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Santo Domingo, R. D.- June 19, 2020 - The Chair of Sustainability "Alejandro E. Grullón E." of the Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra and the Popular Foundation, in collaboration with RedEAmérica, the Dialogue on Corporate Social Responsibility was held: In times of Coronavirus, what are the challenges for the social practices of business foundations?, in virtual mode .
The panel was made up of Ana M. Lemos, executive director of the Caicedo González Riopaila Castilla Foundation (Colombia); Carlos Juárez, executive director of the Holcim Foundation (Mexico); Ricardo Evangelista, executive director of the Sara Raier de Rassmuss Foundation (Chile), as panelists; Margareth Flórez, executive director of RedEAmérica, as moderator and Mrs. Rosa M. Bonetti de Santana, president of Fundación Propagas, had the closing words.
Regarding the Holcim México Foundation, Mr. Carlos Juárez highlighted that “social action is and has been throughout its existence an integral part of the business strategy. Holcim's social responsibility policy has six pillars: ethics and business conduct, socially responsible policy, employment practices, ties with the community, care and preservation of the environment”.
Regarding the challenges that Covid-19 implies for the social practices of the foundations, Mr. Carlos Juárez expressed that “apart from the economic development and the affectation that this whole situation has generated, it is a second crisis on top of the crisis that we already had in many of our countries in the social fabric”. He added that "fighting these effects, both social and economic, that these two crises are leaving, to call them somehow, is the great challenge that we have to focus on in the future."
For his part, Mr. Ricardo Evangelista, explained that the Sara Raier de Rassmuss Foundation, “[is] a family foundation that basically believes in education to transform lives, that is what motivates us. Since 2012, we have developed capacities, we have improved the teaching practices of principals, we have been an agent of change in the main schools of Chile”. Ricardo Evangelista expressed that “there will be an increase in poverty, informal work will also increase, employment rates will decrease and difficulties in maintaining educational processes, for example. It is something that everyone is seeing, how we are going to continue education, how we are going to face this challenge, but there are also positive issues that this crisis is going to bring us, and I believe that one of the most important is that there will be an increase in solidarity between people, and indirectly, given the serious health problem, the health system will be strengthened”.
Regarding the Caicedo González Riopaila Castilla Foundation, Mrs. Ana M. Lemos said that "we are a company, of course because of our business with high levels of social, economic and environmental impact in the territories where we operate, we recognize that the company must promote their positive impacts and control those negative impacts that they generate in the territory through their behavior”. Ana M. Lemos added “of course we are going to experience the critical moments of the recovery of development, and we are going to experience them much more critical. As? The business sector maintains its social investment, be constant in its social investment because its role here is fundamental, because its permanence in the territories weighs, today more than ever, due to social, economic and environmental conditions of those same territories”.
In her closing remarks, Ms. Rosa M. Bonetti de Santana, concluded “this conversation that we have here with you is the conversation that we have to keep alive on the Internet. of transformation, now with all the more reason that we have a role of deep commitment.”
The panel was aimed at foundation managers, private sector CSR and sustainability executives, representatives of the third sector, PUCMM professors and students, and directors of business foundations.