Children in South America and South Asia Comment on Corporate Social Responsibility

Approximately 150 kids ages 10-18 from Venezuela, Paraguay, Peru, Pakistan, India and Bangladesh share views on CSR, thanks to a new report "Children's Participation in Corporate Social Responsibility" by Save the Children Sweden. Respondents included kiddos from urban and rural areas who live in slums, are minorities or come from low-income homes.

At first blush, I was skeptical that the younger kids of the group would understand the concept of corporate social responsibility. (Of course, there's always the question of whether the majority of adults really 'get' corporate social responsibility). But it turns out that most of the kids interviewed  have a certain amount of involvement in community projects, activities and advocacy. Additionally, given their socio-economic levels and in many instances their own likely participation in the labor force, the question that then dawned was how could they not know first-hand and through the eyes of their parents about corporate social responsibility (or its lack thereof).

The children are asked why private companies should make an investment in kids and be concerned about their rights; seem aware of the connection between business and society; talk about the potential benefits they see for their communities, their families and themselves; describe how they see their role as one in which they need to be more vocal about the negative and positive impacts the corporate sector is having on them and as one in which they act as sentinels of corporate actions. They also share that with appropriate support from the private sector, their future lives could be greatly improved. Based on the comments I read from the report, whatever traces of doubt I may have had about their grasp of corporate social responsibility went away.

The comments from these young folks are as insightful as they are disheartening given that in a more fair world, these kids ought to have the right to be communicating instead about lighter fare--better experiences, dreams for their future, or lessons that motivate them in school. Here are a few of examples of comments shared:

"Pay our parents adequately so that children do not have to drop out of school." --13 year-old boy (India)

"Do not take advantage of us, we ask you to be responsible, do not support us because you feel pity for us, instead support us because we deserve it, we purchase your products and services, but we ask you to invest in our development. We do not want gifts, we want you to be responsible." --A young person's message to companies (Peru)

"My expectation from the company is that they should create opportunity for work and that should be safe and non hazardous." --13 year-old girl (Bangladesh)