Shilpa Jaiswal, Head CSR at JKCement, is an experienced social development professional with over 18 years of experience in leading CSRs for corporates and NGOs. With an MSW degree, she specializes in public health, women empowerment, and livelihood programs. Shilpa has experience in strategizing companies' CSRs, managing partnerships, program design, and ensuring brand credibility for CSR initiatives. Shilpa is passionate about maximizing resource utilization and bringing sustainable change, ensuring impactful and sustainable projects.
In a recent conversation with Women Entrepreneurs Review Magazine, Shilpa explores the impact of CSR initiatives fostering social change. She highlights the importance of digital innovation in project implementation along with CSR and development.
Given the evolving expectations of consumers and stakeholders towards Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), how do you perceive the current landscape of CSR?
Stakeholders are integral to the success of CSR initiatives, contributing at every stage from strategy to implementation and evaluation. Key stakeholder groups include governance committees, employees, communities, implementing partners, investors, and regulatory bodies, each playing a critical role in shaping impactful and sustainable CSR programs.
Governance bodies provide strategic direction, ensure compliance, and monitor program outcomes. Employees actively participate through volunteer opportunities, skill development initiatives, and project execution, ensuring alignment with organizational values.
Communities, particularly marginalized groups, are central to the design and implementation of initiatives. Engaging them through need assessments and collaborative planning ensures programs address local priorities effectively.
Implementing partners, including non-profits and government bodies, support execution, monitoring, and impact evaluation, enhancing project effectiveness. Investors are kept informed through transparent reporting, and their feedback shapes long-term CSR strategies. Regulatory compliance with relevant laws ensures alignment with national and state priorities, reinforcing accountability.
This collaborative and inclusive approach ensures CSR initiatives are relevant, impactful, and contribute to sustainable social change
How do you measure the impact of CSR initiatives? What innovative metrics or frameworks have you found effective in demonstrating the value of these programs to the community and the organization?
Impact assessment must be integrated into project implementation from the start, with a well-defined theory of change outlining inputs, outputs, and outcomes. Clear conceptualization, including risks, resources, and supply chains, simplifies the implementation for both monitoring and execution teams.
Developing monitoring and evaluation indicators across the project lifecycle ensures streamlined processes, often supported by app-based tools. Midterm assessments are crucial to ensure alignment with the project’s vision and goals.
Innovative methods, such as real-time data collection and app-based monitoring, enable community-level workers to contribute directly to impact assessment. These tools provide continuous evaluation, ensuring projects remain effective and measurable, ultimately driving their success.
What are the most effective strategies for building and managing partnerships with NGOs and other organizations in CSR? Can you share an example where such a partnership led to a significant outcome?
Partnerships are vital for CSR, going beyond funding and implementation to ensure alignment with the organization’s vision and mission. Trust is built when partners share the same goals and values, fostering collaboration toward sustainable impact.
Selecting the right partner requires assessing governance, implementation history, impact, monitoring frameworks, and the field team’s understanding of project objectives. While alignment at the top management level is essential, the field team’s clarity on project goals is equally critical for success.
Long-term partnerships yield sustainable outcomes and enable capacity building, introducing innovative methods and mutual learning. By sharing best practices and evolving together, partnerships drive meaningful impact while strengthening the CSR ecosystem.
How do you ensure overall brand credibility for CSR efforts within your organization? How do you effectively communicate your CSR narrative to build trust among stakeholders?
Governance is key to CSR credibility and requires structured processes and clear SOPs aligned with the company’s vision and mission. Collaboration across departments ensures these policies are well-defined and systematically implemented. Stakeholder trust, especially from the community, is built by maintaining transparency and credibility through these processes.
For instance, in remote projects, strategic planning and well-defined monitoring systems ensure accountability and effectiveness. Additionally, capacity-building initiatives align the leadership team and board with the company’s CSR goals, reinforcing its social credibility. This alignment maximizes the value of CSR investments while establishing a trustworthy narrative for stakeholders.
What role will technology play in enhancing transparency, effectiveness, or engagement in CSR programs? Are there particular tools or platforms that will redefine CSR operations?
Digitalization and innovation are transforming every aspect of life, including CSR and development. Integrating digital tools into implementation and monitoring aligns CSR initiatives with broader development agendas. This includes digital health programs, STEM education initiatives, and data-driven monitoring and evaluation frameworks.
The CSR ecosystem is increasingly investing in technology to enhance impact and transparency. Real-time digital MIS systems, for instance, provide robust tools for tracking and evaluating project progress. Additionally, CSR efforts focus on bridging the digital divide by reaching remote communities with limited access to technology, ensuring inclusive growth.
Companies and NGOs are now customizing tech-driven programs to address specific CSR needs, showcasing how digital innovation is reshaping the way CSR operates and delivers value.
What advice would you give industry leaders for handling the intersection of community needs and environmental impact? How should companies navigate these dual expectations in ethical and impactful ways?
The cement and manufacturing sectors have a unique reach to underserved "last-mile" communities, offering opportunities to address their needs. CSR professionals must align efforts with National Development Goals and SDGs, ensuring projects complement existing systems rather than creating parallel ones.
India’s expertise as a global hub for development professionals provides valuable insights. CSR practitioners should adopt best practices, learn from successful case studies, and collaborate with other organizations to amplify their impact. By focusing on strengthening systems, leveraging expertise, and fostering partnerships, companies can ethically and effectively balance community needs with environmental responsibilities.
