The English Z courses of the 11th grade recently completed a project on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). CSR means that a company takes responsibility for its impact on society and the environment beyond just making profits.
Our task was to find a company in Berlin and interview them about their CSR strategies. In groups of two to four students, we searched for interview partners and ended up speaking with companies such as Rolls-Royce, Edeka, Freitag, and many more. After conducting our interviews, we used the information we had gathered to create a video talk discussing the question: Should every company have a clear social or environmental mission?
As a conclusion to our project, all English Z courses went to City Kino Wedding to watch the documentary Wild Coast Warriors. It tells the story of the AmaMpondo, an indigenous community living on the east coast of South Africa, who stood up to the oil company Shell. Shell had planned to use seismic blasting to search for oil and gas along South Africa’s Wild Coast – a practice that would have threatened the environment, the cultural identity, and the livelihoods of the local communities. However, the AmaMpondo, supported by environmental activists and legal experts, successfully challenged Shell’s plans in court. As a result, the project was stopped, and the ecosystem of the Wild Coast was protected.
I personally found our project on Corporate Social Responsibility really interesting, especially because it showed how different industries approach CSR in their own ways. For example, a food company obviously has different CSR strategies than a fashion company.
I also enjoyed the experience of conducting an interview. It’s not something we usually get to do, so it was a valuable opportunity to try something new and gain real insights from professionals.
Before the project, I didn’t know much about CSR as a concept. It definitely made me more aware and critical of how companies behave and communicate their values.
Watching the documentary Wild Coast Warriors at the end was the perfect conclusion to the project. It showed that CSR affects people all over the world, regardless of their lifestyle or culture. It also made clear that CSR matters across all industries – not just in food or fashion.
Anneliese M.
