Azernews.Az

Friday March 29 2024

Serving communities as privilege of businesses

27 July 2015 17:02 (UTC+04:00)
Serving communities as privilege of businesses

Corporate Social Responsibility is increasingly becoming important globally. The winds of change in mindset are sweeping companies into the privilege of becoming a corporate citizen – having the responsibility to serve the communities in the best way possible. These global trends are affecting more countries than ever. Azerbaijan, a country with a rich history of philanthropy, is not an exception either. Multinational corporations and local companies are working hard with different CSR projects to change the lives of communities across the country.

Japan Tobacco International has been active in Azerbaijan since 2007. The international tobacco producer has an outstanding portfolio of CSR projects ranging from support for cultural institutions to investments in local communities.

We talked to Corporate Affairs and Communications Manager of JTI Azerbaijan, Ali Verdiyev, about CSR projects in Azerbaijan.

Question: Serving the communities in the best way is a privilege for businesses in the countries they are active. Could the JTI become a corporate citizen with such a responsibility in Azerbaijan over 8 years of its activities in the country?

A.: We as a company believe that business can only prosper within open and fair societies. This is why we voluntarily engage in projects that extend beyond our core business activities - to support local communities and build strong relationship with them. We are investing in meaningful programs that improve the quality of life for people in communities where we operate.

Q.: Which projects do you support in Azerbaijan?

A.: We usually focus on two areas – people and art. In Azerbaijan, we have focused on few partners with maximum impact. On the people side, we work with the National NGO Forum and other NGOs to construct water supply systems to provide safe and drinking water to communities in need. I have to say that this investment has really turned to be very useful. We have already implemented three projects since 2013, reaching about 10,000 people with potable water. Our water supply project in Qarasaqqal village of Kurdamir District, has won two Awards – Silver Award in CSR Excellence from the American Chamber of Commerce and JTI CSR Award, which means that this project was voted the best project across JTI in 2014.

Q.: What was this project about?

A.: It was about providing safe drinking water to the population of 1,800 people in the village. When the proposal came to us from the National NGO Forum of Azerbaijan, we went to the village to see the real picture and were all astonished: there were three dirty canals flowing though the village and people had to use its water for drinking. No source of potable water was available. People suffered from infectious diseases and had to migrate to other villages to get water. We acted swiftly, working with the Forum and the local executive authorities of Kurdamir District to put in place a water purification facility to take water from the canals and purify it as being drinkable for the local community. The work started in December 2013 and the facility was commissioned in April 2014. We visited the village in May 2015 to see how the water facility works. Local authorities told us that the cases of infectious diseases had halved and migration had virtually stopped following the commission of the water supply facility.

Q.: What other projects do you have?

A.: Our second partner is Damla public union for care to low-income families. JTI supports Damla to provide monthly food packages to lonely and elderly people and people with disabilities. A total of 250 such people will receive food assistance a year.

On the culture side, we support the International Mugham Center, the National Carpet Museum and Yarat modern art space. We help promote Azerbaijani Mugham mainly abroad by supporting concerts of renowned Azerbaijani Mugham performers in different countries. So far, JTI has supported several concerts in Baku, Paris, Lyon, Vienna, Warsaw, Moscow and Astana. We plan to continue this cooperation.

For the National Carpet Museum, we decided to support the publication of first-ever Encyclopedia of Azerbaijani Carpets in two volumes.

Q.: Why Mugham and carpets?

A.: Because both of them are unique for Azerbaijani people. Both of them are in the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Both have survived to the present day through centuries. Mugham is the pearl of Azerbaijani culture and peculiar to only to the people of Azerbaijan. Carpet weaving is an ancient art of Azerbaijani people. But, painfully, Azerbaijani carpets are often touted as Iranian or Armenian. We thought it would be useful to create a collection of Azerbaijani carpets in one encyclopedia and increase awareness of them. The encyclopedia will come out in two volumes in Azerbaijani first. Then, we will have it reproduced in English and Russian, too.

Q.: So, it is not only unique national art that you support. Yarat is an exception?

A.: Yarat is a very good exception. It is an active and creative organization. We help it buy books on modern art for their brand new library. We believe it will help better understand contemporary art in Azerbaijan.

Q.: What about Japanese culture? JTI is a Japanese company after all.

A.: Yes, we are. JTI supports Japanese culture, as well. We have supported a concert by renowned Japanese violinist Ken Aiso in March 2012, Japanese Film Festival in June 2014 and Kabuki Theater in December 2014. We will continue supporting Japanese culture and looking for more creative ways of doing it. Now we are thinking of presenting a synthesis of Japanese and Azerbaijani culture. We hope to do it in near future.

--

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz

Loading...
Latest See more