Giving Compass' Take:

• Diversey's corporate social responsibility program created the Soap for Hope project which gives the opportunity for low-income communities to recycle soap from nearby hotel guest rooms back into their neighborhoods that could use it. 

• When CSR programs promote community mobilization and empowerment, can that potentially make the programming more sustainable? 

• Read about how to engage with your employees about corporate social responsibility. 

Most of us in the developed world take soap for granted. It’s a pervasive part of our consciousness and our lifestyle: it lives in our bathrooms, our kitchens, under our sinks and in our camping supplies. It’s a necessity, but few of us in North America would think of it as a sign of affluence.

In fact, those little bars are so prevalent that we generally can’t escape them – even when we’re away from home. We’re greeted with multiple little packages of hygiene goodness every time we step into a hotel room or go to a restaurant. And it’s likely that most travelers also don’t spend their well-earned days of rest pondering the connections between poverty, childhood diseases, the cost of soap and inaccessible hygiene.

But Stefan Phang does. Diversey’s Regional Director for Sustainability & Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), for the Asia-Pacific, Middle East, Africa and Turkey Region (AMAT) realized years ago that there was way to combine those little bars with philanthropy and produce better living conditions for millions of people across the globe. And just as important, he realized, there were ways to use those donations to teach communities about the link between good hygiene, health and a valuable community income.

In 2013 Phang launched what would eventually become Diversey’s Soap for Hope CSV program. Using his own networking skills and the support of Diversey, he convinced hotels to donate the discarded soap they collected from guest rooms.

At the same time, he began reaching out to the small, low-income communities adjacent to the hotels to see if they would be willing to take on the unique job of recycling and remaking soap that could be distributed to low-income households.

Read the full article about Soap for Hope by Jan Lee  at TriplePundit