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Development of National CSR Agendas through multi-stakeholder dialogue

Lyra Jakulevičienė, UNDP LITHUANIA13-14 October 2008, Prague

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Why more active Government involvement in CSR needed?

Countries covered:

Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Lithuania, Macedonia, Poland, Slovakia and Turkey.

Situation in the region (Baseline Study on CSR implementation, 2007)- businesses themselves – supported by local, membership based

business organisations are currently the main agents of change for CSR- the awareness, ability and organisational power of NGOs to put

pressure on business and government are limited- the media in the Region is failing to hold corporate actors accountable

for irresponsible business activities- the direct involvement of Governments across the region is diverse and

systematic government incentives and initiatives for social and environmental performance are generally missing

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National CSR Agendas to accelerate developments

§ Rationale: when traditional driving factors for CSR are missing, Government policies and actions may stimulate developments

§ Objective: to coordinate state measures for enabling better environment for companies to engage in CSR (CSR promotion measures); to set priority actions of Governments for 3-5 years – thus not a new tool of regulation

§ Format: no single format – ranging from - Roadmap in Turkey, Stakeholder agreement in Poland to - official government strategy in a form of national programme in Lithuania and Slovakia

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Development of National CSR Agendas: process

§ Mapping out various stakeholders and building their capacities to implement CSR

§ CSR peer groups formed from government representatives and stakeholders-allowed to see “all sides”

§ Partnership with three CSR/Global Compact Networks in Germany, Spain and UK and external CSR experts

§ Multi-stakeholder forums nationally and locally

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National CSR Agendas in a multi-stakeholder context

TURKEY - SECTORS

4 CSR peer groups working actively in the development of Agenda:§ TUSIAD (Turkish Industrialist’s and

Businessmen’s Association) WG§ CSR Association round table§ Textile CSR peer group§ PR and Strategic Communication

Companies CSR peer group

POLAND-STAKEHOLDERSConsultations with 6 main groups of CSR stakeholders: • Business• NGOs• labour unions• Government• academia • media

MACEDONIA – CSR BODY

Coordinative Body on CSR

BULGARIA – FORMAL GROUPA multi-stakeholder CSR experts’ group is appointed by the Order of Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Policy

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Development of National CSR Agendas: challenges

§ The definition of CSR: Often mixed up with PR, charity, philanthropy or ad-hoc initiatives, the CSR concept should be understood and applied on the basis of common denominator by all national (CSR) stakeholders.

§ Lack of capacities of stakeholders § Leadership and financial sustainability: Which institution assumes

the leading role in the implementation of the National CSR strategy and Action Plan? How to ensure the financial sustainability of the national strategy?

§ Monitoring and Assessment of results: How do we assess the progress?

§ Promotion and spreading the CSR practices among SMEs: What kind of incentives to be applied? Specific requirements which are less cumbersome and less expensive in order to be effectively implemented

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National CSR Agendas: priorities

Among the priority areas for advancing public policies on CSR the eight countries recognised:- CSR education and advocacy, - support to civil society organisations and capacity development of other

local stakeholders, - small and medium enterprise (SME) guidance,- responsible public procurement, - development of regional CSR reporting standards and impact monitoring

systems

(Statement of Vilnius Conference on Public CSR Policies, 9 September 2008)

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Results so far

§ Comparable baseline analysis of CSR implementation situation in the region mapping the actors in the field of CSR

§ CSR Agendas in 7 countries as first multi-stakeholder agreements to outline vision/ action plan for CSR development. Led to formalized public CSR policies - provides sustainability for many years to come

§ Multi-stakeholder forums turned into permanent or formalized structures (CSR Coordinative Body in Macedonia, CSR Association in Bulgaria, CSR Platform in Turkey, etc.) – will allow to continue the dialogue

§ Better understanding among stakeholders - working together allowed to understand each other concerns better

§ Cooperation among countries: establishment of knowledge and expert sharing platform in the region, a database of good practices, a joint European masters programme on CSR