Islamabad, 06 November – The eighth annual Asian Forum on Corporate Social Responsibility (AFCSR) has announced the successful 14 finalists for the Asian CSR Award 2009, declaring SAMAA TV, one of Pakistan’s leading Urdu news channels as one of the finalists.
SAMAA TV has been selected as one of the finalists for the Asian CSR Award for being the first media channel in Pakistan to develop the Polio Control Cell, an innovative and effective health communication model, aimed at creating more awareness on the polio virus and improve the outreach of the polio field teams during the national polio campaigns.
The Polio Control Cell was established in October 2008 as a joint partnership between SAMAA, UNICEF Pakistan and Ministry of Health, Government of Pakistan to ensure that not a single child out of the 35 million children of Pakistan under the age of 5 remains unvaccinated. Each year more than 250.000 children are missed in the national polio campaign due to lack of awareness and lack of access for the polio field teams.
The Polio Control Cell aimed at acting as an information bridge between the people and the polio control authorities. The cell, first of its kind provided instant information on the initiative to callers in the length and breadth of the country besides performing the vital task of identifying missed areas and children.
All of the 75.000 Polio Vaccination teams across the country had been issued special directives by UNICEF, WHO and the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI), all leading partners of SAMAA TV in this initiative, to accept phone calls and instructions from SAMAA’s Polio Control Cell to bridge the gaps and respond to the queries and complaints of parents. All the collected information was also shared by the cell with EDO’s of health in the concerned districts evoking instantaneous response from them and achieving full presence of the polio team.
The SAMAA Polio Control Cell has since its inception received more than 24,000 telephone calls nationwide from parents sharing about the unavailability of the polio teams. Due to the immediate response and great coordination between the Polio Control Cell and the polio field teams, the gaps were addressed and appreciated by the calling parents, minimizing the risk of the polio virus affecting the children of Pakistan.
Speaking on being a finalist for this prestigious award, Amir Jahangir, Chief Executive Officer, SAMAA TV said, “It is indeed a great honor for SAMAA to be among the top 14 companies in the entire Asian region for our Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives. Our CSR Program was only established a year ago, but the program has grown in terms of outreach and impact, which only reinforces that with the right commitment, strategy and vision, we can continue to do a lot more for our country and people.”
Amir Jahangir also said that “SAMAA TV’s CSR is one of our principal drivers for business productivity as we believe our social commitment has a crucial role to play in helping build a prosperous society. We also need to realize that organizations must not only be engaged with stakeholders but be stakeholders themselves alongside governments and civil society. Each company has an important role to play, in partnership with others in the public and private sectors and civil society, to help spread the benefits of development more widely by the manner in which they pursue their primary business activities.”
“We at SAMAA TV are working towards cultivating hope for business leaders to commit to sustainable development and address paramount global challenges, including climate change, the provision of public health care, energy conservation, and the management of resources” said Jahangir.
The Asian CSR Awards is recognized as the leading awards program on Corporate Social Responsibility in Asia and is an inherent component of the annual, regional Asian Forum on Corporate Social Responsibility (AFCSR) conference and Expo. The Asian CSR Awards program is presented by the Ramon V. del Rosario, Sr. Center for Corporate Social Responsibility, a research and program center within the Asian Institute of Management (AIM).
This year, the Asian CSR award is celebrating its eighth year with over 400 delegates from 20 countries expected to attend. The award show and the final winners will be announced at the Asian CSR Award Gala dinner to be held on 20th November 2009 in Manila, Philippines.
This year’s awards program attracted 211 entries representing 132 companies from 14 countries. There is an exhaustive search and selection process for the Awards that include the generation of entries, initial screening, short-listing by a panel of experts, and final judging.
The Asian CSR Awards recognizes and honors Asian companies for outstanding, innovative and world-class products, services, projects and programs in five categories - Best Workplace Practices; Concern for Health; Environmental Excellence; Poverty Alleviation;
Out of 211 entries from 132 companies, the selected finalists are, Senoko Power Limited, Smart Communications Inc, Philippines, Citibank N.A./ Citi Philippines, De La Salle Lipa, Philippines, Smart Communications Inc., Philippines, Tetra Pak Pakistan, Chevron Philippines Incorporated, Philippines, Pulp and Fibre Business, Grasim Industries Limited, India, IBM Philippines, National College of Science and Technology, Philippines, Ayala Land Inc, Philippines, City Developments Ltd, Singapore, JAAG Broadcasting Systems-SAMAA TV, Pakistan and Quezon Power, Philippines
