The Tumas Fenech Foundation for Education in Journalism (FTFEĠ), in association with the President’s Foundation for the Wellbeing of Society (PFWS), is organising a national conference on ‘CSR: business, journalism and society’ on Wednesday between 2.30 and 6.30pm at San Anton Palace, Attard.

The conference, which is being held under the patronage of President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca, is aimed at journalists, other members of the media, members of NGOs and corporate executives involved in decisions on corporate social responsibility and should prove to be an opportunity for debate and the imparting of information about the latest CSR initiatives.

The conference will feature three keynote speakers: Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Health, Chris Fearne; Luis Neves, managing director, GeSI (Global e-Sustainability Initiative); and Cheryl Rosario, director of Corporate Social Responsibility and Philanthropy at Wyndham Worldwide. There will be two panel discussions, the first on the ‘Practical aspects of CSR’, chaired by President Emeritus Ugo Mifsud Bonnici, chairman of the FTFEĠ; and the other, chaired by Ruth Farrugia, director general of the PFWS, will discuss ‘Ethical implications of CSR’.

The three keynote speakers for Wednesday’s national conference: Chris Fearne, Cheryl Rosario and Luis Neves.

The four members of the first panel are Clifton Grima, Parliamentary Secretary for Youth, Sport and Voluntary Organisations; Ryan Callus, Opposition spokesman for Youth, Sport and the Fight against Obesity; Maria Grazia Cassar, Din l-Art Ħelwa president; and Caroline Buhagiar Klass, head of Human Resources, HSBC.

The five members of the second panel are Emanuel Said, Jesmond Saliba, Chris Bonett, Helga Ellul and Roberta Lepre.

Mr Fearne has worked as a doctor and surgeon for the past 30 years. He was a founding director of the Malta Institute for Medical Education and chaired Celebrities for Kids, a voluntary NGO promoting children’s rights. As a student, he was involved in a number of youth organisations. He served as Secretary General of the Maltese Federation of Youth Organisations, officer within the University Students’ Council, KSU, and in the Malta Medical Students’ Association.

Mr Neves, who hails from Portugal, has had an international career in telecommunications, spanning many decades, with a focus on corporate sustainability. He has chaired and acted as an expert on a number of international working groups and has been on the board of GeSI since 2006. His career has included working for Marconi (today Portugal Telecom) and Deutsche Telekom.

Ms Rosario currently works to expand the visibility of the Wyndham brand through its mission of ‘Travelling together for a better world’. Prior to her appointment at Wyndham, she was the executive director of the ZAC Foundation, an organisation dedicated to the global issue of water safety. She also served as the director of philanthropy at American Express.

The FTFEĠ, which was established following the demise of Tumas Fenech, founder of the Tumas Group, has been working under the chairmanship of Dr Mifsud Bonnici for almost two decades. Its major focus is media education, and among its major achievements was the prompting of the establishment of the BA Journalism Course at Mcast. It regularly holds seminars, conferences and targeted sessions of benefit to the local media.

The PFWS was established by Ms Coleiro Preca to work on initiatives to help social inclusion and living standards. It recognises inter-personal relationships as the fundamental structure for human well-being, upholds the uniqueness of each individual, community, society and country, and seeks to foster a democratic participatory frame- work and innovation to inspire people, stimulating imagination and creativity for the betterment of society.

Those wishing to register for the conference can send an e-mail to pfws.opr@gov.mt