Capacity Building in Corporate Social Responsibility Through Open and Distance Learning (ODL): A Need Assessment Study

“Corporate Social Responsibility” emerged in the early nineties as a new buzz in the business world, and since then has developed into a field with substantial and diverse career opportunities. The career opportunities in CSR encompass a diverse arena of fields including public, private and non government organizations. The behavior of companies in social, environmental and ethical contexts has been under spotlight since 1970s with the broadened public and media interest in how companies go about in their business. Consumers have become increasingly conscious about where and how their goods are produced. With improvement in communications, the demand for increased transparency and accountability in the corporate sector has also increased. With the passing of the Company's Act 2013 and the New CSR Rules 2014 which have come into effect since April 2014, India has become the first country to bring legislation on CSR. This has opened a whole gambit of job opportunities in public, corporate and non-profit sector. The objectives of this needs assessment study were two fold - to assess the demand for the CSR programme in ODL and to identity content to be covered under the programme. Data was collected from 200 respondents. A purpose sampling was done targeting CSR executives of some of the leading Companies undertaking CSR, people working in NGOs and engaged in other development sectors implementing CSR, students of social work and management disciplines, faculty involved in distance education. The findings show that most of the respondents have resonated their opinion about the growing demand for CSR specialists in the job market. English was the medium of study most preferred by the respondents.