On 9^th November 2015, the Ministry of Planning and Investment in collaboration with the Mekong Region Land Governance Project (MRLG), Village Focus International (VFI), and Land Issues Working Group (LIWG), hosted a Responsible Business Workshop, focusing on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) for Sustainable Development in Lao PDR across the Land Sector.

The event was chaired by Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment (MPI), Dr. Khamlien Pholsena. In his opening remarks, Dr. Pholsena shared the Government of Lao’s visions on the importance of sustainable nvestment development that benefits society as well as individuals, and which requires collaborative efforts to achieve this from all parties, government, business and social civil organisations.

Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment (MPI), Dr Khamlien Pholsena, giving his opening remarks at the Responsible Business Workshop

The workshop brought together many stakeholders, with active participation from more than 80 people, including government officials, international and domestic businesses, chambers of commerce, academia and non-government organisations, highlighting the strong interest and importance of responsible business in the ongoing development of Lao PDR.

Presentations were made by ASEAN CSR Network (ACN), Investment Promotion Department  of MPI, GIZ GmbH, and International Finance Corporation (IFC). ACN’s Program Director, Mr. Jerry Bernas, provided participants with an overview of international CSR definitions and frameworks. He further emphasized the definition of CSR used by ACN that “CSR is about how a business makes it money, not how it spends its money,” making a clear distinction between responsible business practices and philanthropy.

 ACN's Mr. Jerry Bernas, presenting at the Responsible Business Workshop

Companies and organisations such as Outspan Bolovens Ltd., Stora Enso Laos, Nam Theun 2, Vietnam Rubber Group, NGO Forum (Cambodia), and The Lao Farmers Group presented interesting case studies, highlighting CSR in practice. The presenters shared their experiences and provided practical advice in achieving socially and environmental responsible practices of land investments in Lao PDR.

Critical multi-stakeholder group discussions were conducted on the topics of Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) of affected communities, Environmental and Social Impact Assessments, grievance mechanisms, benefit sharing and understanding the principles of CSR. The key outcomes for future development, identified through the interactive group sessions, were aptly summarised by Madame Thavichanh, Deputy Director General of Investment Promotion Department, MPI, in her closing remarks:

• There continues to be a need for dissemination on responsible business principles, especially environmental and social impact assessments of land-based investments.
• More clarity is required on who is responsible for promoting ‘CSR’, particularly looking at the different government institutions and their line agencies, and clearly following through on their own mandates related to these issues.
• Monitoring of investments is essential and more resources are required, along with multi-stakeholder dialogue and cooperation
• The challenge going forward is to bring principles of responsible business and investments into the picture from the very early stages of investment planning

The working group on CSR, including government representatives, private sector companies and civil society organisations, will continue its activities to further develop and document experiences, promote constructive tools to monitor investments and prepare a toolkit for responsible investment in Lao PDR, with the support of MRLG.

The project is co-funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). For more information, please visit www.mrlg.org.