On the 7^th of May 2010 Habitat for Humanity Sri Lanka hosted a CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) Programme – “From GOOD to GREAT”. The programme brought together CSR Professionals from the Aviation, Plantation, Garments & Apparel, Food & Beverages, Finance & Banking industries. It is hoped that this will be the first of a series of tailored made programmes on strategic and sustainable corporate responsibility that Habitat for Humanity Sri Lanka will host. Presenters of the programme Ravi Fernando, Otara Gunewardene, Ramesh Schaffter and Eran Wickremaratne each brought with them, a range of experiences to draw from and key messages to convey about how to do corporate social work responsibly and sustainably. The main purpose of the programme was to attract corporate professionals practicing CSR to participate in Habitat’s programme whilst providing a comprehensive range of information from the various speakers.

Ravi Fernando, CEO of Sri Lanka’s Institute of Nanotechnology and corporate sustainability guru in Sri Lanka spoke of Corporate Sustainability and how organizations needed to do sustainable social projects to DO good rather than just to LOOK good.

Otara Gunewardene spoke about the expansion of her retail department store ODEL and how important CSR and ‘giving back’ has been to her growth and success. Otara stated that while ODEL’s CSR programme gave to a variety of causes, Habitat for Humanity Sri Lanka was one of the 2 causes she will focus on this year.

Ramesh Schaffter involved participants in a discussion about how important it is to focus an organizations ‘giving’ strategy and spoke of his organisation’s (Janashakthi) focus on social projects in the sporting arena including supporting up and coming cricketers and athletes. Ramesh Schaffter also serves on the Board of Habitat for Humanity Sri Lanka and also encouraged participants to get their own organizations involved in the process as opposed to just ‘handing over a cheque’.

Tony Senewiratne, National Director of Habitat for Humanity Sri Lanka made a presentation on Habitat’s VOLUNTEER programme and spoke of the value-added component that organizations can take away from such a scheme by getting their staff involved as a development and training tool for staff.

Overall the programme saw 35 participants, out of which 2 have already inquired into working with Habitat for Humanity Sri Lanka.

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