Social responsibility conference begins

The first International Social Responsibility Conference was inaugurated by HE Sheikha Hind bint Hamad al-Thani, vice-chairperson and CEO of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development (QF), and HE Sheikh Faisal bin Qassim al-Thani, chairman of AlFaisal Without Borders (Alf) Foundation, at the Qatar National Convention Centre (QNCC) yesterday .The event was attended by HE Dr Mohamed bin Saleh al-Sada, Minister of Energy and Industry, and several ambassadors and also attracted a cross-section of audience members - including more than 40 researchers representing 14 countries.“We believe that social responsibility is an essential human and national obligation. It has to be seen as one of the pillars of sustainable economic development. It is paramount that organisations across Qatar make concerted attempts to integrate social responsibility into corporate leadership,” said Sheikh Faisal. He also presented a trophy to Sheikha Hind for her “tireless support and encouragement of social issues”.All the sponsors were also honoured during an award ceremony for their support to this conference.A wide spectrum of audience members, including academics, researchers in educational institutions and graduate students from training institutions, media and marketing experts, opinion leaders in the community and civil society organisations, are taking part in the three-day conference .Mubarka Hamad al-Marri, manager of Al Faisal Social Responsibility Centre, said: “Our vision is to be frontrunners of communal responsibility in the region, and aspire to be a global model. We already have in place the relevant initiatives, programmes and projects of community leadership. These are aimed at developing self-responsibility in community affairs and leadership building.”“In line with the vision and objectives of the centre, the conference is spread over 11 absorbing sessions. It covers a wide range of subjects, including main platforms for social responsibility, social responsibility in education, social responsibility and the private sector, social responsibility from the legal perspective, experiences and practices of social responsibility in the energy sector, the reality of social responsibility and more,” said Ali Talal al-Mar’e, executive director, Alf Foundation.The conference focuses on three pillars - the emergence of social responsibility and related concepts; the measurement of reality, knowledge of opportunities for communities, the internal and external challenges for social responsibility and the reality of social responsibility and its role in the knowledge economy.