The private sector have been traditionally engaged in global development efforts through their corporate social responsibility departments, where they earmark part of their budget to help and improve communities they serve or operate in.
India even recently passed a law that requires firms to spend at least 2 percent of their profit on CSR activities. But in today’s rapidly evolving landscape, is doing CSR enough?
Probably not, argue certain development experts and practitioners who push to shift from just CSR to a more sustainable concept called “corporate social investment:” Firms focus on empowering people by making them development partners and not just passive aid recipients.