CIMA, UN Global Compact Network Sri Lanka promote ‘Hand in hand’ sustainability initiative

CIMA Sri Lanka together with the Global Compact Network Sri Lanka, has created a sustainability initiative competition: Hand-in-hand.

The competition, held for the second consecutive year, aims to give the much needed recognition to schools and tertiary education institutions which are involved in sustainability related projects. 

Although many students are involved in such projects, often the work is not acknowledged. The ‘Hand in hand’ initiative engages students and their educational institutions in understanding the importance of social, economic and environmental development and inspire change. 

Applicants will have to identify and describe how a sustainability related project resulted in economic, social and environmental prosperity and how such impact will be sustained by key stakeholders involved.

To support the participants of this year’s competition, a briefing session was conducted by the judging panel of this initiative: Sutheash Balasubramaniam (Sri Lanka Representative at UN Global Compact Network Sri Lanka), Amanthi Perera (Manager – Strategic Sustainability, MAS Capital), Ravi de Silva (Consultant for Social and Environmental Management at Aitken Spence Hotels and for Corporate Sustainability at Aitken Spence PLC) and Rathika de Silva (Head of Sustainability and Business Excellence at Det Norske Veritas, Sri Lanka).

Balasubramaniam states that young people will be advocates for change in the future and further elaborated: “UN Global Compact is the largest corporate sustainability initiative today. It works to advance sustainability; and to create an inclusive and sustainable world. This subject needs to be understood very well among young professionals and undergraduates, as they will be the voice that influences the stakeholders to affect change.”

Commenting on the event, Radley Stephen, Country Head CIMA Sri Lanka & Head Emerging Markets- MESANA stated: “It is fantastic to see the enthusiasm of the students. Last year’s competition took off more than what we at CIMA expected. The main thing we discovered is that many educational institutes are doing sustainability projects on their own, but there is no recognition. So we thought if their work is recognized, there would be more people taking initiative. It is a massive project for the country. We are hoping that this competition will blossom into a regional competition in the future.” 

The briefing session was well attended by nearly 50 students from international schools and tertiary education institutions.