Corporate Social Responsibility .. From Pastoralism to Sustainability – Saudi News

Saudis believe in their individual responsibility towards their homeland and their society, embodying it every day as an ingrained habit, the creation on which they are raised, and an inherited nature within their blood, which prompted Vision 2030 to work on organizing the Saudi creation that is transferred from the real personality of the Saudi citizen to the legal personality of Saudi companies, and transferring it from work towards Its pastoral social responsibility towards sustainable social responsibility.Within the strategic objectives of the National Transformation Program “Social Empowerment”, the fourth dimension aims to build a national standard, policies and incentives to activate social responsibility programs, by promoting social responsibility for Saudi companies by activating activities that reflect positively on the environment, customers, employees, and those involved, and support the government’s role in providing services to society and increase The level of social solidarity and anchoring the positive outlook of the business sector in society.

According to the work document of the National Transformation Program, the initiative to promote companies’ fulfillment of their social responsibility entrusted to the NTP aims to provide a package of incentives targeting companies to play their role in establishing civil institutions and conducting awareness campaigns that identify the achievements of the business sector in societal participation, thus contributing to encouraging this sector in community participation To increase and diversify it, as the initiative aims to measure the mental image of the business sector’s contribution to society.

The social responsibility of the private sector establishments is defined as its “voluntary commitment to work to create a sustainable impact on the development of society, the economy and the environment, and that this is part of its strategy in all its internal and external relations and activities.” Corporate social responsibility comes in many forms, from philanthropy to sustainable development.

The Saudi vision aims at a more sustainable development approach, by creating a basic strategic position for corporate social responsibility in its economic, social and environmental dimensions, by raising awareness of the concept of social responsibility, removing the confusion between it and charitable work and donations, and establishing the infrastructure and enablers to contribute through a national strategy for social responsibility to transform Corporate giving is from spontaneous work to systematic and sustainable work, and the corporate social responsibility system relies on 3 main parties: shareholders, which are companies of all sizes, and intermediaries, which are charitable societies and non-profit organizations, and beneficiaries. This party is structured in three main dimensions: the environment, which includes water security, climate, wildlife, etc., and the economy, and includes local content, social leadership, sustainable cities, and society, and includes the elderly, people with disabilities, consumers and others.

Responsible partnership

Saudi Vision 2030 emphasized support for companies to achieve growth that is not limited to material aspects only, and for support to build a business sector that does not suffice with reaching material profits, but rather contributes to the advancement of its society and country and carries out its social responsibility, and to achieve these aspirations, the National Transformation Program undertook the goal of ( Promoting companies’ social responsibility), through companies carrying out activities that reflect positively on the environment, customers, employees and stakeholders, and support the role of the government in providing services to society, increase the level of social solidarity and establish a positive view of the business sector in society.

The program works to enhance the importance of corporate social responsibility by building a national standard, policies and incentives for the activation of social responsibility programs, and increasing the social impact of companies by motivating companies to establish civil institutions and launching campaigns introducing the achievements of the business sector in the societal contribution and measuring the mental image of the business sector’s contribution to society. Plans to launch a “corporate social responsibility strategy” by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development to be the first output of this goal, and a step to develop the concept of corporate social responsibility in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to become more in line with the requirements of the times.

Systematic work

In an effort to enhance the social responsibility of Saudi companies to be a systematic work characterized by a sustainable development impact, the Minister of Human Resources and Social Development, Eng. Ahmed Al-Rajhi, launched a corporate social responsibility strategy, within the initiatives of the National Transformation Program, and the strategy vision was to “establish a culture of social responsibility in all development sectors to enhance the contribution of companies. In social responsibility programs that have an impact on the development of society, the environment and the economy ». The strategy was developed on a clear approach after assessing the current situation and knowing the aspects that should be included in the corporate social responsibility strategy, using many tools to collect data and exchange information with the concerned authorities, such as workshops, committees of specialists, experts, national surveys, consultation sessions, review of documents and research, And study the best international practices in the field and compare them, and refer to studies and experts related to this field, in parallel with analyzing the reality of corporate social responsibility in the Kingdom. Based on this, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development has developed a comprehensive strategy that covers six basic pillars, namely: partnerships and governance, laws and regulations, national planning, motivation and encouragement, awareness and capacity development, monitoring and measurement, with the aim of establishing a social responsibility infrastructure by activating the enablers of social responsibility.

Performance indicators

The strategy defined a number of operational performance indicators to measure progress in implementation, and to ensure the achievement of strategic indicators for the goal of the National Transformation Program (enhancing companies’ fulfillment of their social responsibility), which is concentrated in two main indicators: the first measures the percentage of private sector spending out of total social spending, while the second measures the percentage of companies The Ministry has held many workshops with bodies from the public sector, the private sector and the non-profit sector, which concluded with several results, the most important of which are: Agreement on a unified concept of corporate social responsibility, which is its “voluntary commitment to work to create a sustainable impact for community development. The Ministry is preparing a program that classifies companies according to their contributions to social responsibility, which will be the basis for providing moral and material incentives to these companies, and it will develop the concept of institutional giving from improvised, spontaneous action to Systematic work with sustainable development impact.