In the SIRI Practicum class, my team and I are working with a South American NGO that promotes investment in sustainable businesses that benefit the local Amazonian communities. The organization takes a holistic approach to their investment projects and analyses, supporting local communities through social inclusion, responsible environmental practices, and economic growth. Our team is tasked with creating a framework for a supply chain that integrates all three of those dimensions.
As a Masters of International Affairs specializing in Human Rights, I was excited about this project. My background lends itself to the social impact aspect of this project, so I am taking the lead on analyzing the human side of the supply chain. While I have expertise on human rights and social equity, I have no prior impact investing experience. I am being challenged now to see the project as an entire system where the different dimensions are all linked, with profitability being a primary goal.
Another thing I have struggled with is my own role in this project. I understand the responsibilities I have, but I struggle with the value of my contribution as a foreigner analyzing the social and cultural impact that this project has. I lived in South America for almost seven years, and during that time I never stopped learning and deepening my understanding of the region. This learning experience also taught me how much I do not understand, and I am deeply aware of my gaps in knowledge and the story that numbers and studies don’t portray. The region that this organization is based out of is one I am familiar enough with, but not one I hold any expertise in. I brought this up with my professor, and she stated that this humility is beneficial in this work. Because I am not from the region this project is in, I know that it is vital for me to reach out to the target community to get a fuller understanding of who the community is and what they need. Community engagement rather than assumptions is what will help me to properly carry out my role for this project.
This project has also made me think critically about what responsible community engagement looks like to get the information I need to help my client minimize risks. The goal is a mutually symbiotic relationship between the businesses and the community involved. I am incorporating what I am currently learning in my Corporations and Human Rights class about human rights risk assessments and opportunities. For example, what does due diligence look like for my client? How can we set up methodologies for informed consent from the right stakeholders in the community? It is exciting to use in real practice what I have been studying here at Columbia.
My role, from my understanding, is not to provide solutions, but to do the necessary work to recommend responsible investment frameworks that can be applied to my client’s project to make it beneficial, sustainable, and scalable for all the stakeholders in the long run.