Be the opportunity: the heart and soul of corporate social responsibility

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.13169/jfairtrade.1.1.0027
• Published date: 01 February 2019
• Date: 01 February 2019
• Pages: 27-35
• Author: Motthida Chin
• Subject Matter: corporate social responsibility (CSR),ethical labour practices,equitable trade,working conditions

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Be the opportunity: the heart and soul of corporate social responsibility

Motthida Chin

Motthida Chin is a corporate social responsibility (CSR) expert with twenty years’ experience

setting up remediation programmes for major international sportswear and luxury brands in

ten countries. She has also worked with non-governmental organisations (NGOs) including the

United Nations’ International Labour Organization (ILO) on the ground in Cambodia to help

improve working conditions for factory workers.

Abstract

Companies engage in corporate social responsibility (CSR) as a way to strengthen their

business objectives and demonstrate their commitment towards ethical labour practices,

safe working conditions and equitable trade. There are many methods to achieve these

objectives, and success is often expressed quantitatively. Throughout my twenty years

of CSR practice and counsel, however, I have found that while the quantitative success is

important for all parties involved to co-operate willingly, to meet objectives, the heart and

soul of effective CSR is essentially about relationship building that fuels opportunities for

workers, in particular for women and girls in the workplace and in their communities.

Keywords: corporate social responsibility (CSR); ethical labour practices; equitable trade;

working conditions

My Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Beginnings: Corporations to

Non-governmental Organisations (NGOs)

My trajectory with CSR is one of personal passion and a professional devotion to helping vulnerable

people around the world experience improved working conditions. I am fortunate to have witnessed CSR

from the perspectives of both corporations and NGOs.

My first lesson in CSR was working at Nike in 1996 at a time when high-profile labour issues such as

sweatshops and child labour were just starting to emerge, prompting many companies to act to improve labour

working conditions around the world.

This exposure to managing complex labour issues helped prepare me for my next post, which was also in a

highly volatile climate.

A haunted past: surviving the Khmer Rouge

I was born in Cambodia and lived through the harsh reality of a genocide that took the lives of my parents,

family members and friends. I struggled to survive at an early age. During this time, I worked alongside my

mother planting rice all day without breaks, but the rice was not for us. I survived only because of my mother’s

daily food ration, which was comprised of mainly water and a few grains of rice. After only a short period, the

rice soup could not sustain both of us, so my mother sent me away to friends in a village nearby. I never saw my

mother again. I was four years old, living on the street and scavenging through trash for food. All I could think

about was how to survive.

When the war in my country ended in 1979, I reconnected with remaining family who had emigrated to the

United States. It was because of them that I got a second chance at life, and educational opportunities that led

to a career dear to my heart.