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November
19, 2002
"OSCARS" FOR CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY PROJECTS
USAID and the Romanian Chamber of Commerce
Present Corporate Social Responsibility Awards
to Romanian Companies
Nine
Romanian companies have implemented community projects in the
cities of Bucharest, Craiova, Galati, Pucheni Mari, Constanta,
Brasov, Timisoara, Cluj, Iasi and Arad, under the United States
Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Romanian
Chamber of Commerce's joint Corporate Social Responsibility
(CRS) Program.
The program has introduced the concepts and practices of good
corporate citizenship to Romanian businesses and encouraged them
to actively participate in solving local community issues. As
a result of the Corporate Social Responsibility Project, nine
of the best proposals were selected and co-financed by USAID.
The programs were successfully implemented under Chamber of Commerce
coordination, and will receive awards during an Award Ceremony
on November 20, 2002.
The participating companies helped local communities solve key
problems: SOFTWIN and RDS endowed 26 schools and universities
with IT programs, SC TINO SA produced and gave 627 pairs of shoes
to the unemployed in Brasov, MOVIPLAST provided 28,000 trash bags
to Craiova population for domestic garbage collection, SC MONTAJ
CARPATI SA restored the Puchenii Mari school, S.C. Galfinband
equipped an IT laboratory within the "Simion Mehedinti Vocational
School" in Galati, SC FANTASY MOD SRL trained 20 graduates
from local children homes and helped them find jobs, ENERGI-CO
equipped a kindergarten in Bucharest with a new heating system,
Spicul S.A. Bucharest restored parts of the Odeon Theatre, and
ROMEXPO renovated the Pasarea Monastery Retirement Home.
Fred Kirschstein, Director of the USAID/Romania Private Sector
Office, said: "The success of our program demonstrated that
Romanian companies understand that they are citizens of the community
within which they do business and, therefore, they are concerned
with community problems. USAID grants represented only a third
of the financial resources in the projects. The companies enthusiastically
committed their own funds and employees' time. The firms showed
that businesses can make social investment an integral part of
their company culture, thus enhancing their profitability and
public image as well as making an enormously important contribution
to society."
USAID is the U.S. Government agency that provides economic development
and humanitarian assistance around the world in support of the
foreign policy goals of the United States. Established in 1961,
USAID began operations in Romania in 1990. To date, USAID has
provided more than $350 million to assist economic growth, democracy
and social reform in Romania.
NOTE
FOR THE PRESS: The event will take place on Wednesday,
November 20, at 10:00 a.m., at the Romanian Chamber of Commerce,
Octavian Goga Blvd #2, Cuza Room. Contact person: Mihaela Popescu,
USAID, tel: 410 12 22.
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