SENEGAL Trends and Developments Contributed by: Khaled Abou El Houda, Chadi Safieddine and Dieudonné Désiré Diouf, Houda Law Firm
working conditions, make them aware of the efforts the company is making on their behalf, and – of course – increase their commitment to the company. • an environmental level, a good waste man - agement policy (and therefore recycling) will enable certain industries to save energy by using this waste as fuel. • On the economic front, strengthening the capacities of a company’s suppliers will enable them to provide better-quality prod - ucts, which will have an impact on the quality of the products and services provided by the company that has used their services. It therefore appears that CSR also has a number of advantages for society in terms of good gov - ernance. Benefits accrue not only to stakehold - ers, but also to the companies that adopt this approach – increasing their involvement, con - tributing to improving their performance and, as a result, creating a competitive advantage over companies that do not practise CSR. The adaptability of CSR also raises questions. It should be remembered that CSR as a concept was created by Western countries and, because it is still struggling to take root locally, is per - ceived as a foreign concept. This is reinforced locally by certain CSR policies implemented by large companies’ Senegal-based subsidiar - ies, which are influenced by the policies of their headquarters located thousands of kilometres away and are thus not necessarily connected to the needs of local stakeholders. All in all, this creates a perception among stake - holders of inadequacy and unsuitability – espe - cially given that, as stated in the introduction, CSR is supposed to be a lever for economic, social and societal development that respects the environment and helps to serve the concerns
of businesses and populations. Consequently, it should be noted that the legislator must empha - sise this concept so that economic actors show more interest in social responsibility, in particu - lar. This would involve convincing them of the usefulness of CSR and the need to integrate it into their overall strategy. In light of the potential benefits of CSR, it there - fore seems appropriate that – in the future – executives and managers of Senegalese com - panies should be trained on the potential of CSR and how they can make the best use of it. It is also important to be pragmatic and to contex - tualise CSR more by initiating locally designed policies that take into account the real needs of stakeholders and the company’s strategy, so that the result is a convergence of interests. Finally, it seems crucial to optimise the voluntary nature of CSR by legislating and adopting and harmonising incentive policies for companies, as well as implementing sectoral policies for the benefit of these companies, while taking into account the opinions, perceptions and feedback from the grassroots level (ie, the population, civil society and trade unions). It would be interesting to draw inspiration from jurisdictions where a genuine legal framework has been established for CSR in corporate gov - ernance. It is now recognised in the EU (espe - cially in France) that CSR has an impact on all companies, regardless of their size, as they are increasingly required – either because they are encouraged to do so by the law or by the mar - ket, civil society or NGOs, or based on their own initiative – to integrate social and environmental concerns into their activities and interactions with other actors and stakeholders.
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