strategy-csr-purpose-communications

Use when

• Builds a CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) and purpose-driven communications strategy for a client — articulating the brand's social, environmental, or community impact through social media and digital channels. Calibrated for Uganda and East Africa, where community investment carries deep cultural weight but greenwashing backlash is growing. Invoke this skill when a client asks how to communicate what they "give back", wants to build a reputation for social responsibility, needs to address stakeholder scrutiny of their community or environmental practices, or is developing an ESG narrative for investors, regulators, or donor partners.
• Use this skill when it is the closest match to the requested deliverable or workflow.

Do not use when

• Do not use this skill for graphic design, video production, software development, or legal advice beyond the repository's stated scope.
• Do not use it when another skill in this repository is clearly more specific to the requested deliverable.

Workflow

1. Collect the required inputs or source material before drafting, unless this skill explicitly generates the intake itself.
2. Follow the section order and decision rules in this

   SKILL.md

   ; do not skip mandatory steps or required fields.
3. Review the draft against the quality criteria, then deliver the final output in markdown unless the skill specifies another format.

Anti-Patterns

• Do not invent client facts, performance data, budgets, or approvals that were not provided or clearly inferred from evidence.
• Do not skip required inputs, mandatory sections, or quality checks just to make the output shorter.
• Do not drift into out-of-scope work such as code implementation, design production, or unsupported legal conclusions.

Outputs

• A structured markdown document, plan, playbook, or strategy ready for client-facing or internal use.

References

• Use the inline instructions in this skill now. If a

  references/

  directory is added later, treat its files as the deeper source material and keep this

  SKILL.md

  execution-focused.

Required Input

1. Client business name and industry — trading name, sector (e.g., manufacturing, hospitality, financial services, agribusiness).
2. Country/city — default is Uganda/East Africa if not specified.
3. Current CSR activities or community programmes — what is the client already doing? List every programme, sponsorship, donation, environmental practice, or employee welfare initiative, however small.
4. Target audiences for CSR communications — who must receive and believe this narrative? Options include: employees, customers, investors, donors, regulators, community leaders, media. Each audience requires a different emphasis.
5. Business objective for CSR communications — why does this matter commercially? Options: build brand preference, strengthen employee pride and retention, satisfy investor or donor reporting requirements, maintain regulatory goodwill, differentiate from competitors.
6. Past CSR communications and their reception — has the client communicated CSR before? What was published, and how did audiences respond? Were there any accusations of greenwashing or purpose-washing?
7. Budget and content production capacity — can the client produce video? Do they have a photographer? Is this one person or a team? This determines what content formats are realistic.

Section 1 — Purpose vs CSR vs Greenwashing

Section 2 — CSR Audit

Section 3 — Content Strategy for CSR

Section 4 — Messaging Framework

Section 5 — East Africa-Specific Considerations

east-african-english

Quality Criteria

• The distinction between purpose, CSR, and greenwashing is stated clearly and applied consistently — no content claims purpose when the evidence supports only CSR.
• The CSR audit table is completed before any content strategy is produced — unevidenced activities are flagged as future opportunities, not current claims.
• The evidence requirement is stated explicitly for every claim: every CSR assertion is linked to a specific piece of evidence (photo, data, document, name).
• All four content types (impact stories, progress reports, behind the scenes, employee voice) are represented in the content plan, with Uganda/East Africa-specific examples.
• The children's photography consent rule is stated and applied — no content featuring minors is approved without documented parental or guardian consent.
• Greenwashing risk is acknowledged and mitigated — the journalist test is applied to all claims before publication.
• The messaging framework (specificity, show don't claim, acknowledge complexity, community voice, regulatory context) is applied to all draft content before approval.

References

• See

  05-social-media-strategy/SKILL.md

  for the broader social media strategy framework within which CSR communications sits. Use this skill in conjunction with the channel strategy and content calendar produced there.
• See

  playbook-reputation-management/SKILL.md

  when CSR communications is being used to respond to or mitigate a reputational crisis — the two skills overlap when a brand faces public scrutiny of its social or environmental conduct.
• See

  biz-dev-credentials/SKILL.md

  when CSR communications outputs (impact reports, case studies, beneficiary stories) are being incorporated into client pitch credentials or agency credentials.
• See

  east-african-english/SKILL.md

  for language, tone, and register standards. Apply to all English-language CSR content before publication.