Green Delta’s Strategic CSR Initiative for Human Rights and Road Safety

Green Delta Insurance Company Limited has been practicing CSR effectively since the inception of the company. Over the years the organization has put more focus on strategic CSR and has been strictly and consistently following the Ten Principles established by the United Nations Global Compact. This year Green Delta launched a few innovative CSR projects aligning with human rights principles as well as some philanthropic issues.

Dhaka is the capital of Bangladesh and has an estimated population of 15.5 million. One of the major issues the city dwellers face almost every day are the streets filled with traffic. Often this is due to the unplanned roads and population density, but most of the time it is due to the uneducated drivers and the lack of awareness of the masses. The rickshaw is the most popular vehicle of the city, but it is also one of the major reasons for clogged streets. The rickshaw pullers are rarely educated and often do not care about following the traffic rules, so they create unnecessary nuisances on the streets. Their passengers often do not complain when the rickshaw pullers break the rules and take the wrong route to reach a destination quickly, as they are also in a hurry. But just to save 5–10 minutes, people encourage the rickshaw pullers to break the rules, leading to a rise in road accidents.

We came up with an idea to address this issue through a strategic CSR campaign. The name of the CSR project was 'Ekbar Bhabun' (Think Once). We designed and manufactured 2,500 green T-shirts for 2,500 rickshaw pullers from major areas of Dhaka. All the T-shirts had Bangla messages written on the back to help build awareness regarding traffic jams and offered instructions to people on how to follow the rules. The T-shirts also had messages regarding a scheme of Green Delta Insurance: People’s Personal Accident Policy.

Translating the messages into English, some of them were as follows:

> Sir, please warn me if I pick the wrong lane.
> Not more than two passengers please.
> Considering the risks you take every day while commuting, do you have accident insurance?
> Please don’t tell me to hurry – life is more precious than time.
> I’m not superman, so don’t expect me to pull more than two passengers in one trip.

Before launching the campaign, we made sure the rickshaw pullers were covered by our accident insurance. With the help of our activation partner, we arranged short sessions with the rickshaw pullers and briefed them regarding the importance of following traffic rules and regulations. In those sessions, we handed them the T-shirts and informed them about our campaign.

On the day of the launch, we went to different areas of Dhaka in groups to watch public reactions and rickshaw pullers’ activities. Most people were surprised to see so many rickshaw pullers in the same green T-shirts. When they read the messages on the back, it seemed as if they appreciated the idea. The traffic officers seemed to be more active that day than usual, as we had arranged for print and electronic media professionals to be in those areas to record public reactions and conduct interviews with people. When we pointed out someone who was trying to pick the shortcut, our team would go to them and request that they follow the road rules. After a few hours, the road became visibly less crowded. The vehicles were not stuck for a long time, as they were constantly moving.

The major impact of the campaign was experienced on social media. People were taking pictures of the messages and uploading them to Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms. Most of them appreciated the idea. Some promised to follow the road rules regularly. The number of followers for Green Delta Insurance started to increase rapidly.

We also prepared a post-campaign video and released it on YouTube and Facebook, where it went viral on social media. The number of views is still climbing fast and the youth of Dhaka are sharing it on a regular basis.

Our objective of this CSR project was to address the issues related to traffic jams and road accidents and also to promote human rights through the T-shirt messages, namely that human life is more valuable than time. At the same time, we encouraged people to safeguard their future with accident insurance.