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McGill University�s Institute for the Study of International Development (ISID), will run an Executive Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Strategy and Management programme, the first of its kind in Ghana, starting November 4, 2013. The programme, which will run for five days in Accra, will feature a world-class global faculty drawn from business, government, academia and international organizations. A statement issued in Accra and copied to the Ghana News Agency by Ms Rosaline Nutsugah, the media contact person, said the conference would focus on issues such as the role of the private, public and non-profit sectors in development, emerging trends in CSR and creating public/private CSR partnerships, capacity building for investment and negotiation and the investor�s perspective. Wayne Dunn, McGill Professor of Practice in CSR and the organizer of the program, maintains that CSR is an essential element of sound business strategy. �If practiced correctly, [CSR] will create value for our companies and for other stakeholders such as local communities and natural ecosystems� says Professor Dunn. The statement said CSR as a value creation strategy, is a key component of the Ghana Programme, with a secondary focus being the utilization of the Millennium Development Goal framework as a mechanism to drive public/private collaboration around CSR investments and activities. As an initiative of McGill University�s Institute for the Study of International Development (ISID), the programme is designed to Connect Theory to Practice and provide participants with a cross-sector understanding of CSR as well as a practical set of tools that participants can take back to their workplace. The conference has previously been run with significant success in South Africa and Canada, proving beneficial to participants from over 20 countries. �The programme gave me global perspective, practical tools, meaningful insights and a large network to draw on� says Robert Gyamfi, Community Affair Manager at Golden Star Resources. The programme, which has a 90 per cent satisfaction rate, is sure to provide participants with much food for thought. �What was so valuable was the dialogue with the other participants which included a diverse range from business right through to NGOs from all parts of the world� says Jay Grewal, a Senior Vice President at Capstone Mining Corp. McGill University�s ISID is a leader within cutting edge research related to international development.