A Motivating CSR Project

A few months ago, I got this pleasant, surprising news from one of my colleagues from the company where I used to work as a HR consultant until March 2007. The news was about the launching of their first Corporate Social Responsibility project which was realized as their 8^th year anniversary.

What made me even more surprised as well as excited was that the Philippine was chosen to be the very location of the project. They will donate classrooms to an elementary school in Masbate, one of the poorest regions in the whole country.


Looking back, when I first joined that company, a HR management consulting firm targeting only domestic market, as a fresh college graduate, the company was just about to take its leap from their “venture” phase, experiencing incredibly rapid growth both in capital as well as numbers of employees. At that time, “expansion” and “speed” are one of those key words that would describe the atmosphere of the company, and no body, at least among those young folks, dare to take time to talk about “CSR” or about the world outside of the country, even though by that time “CSR” has been already getting attention from the society and often promoted by big corporations.


When I finally decided to leave the company to give some time for myself to see what the real world is outside, I never imagined that the day when my company will have any prospects of entering into those CSR areas will come so soon.
That’s why I had a real difficulty to link my perception of the company that I knew of to their new project in the Philippines, when I first heard about the news. What--? Donation to an elementary school--? Why in the Philippines--? As said, while I was so surprised by the news, at the same time, I felt as if it is a sort of hearty cheers from my ex-company, which made me really happy.

The project will be conducted by Plan International, a well-established international NGO on the field of education, from May to October. The company will not only cover the cost of infrastructure but also support Plan’s various activities to maintain the quality of the school.

Masbate, where the project is located, is part of Bicol regions and ranked as one of the poorest provinces in the country. According to Inquirer on April 12, 55.9% of the households are living blow the poverty line. There are several factors that make this region particularly poor: Remoteness of the area makes the communities in Masbate isolated from the rest of the country, detached from basic access to education, health service and any kinds of information necessary. Typhoons that occasionally hit the area is also one of the factors that cause serous loss in people and crops that are about to be harvested.

Since I was so happy and excited about the news, I shared the story with my Filipino classmate. I knew that he has skepticism toward CSR, and it often clashed with my rather optimistic view of CSR. But even for him, the fact that a Japanese small venture company that holds technically no direct interests in the Philippines decided to support the development of his country seemed to give him somehow positive impression. He asked me to tell him more about the project.

So I tried to give him overall idea of the project. But when I first told him that project is in Masbate, he looked a bit upset and then asked me if I have any idea why that island is so poor.

“Well, maybe natural disaster---?” I answered, trying to understand his intention. Then he said, “Hummm…that can be one of the reasons, but--- Masbate is heavily NPA influenced area. That makes the situation of the area a bit more complicated”

Now, I got a bit better sense. In the Philippines, the poorer the region is, the bigger frustration people tend to have toward the government and that makes them more attracted to support the armed wing of the communist party, NPA (New People’s Army); The root causes of the predicament of those poor communities are not just due to the natural disaster or lack of access to the basic social services, but at times, but are also due to the violent confrontation between the government and NPA.

According to him, in the rural Philippines where the basic services of the government do not properly reach communities, it is NPA that provide education and medical services to the people. At times, the competition between the government and NPA to win the popularity in the region and their attempt to undermine the other’s raison d'etre becomes extremely intense, even at the sacrifice of the civilians. Many civilians have lost their lives in the gunfight.

“In such a difficult region, what can a Japanese company do, if they have no sense of connection to the area?”

He was kind enough not to dare to say so, but I could sense his concern--the insensitivity and egotistic nature of CSR.

I told him that the project will be undertaken by Plan International and asked if that fact makes any difference.


He then said, looking a bit relieved, “then, it will be a great project, because Plan is a really well-perceived organization by the people in the region, even by NPA.”

I was very surprised that he seemed to know so much about Plan in Masbate. Then, he told me that he himself was actually working there with Plan, doing some research to assess the needs of the people. He explained to me how Plan starts their projects with in-depth trust-building within communities. He says that any development projects that ignore the context of the area and real needs of the people never be sustainable.


Even if they successfully provide a community with fancy classrooms, without the existence of comprehensive approach based upon the real understanding and trust of people, they will eventually be abandoned because, for example, no parents can afford notebooks for their kids, or the place is too isolated to attract teachers from the town, or a powerful local politician forcibly privatizes it.


Although there is no single definition that could successfully capture all different aspects and activities of CSR, I personally think that a partnership between private companies that are rich in various resources and those NGOs that are rich in all know-how to implement sustainable project within a community realizes the best role distribution. Of course, there are actually a few legitimate reasons for some to be skeptical about it, which I will discuss about it in the next entry.

A Story of Human Touch

Katipunan, the nearest train station from where I live, is one of my favorite spots in Manila. Although it looks just like any other Philippine’s bustling stations, there is something compelling about the ordinariness of this place.


To get there, I usually take a tricycle--a Filipino motorcycle taxi with a sidecar on a third wheel attached. With 7 pesos you pay, which is equivalent to 20 cents, a driver will take you to the nearest depot. Tricycle is indeed one of the greatest inventions of the Philippines. It is cheep, convenient and pleasantly thrilling. From the squeaking tiny sidecar you are supposed to be seated with two other passengers, you can enjoy the feeling of breeze on your face, suffocating smell of the diesel fume, tanned arms of the driver that loosely holding the handle, and the sound of restless honking of passing cars and trucks.

From the drop-off point, you need to take a narrow path to the station. In fact, it is this three-minute walk of this bustling street that makes me feel most that I am part of the chaotic scenery of Philippine society. Children are running with barefoot covered with dirt. A street vender, rolling up his shirt to the chest and revealing his thin belly, is talking something in a circle with his companions. Open-air stalls are selling freshly fried fish balls, cut green mangos and watermelons, and high school girls in deep green uniform are enjoying their munchies. A well-dressed white collar young man is waiting for somebody, stepping off a sidewalk.

Here, people of different classes with different backgrounds are passing each other without any sense of boundaries. Even a beggar who spend all day bluntly putting out their hands to reach passersby’s capricious mercy, and an unknown object in the shape of a lying man on the ground which one can hardly tell whether he is just asleep or not, are part of the ordinariness of the daily scene of Katipunan.

A month ago, when I passed this street around 8 a.m., I saw a middle-aged blind man who holding shabby electric guitar slung across his shoulder, playing music. His unenthusiastic performance was inducing lassitude in people and its significant deviation from the image of powerful beat of electric guitar filled me with pathos. There was nobody who took time to stop and listen to him. The empty can of powder milk put in front of him looked awkwardly big.

It was already past 6 p.m. when I came back from the station to the same street to go home. And I found the same blind man from the morning was still performing the same music at the same corner of the street. But this time, there was another man sitting across him, and weakly holding out his right hand in the air. Since the street was already narrow even without the two men occupying the space, those passersby had to make their way through a crowd. And still, the whole scene was nothing special, a mere continuation of daily ordinary scene of Katipunan.

However on that day---the moment when I passed through the two beggars, I felt something ghastly warm and damp caught my arm. The touch was so gruesome to the degree that I had never experienced in my life, but at the same time, it was somehow unforgettably full of life. Before I thought of taking any sort of reaction to this shock, “it” faintly released me, just like a wave once reached the shore quietly ebbing away.

I mastered my agitation and confusion, pretending as if nothing ever happened because I somehow felt that I did not want my Filipino and Indonesian friend to notice it. All I could think of, however, was about that incident that happened a few minutes ago in order to understand what had happened.

Was it just that my fingers accidentally touched the man or, did the man really try to grab me? The heavy feelings remained in my fingers and I felt as if it gradually took hold of my body. It was my first time that I felt so sad from somebody’s warmth-- because to me, a “human touch” had been always something associated with intimacy, affection and care.

After coming back home, I felt a strong impulse to wash my hands thoroughly with soap. And I was shocked to find such temptation in me and felt sickly disgusted. I sat on a chair in the living room, staring my left hand, blank, wondering where this disgusting feeling come from.

And I think that was the shock came from the simple fact which I was made realized that a man who had been a mere part of the daily scenery suddenly became a human being just like me and my friend. It was also the shock that I was unexpectedly made realize that how I was paralyzing my sense, posing barriers around me, consciously or unconsciously, in order to make my life simple, because it is just too painful and troublesome to always sense all the sorrows in the world.

Poverty, discrimination, exploitation, conflict and wars….in the world myriads of problems abound, those experts and politicians try to analyze and discuss those situations all the time. But after all, the all its root causes lies in this simple fact—the intense apathy that allows people to ignore the human touch of others.

I sometimes feel that maybe peace is about sympathy, with which all the people in this world determined to confront this uncomfortable touch of the others. It may not be easy to achieve. However, if you take it to the individual level, it becomes all up to us, to our will and actions whether we can make a difference in the world—and that makes me hopeful about our future somehow. Or I am just too optimistic?

Prescription for Anti- “world peace”: Is it the peace or a peace?

It was only until I started my voyage to peace studies when I stopped wishing for the “world peace.” It is not that I became more pessimistic about the world. Rather, I was stunned by the dynamic aspect of peace concept and felt the need to confront it in a more conscious, sincere manner.

There are actually “many peaces” in this world—however strange it may sound. When we pray for peace in this world, we need to doubt ourselves if we are really aware of what kind of peace there is in our mind. For whom is the peace for? Is it a peace for yourself? Is it a peace for your ethnic community? Or is it a peace for your country? Does the peace you are talking about really include everyone in this world? Or is your peace leaving somebody behind?

People create and believe in their own peace that is actually shaped by the society, reflecting its history, culture, religion,environment and social, economic and political conditions. While some religious fundamentalists live in moralist notion of peace, where the Creator God defines the absolute norm and moral of their society, in societies that are currently experiencing rapid economic growth, people may find peace in materialistic abundance and economic progress. At the same time, there are still many societies in which people find spiritual peace in Mother Nature. The borders among these different notions may be clear sometimes and may not sometimes.

“Peace” is indeed a strong notion-- probably it is a much more powerful concept than it is generally believed. Especially in the Moralist and Modernist view of peace, the absolute rightness is secured by the Creator God and by the Rationality; it does not allow any space for others to co-exist. That’s why such notion of peace creates tensions and violence at times when it is tied with the existing power: slavery, imperialism, holocaust, apartheid, and Rwandan genocide etc… countless tragedies in human history happened because it was legitimized in the society in order to liberate the others, who belong to the different world, and bring them to their own side of peace.

Let’s take the example of “War on Terrorism.” It is the word we used to hear and see everywhere after the 9.11. The dichotomy of “good” and “evil” became prevalent narrative mostly in the U.S. and its allied countries. The TV series “24” was a big hit even in Japan. However, before we get stuck in the small box, we need to take a deep breath and think: Where did the label that makes them “terrorists” come from? In fact, it is not so unusual at all that these “terrorists” are actually called “freedom fighters” back home.

While I do not believe in any forms of violence, we still need to be aware of the possibilities that those “terrorists” are living in their moralist world and they may be just simply pursuing their own “peace,” the preservation of which is threatened by us. Otherwise, we cannot escape from falling into this ironic dilemma that you, who sincerely wish for peace, become the oppressor of the others without knowing.

“Peace cannot be produced or imported---.” says Wolfgang.

When different peaces confront each other, in stead of imposing one’s own peace on the other, a new dimension of peace that would allow their co-existence should be seek and added to their existing notion; it will be achievable only through sincere dialogues among the parties that may involve lots of inner struggles and sympathy to the others. If there is such a thing as “universal peace” in this world at all, it may be only found within such dynamic processes.

“[Peace] must be dynamic, not static, changing to meet the challenge of each generation. For Peace is a process-a way of solving problems.”
J.F. Kennedy


References:
Dietrich, Wolfgang, Call For Many Peaces. (1997).
Dietrich, Wolfgang, Peaces: An Aestetic Concept, a Moral Need, or a Transrational Virtue? (2006).

"I", the "World" and the "Relationship"

Professor Wolfgang Dietrich was a visiting professor from Innsbruck University/ Austria who came to give us lectures on conflict prevention at UPeace in September 2007. Born in Austria, he has been engaging himself in numbers of peace building projects both as a practitioner as well as a scholar in Central America, East Africa and South East Asia.

With his distinct Austrian accent and deep voice, he was extremely elegant in the classroom even in jeans. However, what captured our mind most was not his charismatic dandy aura but the lectures themselves that were unforgettably inspiring, provocative and fascinating.

“Make sure you make it clear who you are and especially the relationship with you and the topic you chose when you write a paper.”

Whenever we get a writing assignment from Wolfgang, he repeatedly emphasized this point, which made me puzzled.

According to my limited academic experiences back in Japan as well as in the U.S., it is always strongly recommended that you avoid using “I” as much as possible in writing a paper. I don’t know whether it is because it makes your paper look somehow unprofessional or it is because objectivity is more appreciated than subjectivity-- or something else. Whatever the reason is, at least in academia (it may be the same in the business world), I had always tried to make myself be an invisible, faceless observer. However, what Wolfgang kept telling us was surprisingly opposite from what I had been doing.

“I don’t know what other professors have told you--”

said Wolfgang.

“But, in my class, what I want to know is about the connection between you and the subject. Without a voice of “I”, listeners would never grasp the real meaning of the words they hear.”

To be honest, when Wolfgang told us these things, I didn’t understand how this what he calls “relationship” or “connection” has to do with our peace studies. It sounded a way too philosophical and seemed to have nothing to do with the real world. However, looking back, what he wanted to tells us might be that you would never be able to make yourself fully understood by the others if you do not provide them with a context; and the context can only be explained in relation to the “relationship” between you and the subject. Hence, you should never face the subject without thoroughly extending your consciousness to the subject.

Once I came to understand the Wolfgang’s message, I realized that it partially solved my inner-struggle that had secretly nested ever since I joined this peace program. The struggle was about how I could justify my motivation to be in the field of peace studies. If you pay a little attention to the backgrounds of students in UPeace, you’ll easily notice that about half of them are from the countries where they have long severely suffered from various forms of violence such as: war, ethnic conflict, genocide, circulation of small arms, chronic poverty and HIV.

There were times I felt that I wasn’t entitled to speak out things that I had never exposed to in my life when I had a discussion with my classmates from those areas. The burning anger, hope and passion I saw in their eyes made me scared and ashamed about myself. While I could easily picture their beautiful future in which they dedicate their lives for the betterment of their mother countries, I could not really think about any for myself because I have been always happy in Japan without facing any serious issues in my life. That made me wonder: in the world where myriads of serious problems abound, on what ground should I set my lifetime objective as a peace maker? What brought me to this field first of all? Was I just so curious to know about the other side of the world?
I felt lost. I got scared if I was just a hypocrite.

A student from France raised his hand, asking a question to Wolfgang. He said that he was interested in writing about a conflict in East Africa but he could not find any connection between the subject and himself because he had never visited there. Wolfgang answered, revealing his dandy grin.

“I was born and raised in Austria without facing any serious issues in my life. My family was well-off and I received good education. It’s been more than twenty years since I started my career as a peace maker in the conflicts at Central America. And I’ve spent exactly the same amount of years in searching for the reason why I am here. If you really think that you cannot see any connection between you and the subject, you’d better change your topic. BUT, do you think the connection is really absent at all?”

Now, I think that the connection between the subject and “I” is not as obvious as people may think to be. The real essence of the connection may not exist in the connection per se. Rather, it lies in the will of the person and the process to figure out something that connects the subject and him/herself.

For example, what do you think is the connection between you and millions of people who live on less than one dollar a day? Once you start asking the question to yourself, the process of building relationship between you and　them is actually starting. Of course, fortunately or unfortunately, it is totally up to you how you face and deal with that relationship that was once born. In other words, you can simply choose to say that “it is nothing to do with me!” and pretend that there is no such connection ever existed between the two. Or, you can also start nurturing and develop the relationship by knowing more about their difficult situation, giving donation, talking about it with your friends, or even starting up your own NGO, for example.

In my understanding, peace studies involve lots of compassion—although it does not mean that it is an emotional or idealistic field-- it simply requires both science and feelings just by nature. What brings such feelings into the study is the “connection” between the subject and you. And that is exactly what brings the meanings to the actions and thoughts of “I”, who wants to do something to change the situation.

Try imagining the face of the farmers in a plantation in the Philippines or Costa Rica whenever you buy bananas or Nescafe at your neighbor supermarket. With a little change in attitudes and behaviors, you can actually see the whole dynamic structure of this world from what is surrounding you. The “connection” between the world and you may be just there.

Welcome to Costa Rica/ Manila/Tokyo Report!

For a year, I've been writing "Costa Rica/ Manila Report" in Japanese since I set out for the MA program for international peace studies at the United Nation’s mandated University for Peace (UPeace) in April 2007. It was right after I bid a farewell to my super busy days at a management consulting firm in Tokyo.

The report started as a handy tool to update what was happening around me for my family and friends in Japan. However, the way I now I see it is something different; while it still is an important means for me to communicate with my family and friends back home, it has become somethig extremely crucial that connects me to the world as well as to the Japanese society, from where I’ll never be able to detach myself.

For me, to realize that how everything in this world is inextricably connected to each other was completely mind-blowing experience that changed my whole view of life. Although it was rather a gradual process, it was amazing how things started to make sense so naturally. While I was aware that words alone, especially of mine, could never grasp the whole complexity of the world, at that time, I really felt the need to convert my feelings into something deliverable. Since then, writing has helped me greatly to understand more about the world as well as myself, even though sometimes it ends up in leaving me in more confusion and chaos.

“Interconnectedness,” I mean here, is about sensing the sweat of farmers harvesting at a huge banana plantation in rural Costa Rica when you buy imported cheap bananas at your neighbor supermarket. It is also about extending your imagination to a 3 year old Filipina girl patiently waiting for her mother, who only comes back home once a year at Christmas time for 2 weeks, when you see a cleaning lady at a public bathroom in Tokyo.

I believe that this sense of “interconnectedness” is what enables people to nurture “sympathy” within them towards things around, and that is what can change the world. I do not hesitate to say that this is the central and the only theme of the whole report. The beauty and complexity of the world, and our responsibility that is entailed are what I wish myself to be always aware of. It is also something that I’m willing to struggle rest of my life to thrust into the consciousness of my society, one of the most beautiful and materialistic societies in the world.

Some may as well think that I’m overly presumptuous or idealist. But I cannot escape from being one, as a person who was extremely fortunate to be given an opportunity to take a little break from the hectic days in metropolitan Tokyo in order to reconsider what I really want to pursuit in my life.

Now, I'm more and more excited that I can finally share this space with my friends without borders of language. I’d like to thank my classmates at UPeace for patiently keep encouraging me to start one.

As you may already see, this report is not necessarily about my daily life, and therefore, it may not be updated as often as the “normal” blog should be. Moreover, things here are mostly the translation of my original blog in Japanese, “Costa Rican/Manila report”: http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sayakot/?of=0. Therefore, please be noted that some of the articles are written on the assumption that the readers are people living in Japanese society.

Finally, please feel free to make any comments or requests for clarification or anything. I sincerely wish that this online space will grow to be a global platform of interconnection.