West African CSR and Community Development Conference on June 23

The Ghana Edition of the West African Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Community Development Conference will be held at the Golden Tulip Hotel on 23rd June, 2015. The Conference is supported and endorsed by the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), the Ghana Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI), Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Ghana CSR Diary and WestKomm. It is supported by over 35 local and international media organisations in Ghana and across the sub-region.

The Conference is a sub-regional thought-leadership platform for creating awareness, discussing and sharing best CSR and community development practices across West Africa. The Conference aims at driving sustainable development of the West African sub-region by aligning CSR and its actors with international best practices locally.

According to a CSR Advocate and Lead Project Manager for the Conference, Mr. Kojo Williams: ‘The annual Ghana CSR Diary & Awards initiative has evolved into a sub-regional agenda. Since 2011 when the initiative was jointly launched by the former AGI President, Nana Owusu-Afari and the former Minister for Trade & Industry, Hon. Hannah Tetteh, more than 60 blue-chips, SMEs and socially-responsible companies out of about 500 other applicants, had their CSR activities verified, evaluated and awarded. Now, a CSR Conference will precede the annual Awards ceremony.

He continued: ‘Stakeholders across the sub-region, including the media, have called for a platform to discuss and learn more about CSR and community development, while demystifying popular misconceptions and weaving CSR around business growth agenda for wider societal impact and compelling competitive advantage. This annual Conference is a direct response to that call.’

The Conference, which is open to companies in Ghana and all stakeholders in the CSR and Community Development spectrum, will host speakers and facilitators from academia, industry, business associations, international development agencies, media and non-governmental organisations. Registration is currently ongoing. Similarly, the Conference will be organised in Nigeria and other West African countries.

At the Conference, this year’s edition of the West African CSR Excellence Awards (Ghana Edition) will be launched. The CSR Excellence Awards seeks to identify, verify, evaluate and reward socially-responsible activities of companies in Ghana and across the sub-region, as they contribute to national and sub-regional growth and prosperity. Last year, more than 45 local and international media organisations attended the Awards ceremony where MTN, Nestle Ghana, Stanbic Bank, Huawei Technologies, Olam Ghana, Liberty Capital, McDan Shipping, Latex Foam and a few others were awarded.

-Ghana Web