6 firms, 3 individuals awarded by The Daily Star and CSR Window Bangladesh
Six organisations and three individuals yesterday won the third “Bangladesh Sustainability Excellence Awards” by The Daily Star and the CSR Window Bangladesh for their contributions to the betterment of people’s lives. The individuals and representatives of the organisations pose for a photo with chief guest Syed Manzur Elahi, chairman of Syed Manzur Elahi Enterprise, during the event at Le Méridien Dhaka. Photo: Star
Six companies and three young humanitarians were felicitated yesterday at the 3rd Bangladesh Sustainability Excellence Awards for their sustainable and socially impactful initiatives.
The Daily Star and the CSR Window Bangladesh honoured the firms to encourage corporates and individuals to take on projects that serve society and the environment.
Unilever Bangladesh's Plastic Circularity for a Sustainable Bangladesh project won the award in the environment category, while Bata Shoe Company's (Bangladesh) Bata Children's' program bagged the top award in the education segment.
Cement maker LafargeHolcim's initiative Integrated Support in Chhatak Community took home the accolade in the Community Engagement, while Ashulia Women and Children Hospital, a project of Shanta Holdings, won the award in the healthcare category.
"Five years ago, design, capacity and payment terms were important to foreign buyers. Now, sustainability has become important."
— Syed Manzur Elahi Chairman of Apex Group
The Bangladesh Sustainability Excellence Awards in Financial Inclusion went to Grameenphone for its GP Accelerator and GP Academy, while Banglalink Digital Communication won the award in the Disaster Response category.
Three young changemakers were also awarded as the Young Humanitarian of the Year: Arifur Rahman Shihab founder of Valo Kajer Hotel; Lamia Tanzim Tanha, founder and chief executive officer of TransEnd; and Arian Arif, founder of Mojar School.
Syed Manzur Elahi, chairman of Apex Group, handed over the awards to the winners at a ceremony held at Le Méridien Dhaka, the hospitality partner for the event.
"Sustainability is part of SDGs and this is very important -- every company should prepare a sustainability report."
Five years ago, design, capacity and payment terms were important to foreign buyers. Now, sustainability has become important.
"Now you have built your beautiful city on the bank of a river and then you pollute the water of the river that you give you water to drink. What sort of logic is that? What sort of development is that?"
— Mahfuz Anam Editor and publisher of The Daily Star
"When we talk to our foreign buyers, we just want to show off that we have so many machines and we have so many export orders. They just wave at me and tell me to shut up literally. They are not interested in any of this. What is important to them is what we are doing about sustainability and what we are doing to reduce our carbon footprint."
And it is not just lip service: the buyers do their own auditing to see whether the promised sustainability measures were actually being followed through, said Elahi, also a former advisor to a caretaker government.
The word sustainability should be compared with the word survival, said Mahfuz Anam, editor and publisher of The Daily Star.
"When we talk about sustainability, we talk about sustainability not only of processes and products but also of the planet. If the planet does not exist, our children and grandchildren will cease to exist. I wish the best for my grandchildren. But am I leaving the best future for them?"
"ESG [Environmental, social, and corporate governance] commitments are driving consumer purchases and employee engagement. Companies in Bangladesh are pursuing ambitious ESG targets."
— Shehzad Munim Managing director and CEO of British American Tobacco Bangladesh
All the biggest and the most famous cities were built on the banks of rivers.
"Now you have built your beautiful city on the bank of a river and then you pollute the water of the river that you give you water to drink. What sort of logic is that? What sort of development is that?"
Anam went on to request the corporates to examine how they can make their products and the markets sustainable.
While he appreciated the initiatives by corporates to appoint sustainability officers, he wanted to know if the officials were empowered enough.
Shehzad Munim, managing director and CEO of British American Tobacco Bangladesh, presented a keynote while there was a panel discussion at the event.
"ESG [Environmental, social, and corporate governance] commitments are driving consumer purchases and employee engagement. Companies in Bangladesh are pursuing ambitious ESG targets."
An effective and inclusive committee and incentive for ESG adopters are needed to drive the sustainability agenda forward, Munim added.
The government should incentivise sustainability issues, said Shamima Akhter, director of Unilever Bangladesh's corporate affairs, partnerships and communications.
Bata Shoe Company
Best CSR in Education
Bata Children's Programme is a global sustainability project of the company, for which Bata has spent $104,944 so far in Bangladesh.
Through the programme, Bata brought improvements to the Ashraf Textile Mills High School located in Tongi, Gazipur, near its corporate office.
Bata funded a new school building, toilets, a drinking water area, classroom furniture, fans, lights, CCTV cameras, and a new school gate.
The playground was renovated, and a drainage system was installed to keep the school from becoming flooded after rain. A new library and science laboratory were built to help students improve their reading habits, STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) knowledge, and prepare them for the present 4IR world. More than a thousand students are benefitting from the programme.
Unilever Bangladesh
Best CSR in Environment
As the first and biggest public-private partnership for plastic recycling in the country, Unilever partnered with Dhaka, Narayanganj, and Chattogram city corporations and NGOs UNDP, YPSA, and Garbageman to build capacities of waste-pickers and drive up collections of thousands of tonnes of single-use plastic (SUP) waste.
The first initiative of the project was launched in Narayanganj, where the project now manages 33 percent of the total plastic waste generated. Since October 2021, 470 tonnes of plastic waste have been collected, 112 tonnes of which were recycled there.
Unilever teamed up with the NGO YPSA to create a circular value chain in 41 wards in Chattogram. Here, the focus was on incentivising the waste traders to buy SUP and training the waste-pickers to segregate SUP. To date, 1,011 tonnes of plastic waste have been collected from Chattogram.
Grameenphone
Best CSR in Financial Inclusion
Grameenphone Accelerator aims to provide start-ups, developers, and innovators with the resources they need to grow and thrive.
Sheba xyz, CMED Health, Dhakacast, Cramstack, Doctorkoi, Airwork, iPage, Onnow, and Barikoi are some of the start-ups that came through the platform.
Early-stage tech start-ups get grant funding, expert mentorship, training, curated access to GP assets, investor access, and more during the 4.5-month-long programme.
Over the last nine years, the platform has helped more than 50 businesses to grow and provided 31,600 e-certifications.
Grameenphone Academy is an online learning platform open to all and completely free of charge. The academy offers online courses on career readiness, freelancing, 4IR skills, and entrepreneurship.
LafargeHolcim
Best CSR in Community Engagement
Located next to the cement factory in Sunamganj's Chhatak, LafargeHolcim's Community Development Centre has a primary school, a medical centre, and a skill development training centre, all of which provide services free of charge.
Children from the local community, who previously did not have access to education, can study up to class five, while the local community has access to primary healthcare services such as consultations, medications, vaccinations, and health counselling.
The skill development centre provides locals with training in tailoring, embroidery, candle-making, solar power panel installations, and mobile phone repair. It also provides seed money to local women to set up their small enterprises. Besides, the company installed 10 rainwater harvesting facilities to ensure safe drinking water for the community.
Shanta Holdings
Best CSR in Healthcare
Set up by Shanta Holdings in 2004, the Ashulia Women and Children Hospital provides high-quality healthcare services at 50 percent of the price and subsidised medicines for garment workers and their families living in Ashulia, Savar, and Gazipur, as well as to the neighbouring communities.
So far, at least 20 lakh individuals have taken treatment at the state-of-the-art hospital, which cost a total of Tk 125 crore.
Since 2016, the hospital has facilitated approximately 18,000 childbirths, with a remarkable 63 percent of the deliveries being natural births. The hospital also participates in the government's immunisation programme for infants and toddlers.
To combat the tuberculosis epidemic in garment factories, the hospital has conducted comprehensive health screening and provided those diagnosed with free medications.
Banglalink
Best CSR in Rapid Response
Banglalink Community Resilience Building Initiatives are aimed at providing people during crises with reliable communication, support, and inclusive relief efforts.
At the core of the initiative are the toll-free emergency numbers that serve as a crucial lifeline, enabling individuals and communities to access essential services, including emergency blood donation and assistance.
The programme provided aid and support to over 250,000 families, while a million individuals benefitted from the emergency response initiatives.
Of note is its early warning system for people trapped in the path of Cyclone Mocha and live coverage of the cyclone's trajectory on the MyBL app.
The company deployed 4G resources and ground employees to ensure uninterrupted connectivity during Mocha.
Md Arifur Rahman
Valo Kajer Hotel
Md Arifur Rahman is the founder of Valo Kajer Hotel, a social initiative that provides meals for good deeds to the homeless, helpless, and rootless people in Bangladesh.
The initiative was started in 2009 by a group of volunteers who wanted to help the needy and inspire them to do good deeds for society.
Valo Kajer Hotel operates in six locations in Dhaka and Chattogram, where the volunteers serve free food daily to 1,000-1,200 hungry people on the footpath. The only condition is that the people have to inform the volunteers of a good deed they have done that day.
To date, the initiative, which runs on donations from the Daily Ten Members and well-wishers, has distributed a million meals.
Lamea Tanjin Tanha
TransEnd
Lamea Tanjin Tanha is the co-founder and chief executive officer of the non-profit organisation TransEnd, which aims to equip the transgender, hijra and gender-diverse communities with education, training, healthcare, employment, and entrepreneurship.
So far, TransEnd has managed to get 735 marginalised hijra people skilled in the English language, handicrafts, communication, and digital literacy, while 373 transpeople have joined mainstream jobs scoped by the platform.
As a result of her advocacy for the trans community, the government has declared a 5 percent tax rebate for companies that hire transgender people.
The platform also conducted awareness-building campaigns and sensitisation programmes centred around the trans community.
Arian Arif
Mojar School
Arian Arif, is the founder and executive director of Odommo Bangladesh Foundation, also known as Mojar School, which aims to ensure a Bangladesh free of street children.
Mojar School provides education based on the national curriculum from pre-primary to class 8 to 1,050 students in four permanent branches located in Dhaka and Manpura.
In total, it teaches 2,300 students across 20 branches, including the six "Under the Sky Mojar Schools" located in Dhaka's most vulnerable areas, including rail and bus stations, as well as launch ghats.
Through Odommo Bangladesh Better Stories, the families of more than 200 street children were provided with financial support, rickshaws, vans, employment, and sewing training.
