I am pleased to be given the opportunity to open this National Capacity Building workshop in the presence of our Deputy Prime Minister, Hon R. Sithanen and Mr Claudio Calderone, the UNDP representative.

A few years ago, the JEC set up a Working Group, under the chairmanship of Mr Paul Clarenc to work out issues relating to the involvement of the private sector in community development.

The Working Group concluded that the corporate sector, though generally sensitive to the issue of external community development, has not always had a structured approach to the whole question. Indeed, a majority of enterprises that are engaged in community development are doing so on an ad-hoc basis.

The quasi-absence of a systemic approach to community involvement within Mauritian enterprises can be explained by the new emerging culture of corporate citizenship. The awareness of possible community development activities and of their benefits being still weak, enterprises in Mauritius do not give adequate weight to community development. The perception of the enterprise as an agent of social change needs to be strengthened.

There is, however, a philosophical justification for such an engagement. The liberal economic model towards which Mauritius is moving will result in an increase in overall wealth but also in greater inequality in how that wealth is spread. In order to balance out this inevitable bias of capitalism, there needs to be an implicit contract that the ‘winners’ will help the ‘losers’ – as is evident in the most liberal economy today, the USA, where philanthropy, both corporate and individual, is an integral and growing part of the social landscape. Such a contract must exist in Mauritius too.

There is a growing concern that Government is unable to fulfill its responsibility of managing this transition without support and a realization that the private sector must now become involved as a real, committed partner in social development and welfare.

In its Model Code of Conduct, the JEC has clearly pointed out the various responsibilities that companies should have towards the community.

A direct result of the Working Group was the setting up of the ZEP Schools Support Programme in partnership with the Ministry of Education and involving around 30 companies. This programme to-day is coordinated by the MCCI and delivered by the Fédération Espoir et Dé veloppement.

The business community’s impact on community development could be substantially promoted and increased, provided that we address the following issues:

• the still inadequate corporate culture in community development;
• the unstructured approach by companies involved in community development; and
• the lack of coordination among various stakeholders.