Sixth Ghana CSR Excellence Awards launched

By Iddi Yire, GNA
Accra, June 1, GNA - The Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) West Africa, has launched the six edition of the Ghana CSR Excellence Awards (GHACEA) with a call on the private sector to help develop the nation.

The top categories for the GHACEA include CSR Company of the Year, CSR Practitioner of the Year, CSR CEO of the Year, CSR Telecom of the Year, CSR Bank of the Year, CSR Insurance Company of the Year, and the CSR Manufacturing Company of the Year.

The Ghana CSR Excellence Awards seeks to identify, verify, evaluate and reward socially-responsible activities of companies in Ghana.

Last year more than 35 local and international media organisations attended the awards ceremony where MTN, Unilever Ghana, wire weaving industries, Access Bank, Vodafone, and Tigo, among others were awarded.

The call for entries, which started on May 27, would end on June 27, while the awards is slated for September.

The awards scheme is modelled after the European CSR Awards and entries are vetted by a multi-stakeholder jury drawn from academia, business associations, civil society organisations, regulatory agencies, international development partners and the media.

Ms Pearl Darko, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) National Co-ordinator for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), expressed the need for the private sector to get more involved and contribute strategically to help develop the nation beyond mere economic gains.

She said the quest for development and achievement of the SDGs was a collective responsibility and the private sector needed to become more active in the process.

Mr Koji Makino, the Chief Representative of the Japan International Co-operation Agency, said: 'Japan is a long-term development partner to Ghana and JICA's commitment to helping Ghana achieve shared prosperity and development is not limited to support given directly to government.'

'We have many projects and initiatives aimed at helping the private sector enhance its efficiency and effectiveness and eliminate unnecessary waste through the National Kaizen Project and other interventions,' he said.

Mr Anthony Sikpa,the President of the Federation of Association of Ghanaian Exporters, who formally launched the event, lauded the initiative saying it would spur the private sector on to do more to help society.

Mr John Kojo Williams, the Lead Project Manager of the Centre for CSR West Africa, said: 'The GHACEA has injected a new paradigm into how businesses give back to society. Companies are now better informed about their roles in society and beginning to weave social responsibility and sustainability around their core business mandate.'

'This is a departure from the erstwhile ad-hoc and one-off approach to CSR. The entries are officially opened from now till the 24th of June, 2016. The GHACEA Awards Dinner Night will take place in September after entries have been vetted and verified,' he said.