publicity, and the non-profit sector needs to take initiative and be at the right place, at the right time and with the right idea. Then, CSR will be at home even in Moldova. Here is a TV7 news report on the Conference.
Comments:
Thanks, Lucia, for the summary about the CSR conference. My opinion is that it's definitely not too soon to talk about CSR of Moldovan business. When state can not provide a wide range of social/public goods (because it's too weak or doesn't have enough resources, etc), corporate world gets to the arena, bringing new approaches, high standards and accountability.
It's a pity that the TV7 news report describes CSR (the term which is, indeed, quite new for Moldovan public), focusing on "Salarii mari, condiţii de munca ca in Europa, susţinerea colaboratorilor talentaţi si cu perspectiva, tehnologii avansate, un regim de munca flexibil" and leaving out one of the core meanings of CSR: "responsibility for the impact of their activities ... communities and the environment in all aspects of their operations. This obligation... sees organizations voluntarily taking further steps to improve the quality of life...for the local community and society at large. (Various definitions of CSR can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_Social_Responsibility#Definitions_of_CSR
Evghenia, thanks for your opinion. If we look back into history, initially, the corporation was created for two purposes. The first reason was to enable the concentration of capital to serve the needs of the British Empire. Secondly, to help finance public projects that were deemed too extensive for governments. In the US, governments chartered banks and corporations to finance construction of road and canals.
This means that corporations were intended for public service in the first place. With time, they have mutated into pure investor wealth-generating vehicles, gaining unlimitted life and power. So, it is reasonable enough that the public is striving to make corporations more socially responsible.