Good Practices : UN Global Compact Project in Western CIS and Caucasus

7/28/2019 Good Practices : UN Global Compact Project in Western CIS and Caucasus

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G O O D P R A C T I C E S

U N D P , B R A T I S L A V A , 2 0 1 0

Fostering multi-stakeholder partnerships

to achieve MDGs in the Western CIS and Caucasus

in the Framework of United Nations Global Compact


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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in retrieval system

or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording

or otherwise, without prior permission.

The views expressed in this publication are those of the author and do not necessarily represent

the views of UNDP.

Author: Teodorina Lessidrenska

Peer Review Group: Pascale Bonzom, Elena Panova, Yuliya ShcherbininaEditor: Barbara Hall

ISBN : 978-92-95092-06-8

Copyright 2010

By the UNDP Regional Bureau for Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States


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Fostering multi-stakeholder partnerships to achieveMDGs in the Western CIS and Caucasus in the

Framework o United Nations Global Compact

GOOD PRACTICES

This note was developed within the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) regional

project Fostering multi-stakeholder partnerships to achieve Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) in

the Western CIS and Caucasus in the framework of United Nations Global Compact managed by the

UNDP Bratislava Regional Centre and funded by the Government of Belgium.


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BACKGROUND . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

MAJOR ACHIEVEMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

THE PROJECTS GOOD PRACTICES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

OUTREACH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Country good practices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Ukraine Regional GC launches to engage local companies

to promote corporate social responsibility (CSR) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

LEARNING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Cross-country good practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Standardized training on Communication on Progress (COP)

and non-financial reporting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Country good practices: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Moldova the CSR Training Course as a platformfor collaboration among GC stakeholders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Georgia Building local capacity for consulting services

in non-financial reporting to local companies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Ukraine Business talking to business learning events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

POLICY DIALOGUE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Country good practices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Armenia Facilitating identification of priority issues among the government

(Ministry of Trade and Economic Development)

and the business community . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Georgia Linking policy research and multi-stakeholder dialogue

for influencing supportive policies for economic development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Ukraine Mainstreaming CSR into National Business Management Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Ukraine Towards a National CSR Agenda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

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>TABLE OF CONTENTS


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AWARENESS RAISING AND ADVOCACY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Cross country good practice: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Engagement with the media on corporate social responsibility (CSR) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

CSR National Conferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Country good practice:. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

24Moldova Fostering CSR awareness within small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) . . . 24

NETWORKING AND INFORMATION EXCHANGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Cross-country good practice: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Global Compact Annual Meeting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Country good practice: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Ukraine Sharing Experiences to Foster GC Good Practice and Develop the GCLN . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

COLLECTIVE ACTION AND COLLABORATION WITH OTHER ACTORS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Cross-country good practice: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Building a Coalition for CSR promotion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Country good practices: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Belarus: The Socially Responsible Business for the Sustainable Development

of Small Towns campaign: Promoting innovation, collaboration and partnerships

for practical solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Ukraine: The Go Green campaign: Establishing innovative, interrelated initiatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

CONCLUSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

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nterprises international and local,

large and small are becoming in-

creasingly involved in initiatives that

aim to reduce poverty in developing

countries and thus contribute to the achieve-

ment of the Millennium Development Goals

(MDGs). Operationally, for most companies, the

entry point for involvement in poverty reduc-

tion projects is through various corporate so-

cial responsibility (CSR) initiatives.1

The United Nations Development Programme

(UNDP) recognizes the importance of the privatesector in achieving the MDGs. The Secretary

Generals Global Compact (GC) initiative calls on

businesses to integrate into their core business

operations a set of universal principles in the

field of human rights, in labour protection, for the

environment and to fight corruption. By work-

ing with businesses through the GC, UNDP seeks

to engage enterprises in support of the MDGs in

a number of ways: by stimulating private sector

participation in dialogue and advocacy; broker-

ing and facilitating pro-poor investments in de-

veloping countries; and forging partnerships

aligned to UNDPs practice areas and the MDGs.

The challenges in implementing national MDG

agendas in many countries in the Western

Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)

(Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Russian Federation)8

and the Caucasus (Armenia, Azerbaijan and

Georgia) region have proved difficult in the

light of the developmental trends since 1990.

Sharp economic contractions took place in the

1990s as part of a transition from planned to

market economies, which were compounded

by political instability and conflicts in the re-

gion. Despite economic growth experienced

by almost all the countries in the region as a re-sult of reforms undertaken and increased inte-

gration into the world economy at the

beginning of the millennium, a number of

socio-economic issues still remain unad-

dressed, which are obstacles to achieving the

MDGs by 2015. These issues from poor gov-

ernance and corruption, poverty, exclusion and

unemployment to serious environmental prob-

lems have continued to worsen in the last few

years due to the global economic crisis and

changing political environment. Although the

primary responsibility for achieving the MDGs

lies with governments, in the current situation

4

B A C K G R O U N D

> BACKGROUND

E

The private sectors efficiency, creativity and capacity to mobilize financing have been recognized by the United Nations in a number of ways. Two

of the most important are the Secretary Generals Global Compact initiative (www.unglobalcompact.org) and the report of the United Nations Com-

mission on the Private Sector and Development: Unleashing Entrepreneurship: Making Business Work for the Poor. The report makes a number of rec-

ommendations on better engaging the private sector in addressing the development challenges through public-private partnerships (PPPs).

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their ability to forge strong partnerships with

the private sector and civil society organizations

has become a critical factor in achieving posi-

tive change and improving living conditions of

millions of people in the region in a sustainable

manner.

From 2006 to 2010, UNDP Bratislavas Regional

Centre implemented the regional project Fos-

tering multi-stakeholder partnerships to achieve

MDGs in the Western CIS and Caucasus in the

framework of United Nations Global Compact.

This regional project, funded by the Govern-

ment of Belgium and UNDP, was implemented

in Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and

Ukraine and addressed the private sector as a

partner in sustainable development in the re-

gion. Its main goal is to harness value-creating

assets of the private sector for poverty reduc-

tion in the Western CIS and Caucasus by pro-

moting multi-stakeholder partnerships and CSR

adoption among the business community inthe framework of GC. It builds on the GC prin-

ciples and MDGs as a guidance framework for

companies investments. The sustainability of

the project is ensured by its promotion of com-

panies involvement based on their core busi-

ness which goes beyond philanthropy.

When the project Fostering multi-stakeholder

partnerships to achieve MDGs in Western CIS and

Caucasus in the framework of UN Global Com-

pact started in 2006, the concept of CSR was

new and little known in the region. As a whole,

the promotion of corporate social responsibility

(CRS) has been complicated due to ongoing

and emerging economical and political chal-

lenges in each of the five countries. Despite

these challenges, now, three years later, the re-

sults achieved in participating countries by the

project show awareness that CRS is not merely

a philanthropic tool; there is also a growing un-

derstanding among the business community

in the region that it is part of modern business

in a globalized economy, which can offer excit-

ing business opportunities.

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B A C K G R O U N D


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he project resulted in the establish-

ment of five Global Compact local

networks (GCLNs), involving a total of

361 GC participants representing

business, non-governmental organizations

(NGOs) and business associations as well as

an increasing number o universities. As part

of the regional project, the GCLNs in each coun-

try promote GC and CSR adoption, and encour-

age companies to forge partnerships with other

social actors governments, civil society organ-

izations, development partners and the acade-

mia. These partnerships engage business andother social actors in concrete projects that con-

tribute towards achieving the MDGs and mak-

ing commercial sense for companies. The major

achievements of the project as are follows:

>The project has contributed to significant

awareness raising and understanding of

CSR, not only among businesses, but also

among the other stakeholders. This was

accomplished as follows:

>The GCLNsfocused on being business-led

while remaining multistakeholder. As a re-

sult, the networks served as neutral plat-

forms for learning and sharing experiences

in CSR among companies, other stake-

holders and non-business social actors.

> As activities were implemented jointly

with companies in collaboration with oth-

er social actors and stakeholders such as

ministries, governmental organizations,

the media and key international organi-

zations, the GC and CSR were promoted,

which produced positive change and con-

tributed to society.

Such activities included: ongoing aware-ness raising and educational outreach ini-

tiatives organized within the countries; con-

tinuing media engagement; development

of CSR courses and curriculum; national

CSR conferences and regional events in the

countries; collective actions and cam-

paigns; and training, networking and ex-

perience-sharing opportunities and serv-

ices provided by the networks to their

members.

>The project has contributed to building

commitment of the GC members for further

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M A J O R A C H I E V E M E N T S

> MAJOR ACHIEVEMENTS

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practical adoption of CSR as integral element

of companies business strategy and opera-

tions.

>The project has enhanced participation of

companies in policy dialogue and has es-

tablished practices involving business, gov-

ernment and other stakeholders that

will urther develop and acilitate policy

dialogue with a view to build the CSR

agendas and improve the enabling en-

vironment or CSR and private sector de-

velopment.

> The project created multi-stakeholder

partnership projects among businesses, the

United Nations agencies and other stake-

holders. The partnership project portfolio of

13 active projects (in the implementation

phase) and seven projects in the pipeline (in

preparation or under development) is im-

plemented with enthusiasm, commitmentand a great sense of satisfaction by the proj-

ect participants. They have shown success

and practical impacts and results.During the

life of the GC project, the partnership projects

have evolved from focusing on philanthro-

py only in the early days to contributing to

society with more clearly defined business de-

velopment priorities and profitability.

>The project established communication

and cooperation across countries, main-

ly in the orm o sharing o experience and

practices among the GC networks in Ar-

menia, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and

Ukraine, which helped the GC and CSR up-

take and led to the replication of some good

practices within and across the networks.

> GC networks in Armenia, Belarus, Georgia,

Moldova and Ukraine have established

working and transparent governance struc-

tures and are on their way to become or-

ganizationally sustainable.

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M A J O R A C H I E V E M E N T S


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he purpose of this publication is to

provide an overview of the good

practices successfully implemented

by the project in individual countries

or on the regional level as well as the develop-

ment of the GCLNs. Good practices are activi-

ties or approaches undertaken within the

project that are innovative, that enhance GC

participation and impact, and that have the po-

tential to be replicated throughout the GC net-

work or among country and regional networks.

The practices are presented in the following

categories: outreach, learning, policy dialogue,awareness raising and advocacy, networking

and information exchange, and collective ac-

tion and collaboration with other actors.2 Under

each category, regional/cross-country good

practices and individual country good practices

have been identified.

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T H E P R O J E C T S G O O D P R A C T I C E S

>THE PROJECTS

GOOD PRACTICES

T

Partnerships is another category of the projects good practices. It is not covered by this publication, however, because it is reviewed in detail in

a separate publication.

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he focus of outreach activities within the

regional project is on introducing the

concept of responsible entrepreneurship

among companies and non-business

actors in each individual country by expanding and

enhancing their participation in the GC network.

When the project was launched in 2006, there

was no awareness and history on CSR beyond

corporate philanthropy in those countries. Very

few of the companies in the region knew what

GC was, its special benefits and distinguished

value, or the responsibilities that GC membershipbrings to companies. Ongoing, systematic and

effective outreach activities for recruitment of GC

members across all business sectors and regions

and among all social actors within each country

combined with continuing efforts to ensure en-

gagement of the membership in the network ac-

tivities have therefore proven their importance

among the projects main success factors.

Enabling the development of sub-networks

within the national networks and of a larger

network that brings together the GC networks

involved in the project on a regional level, has

emerged as a good practice for expanding and

enhancing GC participation.

The most commonly implemented outreach

events throughout the project included bilat-

eral and sector-specific meetings with

prospective companies, collective (open) in-

formative meetings with multiple stakehold-

ers, and presentations introducing the CSR

concept and GC at corporate events. Such

events tend to target organizations in addition

to those that have already signed onto the GC.

They help recruit new companies and non-business members by sending public mes-

sages on the potential value of CSR and

providing tangible options for action. It was

logical that the GCLNs established by the proj-

ect succeeded to target the largest companies

first, because they were most prepared to work

on CSR and had the most talented and quali-

fied human capital and other supporting re-

sources. On the other hand, throughout the life

of the project, engaging with small and

medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in remote re-

gions has been a major challenge and goal for

each of the five GCLNs.

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O U T R E A C H

> OUTREACH

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Country good practices

Ukraine Regional GC launches to

engage local companies to promote

corporate social responsibility (CSR)

When faced with difficulties in reaching out to,

and maintaining engagement with SMEs and

various stakeholders located in different regions

outside the capital, GCLN Ukraine came up with

an innovative model for strategic regional out-

reach. The SMEs located in the regions seem

less interested and familiar with the CSR and GC

concepts than the capital-based companies;

they have limited resources, operate in the local

market, and focus on day-to-day survival. Thus,

the GC Networks Secretariat decided to organ-

ize them locally. It introduced regional GC

launches to promote CSR in the regions. These

launches are organized on the premise that: (i)

an informal regional GC network is established

in the region; and (ii) there is commitment from

a CSR pioneer, i.e. a local organization or a local

company to take a leadership role as a GC focal

point in the region.

The first step in the preparation for a regional

launch is finding a champion in CSR such as a

trade union or a chamber of commerce that is

interested in, and meets the criteria for, be-coming a GC focal point in the region. The GC

Secretariat organizes the launch, ensuring that

the event involves all stakeholders, local au-

thorities and the local business community.

This launch event combines a wide range of ac-

tivities, from GC and CSR awareness raising, ed-

ucation and sharing of good practices among

local companies and stakeholders, to the es-

tablishment of the regional networks local or-

ganizational and governance structure, and

announcement of the networks leadership and

members. Local signatories established

through such launches are usually coordinated

by the local leader, who also maintains the

communication link to the GC Secretariat. One

of the challenges is the need for the GC Secre-

tariat to maintain an active dialogue and en-

gagement with the regions after the launch

events. The momentum is usually maintained

by organizing regular activities locally, such as

training and other events.

The regional GC launches organized by GCLN

Ukraine an average of two per year take

place in different regions of the country and

act as important drivers for expanding mem-

bership and awareness raising. The establishedregional networks are very cost-effective, hav-

ing no need for physical replication of the GC

Secretariat in the region. Such regional net-

works are fully owned by the local community

and evolve as platforms for building local ca-

pacity for GC and CSR implementation in line

with the specific local conditions and stake-

holder needs. Between 2006 and 2009, a total

of six regional launches were conducted in

Lviv, Donetsk, Zhytomyr, Odessa, Lugansk and

Simferopol regions, with more than 200 busi-

ness representatives and local authority offi-

cials taking part. Launches also brought in

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O U T R E A C H


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more than 20 new members to the Ukrainian

GC network.

It is expected that the regional launches will

have a positive impact not only in terms of ex-

pansion of the GC network throughout differ-

ent regions of a country, but also in terms of

deepening the level of engagement among

the local companies in national GC initiatives.

The major positive impact of the GC regional

networks is that when successfully established,

they build a high level of commitment to GC

and CSR, as well as a very strong sense of own-

ership among their members. These networks

have great capacity to stimulate local dialogue

and collaboration between local businesses

and their stakeholders. Moreover, they make

CSR an integral part of the business and social

life of the communities by focusing on local ini-

tiatives for addressing specific local environ-

mental, social and economic development

problems.

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O U T R E A C H


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earning activities are designed specifi-

cally for Global Compact participants

working to integrate the ten princi-

ples(Box 1) into their day-to-day busi-

ness operations and corporate culture.

The adoption of the GC principles and the ap-

plication of the CSR concept require significant

change in the way the average company tradi-

tionally thinks about its social contributions,

which are made in the form of donations and

charity. Thus, key objectives of the project were

to inform the GC members companies andother social players on the GC and CSR con-

cepts and how they relate to the global and

local challenges facing companies and their

stakeholders. This would show what CSR means

in practical terms, and prove that it can bring

business benefits as well as social value. In this

regard, the project has developed a number of

good practices which include learning activi-

ties implemented in individual countries or of-

fered through the five GCLNs to their

membership, including: standardized training

delivered in all five networks; development of

CSR university courses and learning materials

with local case studies; capacity building for

CSR consulting services; and dialogue events

and peer-review of company reports, etc. Good

practice learning activities not only provide ac-

cess to international good practices, expertise

and knowledge, but also serve as a platform for

local companies to learn from each other by

sharing their own practical experiences and les-

sons learned in CSR.

Cross-country good practice

Standardized training on Commu-

nication on Progress (COP) and non-

fnancial reporting

One major challenge and obstacle to the prac-

tical adoption of CSR in companies has been the

large number of GCLN member companies that

do not submit their COP to the GC. The COP re-

quired by GC ensures that all member compa-

nies comply with the GC principles and act

responsibly in line with the CSR and GC values.

Reporting usually drives companies towards in-

tegrated CSR planning, implementation and

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L E A R N I N G

> LEARNING

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management. The project has made CSR/GRI re-

porting a priority; thus, it is expected that GCLNs

provide assistance in COP and apply pressure to

their members to report. In response, all five

GCLNs have given special attention to non-fi-

nancial reporting, including the COP, Global Re-

porting Initiative (GRI) Guidelines, AA1000 and

others. Initial training on COP reporting was car-

ried out in each country, in some cases more

than once in order to reach all GC members, but

there was a need for a more elaborative ap-

proach to ensure that all networks have equal

access to the most widely applied reporting

tools.

A regional tour of standardized GRI training, de-

livered in English and Russian, was organized in

2008 and reached more than 100 GC members,

who became acquainted with the concept of

sustainable development, learned how to pre-

pare non-financial reports and were introduced

to the technology of integrating GC require-ments into GRI reporting. The training tour was

coordinated by UNDP Bratislava Regional Cen-

tre, in collaboration with the GRI Secretariat and

the project country offices.

The GRI training aims to enable companies to

monitor, measure, report, plan and improve

their CSR performance. Standardized training

for all GCLNs, and specifically, on GRI reporting,

is an innovative approach for the establishment

of a common set of tools and a level playing

field for all companies across all five countries.

The GRI standardized training module, deliv-

ered by an international GRI expert, prepared

companies across the region for GRI reporting.

It resulted in the release of the first GRI report

in Belarus by one of the largest national com-

panies, RUE Byelorussian Steel Works. In the

longer term, the standardized GRI training al-

lows benchmarking at both the national and

regional levels. It stimulates exchange of CSR in-

formation and lessons learned as well as repli-

cation of good practices among companies,

and will ultimately result in faster and more sig-

nificant improvements in the companies social

and environmental performance and impacts.

Country good practices:

Moldova the CSR Training Course as

a platorm or collaboration among

GC stakeholders

The understanding and acceptance of newconcepts is usually a slow process. In a country

like Moldova, where CSR was a new concept,

foreign to the local culture and traditions, and

thus seemingly unpopular, the project faced an

enormous task to reach out and raise aware-

ness about CSR, not only to the Moldovan busi-

ness community, but also to society as a whole.

GCLN Moldova decided to speed up this

process by including CSR in the curriculum of

business schools, business incubators, and

other business development programmes that

can quickly spread knowledge among the

younger generation and stimulate develop-

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ment of CSR-aware entrepreneurs and busi-

nesses that normally have CSR as an element of

their strategy and operations. The vision behind

the CSR course created by the GCLN Moldova is

to ensure that young people are educated on

CSR issues before they enter the labour market.

The first CSR training course in Moldova was de-

veloped jointly by GCLN Moldova and the Acad-

emy of Economic Studies, and resulted in a

handbook for university courses, Corporate So-

cial Responsibility: Practical Aspects. It presents

each of the GC principles through a separate

case study, which discusses a selected

Moldovan GC member company and its specific

CSR activities under the relevant GC principle.

An agreement between UNDP/GC and the

Technical University of Moldova has resulted in

a productive partnership that led to integration

of the CSR subject into the current university

curriculum. In March 2010, the Global Compact

project developed a Training-of-Trainers (ToT)course for professors teaching the CSR course:

It provides practical examples on teaching

methodology, and introduces and reinforces

theoretical concepts through case studies and

guest lecturers of GC members, which are key

to the training. Many companies used as exam-

ples for the case studies are already offering in-

ternships to students who have participated in

these courses.

One of the unique values of the training course

is the active participation of GCLN Moldova

company members in the development of the

cases in the publication. As a good practice, the

development and delivery of the course serve

as a platform for channeling practical experi-

ence and knowledge from the business field di-

rectly to the academic educational process. It

also builds collaboration between the aca-

demic institutions and GC business members

on the practical implementation of CSR within

the companies in the country. To date, four

leading universities have included the CSR

course in their curriculum at graduate level,

while several other universities are interested in

including it in the future. There is potential for

much greater longer-term impact by making

CSR part of the university curriculum. This may

stimulate local research and collaborative ac-

tion involving students, young professionals,

and academic and business experts in finding

solutions for concrete local environmental and

social problems that society currently faces or

may face in the future.

Georgia Building local capacity or

consulting services in non-fnancial

reporting to local companies

According to GCLN Georgia, ensuring that local

companies and other stakeholders have access

to reliable and high quality assistance in CSR re-

porting and communications is an important

factor that encourages local companies and

SMEs to join the GC, meet the COP require-

ments and begin implementation of CSR as

part of their normal business practice. Given the

difficulties the companies face in producing

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their reports, the demand for such a service is

increasing, not only in Georgia, but also in a

growing number of countries worldwide.

In Georgia, the project has been collaborating

closely with the Centre for Strategic Research

and Development of Georgia (CSRDG), an NGO

member of GC Georgia, in order to build its ca-

pacity to offer consulting services to companies

on reporting. To ensure the compliance of the

GC members with the reporting requirements

in a sustainable way, the project encourages

and provides technical assistance to CSRDG to

frame their experience in reporting in a con-

sulting package, offered to companies on com-

mercial terms. CSRDG has translated the GRI

reporting guidelines to Georgia, and a publica-

tion linking GRI reporting with COP reporting. It

has also organized, in collaboration with the

project, several workshops dedicated to re-

porting, and has developed a fund of knowl-

edge on the issue.

It is becoming increasingly important that the

technical assistance in this field be provided by

experienced local consulting firms, familiar with

and capable of addressing the specific local is-

sues, priorities and needs, and meeting the spe-

cific expectations of the local stakeholders. One

of the main outcomes of the Georgian initiative

is that a local NGO offers its consulting services

at a lower cost than that of the international

consulting firms. The impact of the initiative is

expected to reach beyond the companies who

will benefit from the reporting services, since it

will provide a modest income to the NGO, in

turn adding to their sustainability. In the longer

term, such local capacity development will play

a significant role in addressing CSR needs of the

business community and other stakeholders,

ultimately adding to the sustainability of the GC

network.

Ukraine Business talking to busi-

ness learning events

A major task of the GC project and network is to

continue to build CSR awareness among all

stakeholder groups and to shift the focus of the

discussions from the question What is CSR? to

How companies can implement CSR in practice

and how it can be integrated into their day-to-day

business?.This would therefore stimulate com-

panies to move toward practical implementa-

tion of CSR as part of their business agenda. The

GCLN Ukraine concluded that one powerful

way to stimulate businesses to start imple-menting CSR is by learning from local CSR

champions.

GCLN Ukraine has established a tradition of

conducting meetings among its members,

which aims to showcase good practices in im-

plementing GC principles at company level

combined with a visit to company premises.

The first such meeting took place in 2006 in

Ukraine and addressed the issue of ecological

responsibility. Since then, the GCLN has

adopted a special name for such learning

events Business talking to business

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(B2B).The B2B format fully corresponds to the

essence of the GC initiative as a platform for

good practices exchange and experience shar-

ing among the business practitioners on the

implementation of the GC principles. When

business talks to business, the benefits and ad-

vantages of participating in the GC are high-

lighted by stories of real Ukrainian companies.

This in turn stimulates the private sector to be

more proactive and innovative in implement-

ing the GC, and in its long-term commitments

to the ten GC principles.

It is expected that the B2B meetings will have

significant impact, not only on improved un-

derstanding of the practical aspects of CSR, but

also on setting up the standards for peer review

within the network and thus ensuring CSR re-

porting quality control and accountability

among the GC member companies. As a good

practice, the B2B meetings have proven their

effectiveness as valuable learning platformswhere GC members can gain a better under-

standing of the ten GC principles in practice,

and the business case for being responsible.

Peer learning from local companies allows

companies to see the concepts of corporate re-

sponsibility applied by members of the local

network and the role these companies play in

influencing society.

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olitical and public issues are increasingly

seen by the business community as rele-

vant to their commercial future. GCLNs

in the regional project have been pro-

moting policy dialogue related to the business-so-

ciety agenda.

Public-private dialogue and partnerships are

new concepts: time is required to establish new

relationships and a culture of collaboration,

openness and dialogue between government,

business and other stakeholders. In this regard,

the project addresses an array of challenges, in-cluding:

> political instability;

> the economic crisis;

> the lack of understanding among the gov-

ernmental institutions and officials about the

meaning and value of CSR for the econom-

ic and social development of the country;

> the lack of government support for CSR and

of political will to develop the national CSR

agenda;

> resistance from companies in becoming too

involved in partnerships with the government;

> risks of government taking over the CSR

agenda and using it to impose pressure on

companies through regulations that can suf-

focate rather than stimulate business activ-

ities and initiative.

In order to address the above challenges, the

project focused on examining ways to bring

government and business together, with the

aim of building GC members confidence in ad-

dressing issues of common interest on the

public agenda, establishing dialogue and de-

veloping good working relationships with var-ious governmental bodies. In Armenia, Belarus

and Ukraine, memorandums of understanding

(MOUs) with, or appointment of certain min-

istries as contact points between the national

governments and the national GC networks

have opened opportunities for further en-

gagement with the government and other

ministries aiming at promoting CSR and devel-

oping governmental CSR policies and the CSR

agenda. While each country has a different cul-

ture and political economy, the engagement

approaches taken in these good practices on

policy dialogue have been effective in increas-

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> POLICY DIALOGUE

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20/35

ing dialogue and cooperation among busi-

ness, government and interested stakeholders.

With the appropriate adaptation, they can pro-

vide guidance on increasing policy and prac-

tice dialogue on CSR and inclusive

entrepreneurship.


Armenia Facilitating identifcation

o priority issues among the gov-

ernment (Ministry o Trade and Eco-

nomic Development) and the busi-

ness community

The Armenian Government was faced with the

challenge of designing and developing the

right policies, laws and institutional framework

to attract private investments for improving the

socio-economic situation in the country. Build-

ing Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) is one ofits priorities and is of great interest to Armen-

ian companies. The GCLN identified and used

the need for development of PPP legislation as

an opportunity to establish a working relation-

ship with the Ministry of Trade and Economic

Development.

Based on request from, and in close collabora-

tion with the Ministry of Trade and Economic

Development, the GC project in Armenia initi-

ated a baseline study on PPPs in Armenia and

developed a Concept Paper for PPP in the

country, which was submitted to the Ministry

of Trade and Economic Development. The Gov-

ernment of Armenia approved the Concept

Note for PPP for Armenia, based on the projects

Concept Paper. Following collaboration with

the Ministry of Trade and Economic Develop-

ment, the GC project hired a consultant to con-

duct an analysis of the current Armenian

legislation applicable to PPP and develop a

draft law on PPP in the country. This draft law

has been submitted to the Ministry of Trade

and Economic Development, and it is expected

that it will be finalized and adopted for imple-

mentation by the end 2010.The successful col-

laboration with the Ministry of Trade and

Economic Development in the area of PPP leg-

islation further resulted in the Ministrys ap-

pointment as a focal point between the GCLN

and the Armenian Government. This ultimately

opened opportunities for further engagement

with the Government and other ministries aim-

ing at promoting CSR and the development of

governmental CSR policies and the CSRagenda. The applied approach is a valuable

good practice showing how a GC network,

through addressing an issue of common inter-

est for business and government, can accumu-

late learning, build confidence, and become

capable of productive and effective public pol-

icy dialogue based on an established, good

working relationship with the government.

Georgia Linking policy research

and multi-stakeholder dialogue or

inuencing supportive policies or

economic development

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One of the specific problems in GCLN Georgia

was a complete lack of business engagement

and dialogue with the government. The Net-

works Secretariat focused on the identification

and analysis of issues of importance for busi-

ness and their stakeholders, and the presenta-

tion of recommendations to the Government

for addressing them, as a platform for develop-

ing engagement of business and other entities

with the government.

The GC project in Georgia commissioned a se-

ries of five opinion papers from experts and

opinion makers in the country on the private

sector and development. The papers covered

key issues identified during the project teams

meetings with companies, representatives of

business organizations and other stakeholders

as being crucial for the countrys development.

Each of these papers was circulated and then

presented at a policy dialogue event. The five

topics selected for the opinion papers were asfollows:

> Promoting the Development of the SME Sec-

tor (Value Chain Development).

>The Importance of Standards and their Pro-

motion for the Participation of Georgian Busi-

nesses in the International Market

> Improving Human Resource Competitive-

ness of Georgia

> What are Georgias Chances in the New

Green Economy?

> Green Fields: the Reality and Promise of Geor-

gian Agriculture.

The development of policy papers is a good

practice that has played a critically important

role in Georgia as a preparatory step toward the

development of GCLNs strategic approach in

organizing and maintaining policy dialogue. In

addition to identifying important issues and

bringing together different stakeholders to dis-

cuss and present their positions and expecta-

tions, work on the papers was organized in

such a way that resulted in establishment of a

new model for constructive multi-stakeholder

dialogue. The papers enabled a working

process involving business, government and

other concerned stakeholders that allowed

sensitive issues to be raised and analysed in a

neutral, factual and non-accusatory way, and

recommended possible solutions to the prob-

lems. The great value of such a practice is that

it further led to the establishment of appropri-

ate structures and processes for policy dialogue

and engagement with the government on is-

sues of key importance for the business com-munity and its stakeholders. For example, the

dialogue on SMEs resulted in the creation of a

multi-stakeholder advocacy working group to

serve as an advisory body to the government

and an advocate for SME issues in the country.

The group currently consists of 11 organiza-

tions UNDP, AmCham, United States Agency

for International Development (USAID), Soli-

darity, the Business and Economic Centre in the

Parliament of Georgia, the Center for Innova-

tion and Enterprise Development, the Euro-

pean UnionGeorgia Business Council, German

Technical Cooperation (GTZ), the European

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Bank for Reconstruction and Development

(EBRD), Bank of Georgia, TBC Bank, and several

SME experts.

Ukraine Mainstreaming CSR intoNational Business Management Ed-

ucation

GCLN Ukraine has influenced the Ministry of

Education and Science (MES) with respect to

the importance of CSR and the need to edu-

cate future generations about its concept, and

the challenges and opportunities it addresses.

Establishing policy dialogue with MES on main-

streaming CSR courses into the academic cur-

riculum resulted in the establishment of a

Working Group (WG) designed to develop the

CSR syllabus for university students majoring in

economic disciplines. Within less than a year of

intensive work, the WG produced the draft of

the CSR syllabus for Bachelors degrees. It was

discussed publicly at the numerous round ta-bles with the participation of the representa-

tives of leading Ukrainian universities, MES, GC

members, NGOs, and the GC Secretariat, which

is charged with facilitating and coordinating

WG activities. MES posted the syllabus of the

first CSR course developed by the WG on its

website for public review and comments. Once

agreed, the syllabus was recommended to be-

come part of the curriculum of the Manage-

ment and Economics Faculties of Ukrainian

universities starting in the academic year of

2010/2011.

The establishment of a CSR syllabus for univer-

sity students and its nation-wide acceptance

will result in mainstreaming the CSR into the

national management education in Ukraine. It

will create a new generation of managers and

business leaders with holistic integrated ap-

proaches to business management and with

the ability to manage the environmental and

social performance of their companies. The ap-

proach applied by the GCLN Ukraine resulted

in strengthening the relationship with the MES

and MESs engagement in a productive policy

dialogue and working process. This is a good

practice that can be replicated with other gov-

ernmental institutions.

Ukraine Towards a National CSR

Agenda

One of the projects good practices is the ap-

proach developed by GCLN Ukraine for the de-

velopment of a National CSR Agenda. Since2006, GCLN Ukraine has established relation-

ships with various ministries and governmen-

tal structures through their engagement in GC

initiatives and Partnership Projects. For exam-

ples, the Ministry of Environment is strong sup-

porter and participant in the Go Green

campaign; The Ministry of Education is involved

in the development of a national programme

for the integration of CSR courses into the uni-

versity curriculum in Ukraine; and the Ministry

of Health is involved in the Telemedicine Part-

nership Project. The GCLNs close working rela-

tionships and engagement with these key

20



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ministries and governmental structures have

become a platform for establishing a working

process and building momentum for develop-

ing the CSR National Agenda in Ukraine.

As a result of the GC collaboration with the Verk-

hovna Rada (The Ukrainian National Parliament)

Committee on Industrial and Regulatory Policy

and Entrepreneurship, the issue of the CSR

agenda development was raised at the Parlia-

mentary public hearings, Developing Corpo-

rate Social Responsibility: Ukrainian Perspective

in November 2009. Participants of the hearing

Members of Parliament, representatives of the

Government and the diplomatic community,

Ukrainian and international companies as well

as NGOs and media came to the conclusion

that, through the mechanisms of CSR, busi-

nesses have enormous potential for contribut-

ing towards the achievement of the national

development goals, such as poverty reduction,

employment creation, energy efficiency and en-vironmental protection, enhancement of the

national competitiveness, and corruption erad-

ication, etc. Following on the recommendations

from the hearing, the Parliamentary Committee

established a Multi-stakeholder Advisory Coun-

cil (MAC) to develop a National CSR Agenda and

a specific Action Plan to create a CSR enabling

environment in Ukraine.

In the good practice describe above, key suc-

cess factors of the process towards National

CSR Agenda set up by the GCLN Ukraine are

the establishment of a multi-stakeholder MAC

and the inclusion of multistakeholder input

which allows dialogue between business and

government on the National CSR Agenda to

expand among other social actors throughout

the country and to become accepted practice.

Only through active, open and accountable so-

cial dialogue involving all social actors can the

CSR agenda evolve in such a way to ensure

that emerging issues are properly addressed

by government, business and concerned

stakeholders.

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he purpose of awareness raising and ad-

vocacy in this context is to inform on CSR

and the GlobalCompact among compa-

nies and non-business actors in a country.

The successful implementation of CSR by com-

panies depends not only on their own level of

understanding, commitment and preparedness

for practical application of the CSR in their daily

business, but also of their ability to collaborate

and engage constructively with its stakeholders

as part of its CSR initiatives for their own benefit

and for the benefit of society. One of the mainchallenges identified by the project to the adop-

tion of CSR in all five countries is the very low ini-

tial level of CSR awareness and knowledge

among all the stakeholders and social actors. Ini-

tial observation in first phase of the project

showed that companies and their stakeholders,

especially governments, civil society organiza-

tions (CSOs), and the media, were not able to dis-

cuss and act jointly in a constructive way on

issues concerning the role of business in society

due to a low level of understanding. CSR aware-

ness raising and advocacy across all stakeholder

groups and regions in the countries involved in

the project became a priority and necessary ele-

ment of the project agenda. As presented below

in the good practices, awareness raising and ad-

vocacy are critical factors in contributing to grow-

ing awareness in society of the importance of

CSR and for addressing the need of business to

be transparent and actively engaged with stake-

holders in addressing social and environmental

problems and issues.

Cross country good practice:

Engagement with the media on cor-porate social responsibility (CSR)

With a view to raise awareness on GC/CSR

among all sectors and the public, the project has

prioritized engagement with the media in all five

countries. Accordingly, across all project coun-

tries, the media is expected both to implement

CSR and to provide a platform for dialogue and

learning on CSR among the stakeholders. The

project focused on the critical role of the media,

i.e. of facilitating the establishment of public ac-

countability rules and procedures on CSR. Fol-

lowing on the general project recommendations

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> AWARENESS RAISING

AND ADVOCACY

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for work with the media, the GCLN in each coun-

try has developed its approach to engagement

with the media on the basis of continuous infor-

mation exchange with, and replication of good

practices from the other GCLNs involved in the

project. Some of the approaches that have

evolved in different project countries as good

practices for engagement with the media are

highlighted below.

> In Belarus, engagement with the media through

a meticulously coordinated and executed me-

dia campaign is required in the implementation

of the plan of every GCLN initiative and part-

nership project. The network maintains a close

relationship with a number of key media con-

tacts, which are systematically kept fully in-

formed about the projects and activities im-

plemented by the network and its members.

> GCLN Armenia has developed a series of six

TV programmes aimed at educating the gen-eral public on CSR and GC. They have been

broadcast through various national TV stations

across Armenia, reaching out to an audience

of over a million people.

> GCLN Ukraine introduced a National Contest for

journalists on the good analytical material on

CSR in Ukraine. Its main purpose is to improve

CSR coverage in the Ukrainian media and to raise

awareness of corporate citizenship.The Ukrain-

ian GC network has also set an example by or-

ganizing, in partnership with Expertmagazine

and MTS Company, the first International Me-

dia Forum on Corporate Social Responsibility,

attended by journalists from all five project coun-

tries. More than one hundred media repre-

sentatives from all around the world, together

with experts from the private sector, came to-

gether to discuss how the media can reinforce

CSR development. The main objective of the Fo-

rum was to launch a debate on the two dis-

tinctive roles of media as a promoter, watch-

dog and educator on CSR-related issues, on the

one hand, and as a business with its own social

and environmental responsibilities.

CSR National Conerences

Another awareness-raising practice imple-

mented across all five countries participating in

the project is the tradition of organizing annual

CSR conferences. The annual conferences stimu-

late collaboration among the GCLN members

and between the GCLN and other organizations

involved in CSR in each country:

> In Ukraine, the GCLN in the capacity of ana-

lytical partner has traditionally supported the

CSR annual conference, which is organized by

the leading business magazine Expert.

> In Moldova, collaboration between AmCham

and GCLN on the development and imple-

mentation of the CSR conference has been of

great mutual benefit.

In all five countries, the Annual CSR Conference

has become a major factor contributing to CSR

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awareness raising and GCLN outreach. It has

been particularly effective in regard to the SME

community for maintaining the level of engage-

ment and dialogue among all stakeholder

groups and for building momentum around the

CSR and the GCLN agenda.

The CSR conferences also play an important role

in bringing international and regional experience

to the local actors. They allow companies and

other GC members to present their activities and

plans with respect to CSR. Also, by giving recog-

nition to the local champions and providing a

platform for exchange of good practices,they en-

ergize the network, raise awareness, put critical

questions on the table and maintain the debate

on CSR. These conferences contribute to main-

taining the ongoing discussions on how global

responsibility trends can be applied to specific

countries, what role different stakeholders can

play to strengthen CSR adoption and widespread

implementation, and consequently, what valueGCLN can bring to companies and society.

Country good practice:

Moldova Fostering CSR awareness

within small- and medium-sized en-

terprises (SMEs)

One of the priorities of the GC network Moldova is

reaching out and engaging with SMEs. The ap-

proach successfully combines multi-stakeholder di-

alogue on the SME challenges in adopting CSR,

awareness raising on the benefits from CSR for im-

proving the competitiveness of SMEs, and practi-

cal demonstration of CSR implementation by SMEs.

The GCLN strategy for SME engagement includes

a sequence of activities, beginning in 2009, with an

SME roundtable attended by 80 representatives of

GCNM, SMEs and the public administration. The

event was organized within the 2009 National SME

Forum whose main objective isnationaleconomic

sustainability based on the development of per-

formance capacities of the SME sector. The main

goal of the round table was to promote social re-

sponsible practices and to demonstrate how SMEs

can apply these practices by involving staff and

company management involvement, whichallows

the company to increase their long-term compet-

itiveness on the market. Following the roundtable,

GC Network Moldova held a contest The good en-

trepreneur of the SME sector. The topic of how

SMEs apply CSR also has a central place on the

agenda of the Annual CSR conference in Moldova.

The GCLN is in the process of organizing regional

training workshops for SMEs in the northern andsouthern regions of the country on general induc-

tion to CSR and multi-stakeholders partnerships.

The regional SME training sessions will culminate

in a CSR contest award and a CSR training session

during the 2010 National SME Forum.

The framework of activities presented above,

supported by the commitment of the GCLNs Co-

ordinating Board of Directors to expand engage-

ment with SMEs and to bring more SMEs into the

GC network, presents a good practice for ad-

dressing SME issues in Moldova that could be

replicated in other countries.

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ne of the highly valued benefits offered

through the GCLNs is the opportunity

for GC members to meet regularly, for

networks to get to know each other and

other external parties to the network, and ex-

change valuable information for their respective

organizations.


Global Compact Annual Meeting

The practice of organizing annual network

meetings for GCLN members is firmly estab-

lished within all five GCLNs. Also, it is one of the

projects good practices that contributes to the

exchange of information, networking and

strengthening the collaboration among the net-

work membership. These meetings are impor-

tant GC forums where members share good

practices and leadership examples, while the

new GCmembers receive their membership cer-

tificates, are given recognition for their commit-

ments, and have the opportunity to engage in

the networks initiatives for the first time. Among

the membership meetings, the Annual Network

Meeting of the GCLN has evolved as the highest

decision-making platform in the GCLNs gover-

nance process. Through their participation in the

Annual Network Meetings/General Assembly, all

network members are responsible for giving final

approval of the networks workplan, making

strategic decisions related to the networks gov-

ernance and activities, and electing its gover-

nance body, the Steering Committee/Board of

Directors. The Annual Meeting is also the place

where the network members present and dis-

cuss the companies good practices in CSR. TheAnnual Meetings institute the GCLNs and con-

tribute towards building a sense of ownership

among the member companies.

Country good practice:

Ukraine Sharing Experiences to

Foster GC Good Practice and Devel-

op the GCLN

One of the best practices of the project is that

the fastest developing and advanced networks

25

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> NETWORKING AND

INFORMATION EXCHANGE

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act as host of study tours and conveners of net-

working meetings, bringing together all net-

works participating in the project for sharing

information and lessons learned.

GCLN Ukraine has evolved as a host of intra-re-

gional events involving other participants in the

regional project. For example, one such intra-

regional meeting marked the 3rd anniversary of

the GC launch in the region and served as a

local knowledge-sharing platform where rep-

resentatives of the Belarusian, Moldovan and

Ukrainian GCLNs shared their experience,

achievements, challenges and good national

partnership projects. A representative of the

GCLN Ukraine Secretariat was invited to pres-

ent the Ukrainian experience at the annual

meeting of the GC network in Belarus. In 2007,

GCLN Ukraine hosted a study tour of a Kaza-

khstan delegation of journalists, winners of a

national contest on the good article on a CSR

topic, accompanied by Kazakhstan businessesand civil society organizations. In 2006, a dele-

gation including two representatives from the

National Bank of Serbia and a representative

from the UNDP Serbia visited Ukraine to obtain

first hand information and experience on net-

work development as a part of a preparatory

mission before the official Global Compact

launch in Serbia.

26

N E T W O R K I N G A N D I N F O R M A T I O N E X C H A N G E


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obilizing collective action within the

network on different priority issues is an

important factor for building a sustain-

able network. Through collective action,

each of the GC networks can effectively engage

and interact with other social actors to promote

the creation of an enabling environment for cor-

porate citizenship and to raise awareness among

other stakeholders.


Building a Coalition or CSR promo-

tion

The close collaboration initiated by GC Network

Armenia with AmCham, the Eurasia Foundation

and the British Council is an important driver for

raising awareness, and maintaining dialogue

and engagement on CSR among the business

community in Armenia and with external actors

interested in or already investing in Armenia.

This good practice, which represents a model

of coalition-building that brings together all im-

portant local actors, has been successfully repli-

cated in Georgia with the creation of a CSR Co-

ordination Group of 12 organizations, including

leading business and employers associations,

bilateral donors and NGOs. For the first time in

Georgia, a group of different organizations has

agreed to publicly sign a letter of agreement to

show that all organizations involved in CSR are

coming together with a commonly agreed

agenda for action on CSR. The coalition has

evolved as one of the GC projects most valu-

able contributions to the development of a na-

tional CSR agenda.

In Moldova, collaboration between AmCham

and GC on development and implementation

of the annual CSR conference has been of great

mutual benefit. During the last three years, the

two organizations have worked jointly on de-

veloping CSR conference agendas, organizing

conference sessions, marketing the conference,

and attracting speakers and participants. De-

spite the challenges in coalition building, it has

proven a good practice in bringing together di-

verse stakeholders for CSR promotion.

27

C O L L E C T I V E A C T I O N A N D C O L L A B O R A T I O N W I T H O T H E R A C T O R S

> COLLECTIVE ACTION AND COLLA-

BORATION WITH OTHER ACTORS

M


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Belarus: The Socially Responsible

Business or the Sustainable Devel-

opment o Small Towns campaign:Promoting innovation, collabora-

tion and partnerships or practical so-

lutions

In 2008, GCLN Belarus successfully prepared

and launched a country-wide campaign, So-

cially Responsible Business for the Sustainable

Development of Small Towns. The campaign is

among the best practices of the project

which provides a model for unlocking the un-

limited creativity and initiative of the corporate

sector toward addressing specific CSR-related

issues of significant importance for all stake-

holders nationwide. It also builds a practical na-

tion-wide platform for well-coordinated

activities based on wide multi-stakeholder col-

laboration with the active involvement of all GC

business members.

The idea for the campaign originated as a result

of brainstorming among the network mem-

bers. Its main objective is to involve businesses

in resolving the development challenges in

small towns by attracting investment, creating

new jobs and stimulating local entrepreneur-ship. Approved and supported by the Ministry

of Economy, it enhances dialogue between

government/local authorities and businesses

on the implementation of small-town devel-

opment programmes. The campaign is consid-

ered to have high potential to stimulate the

countrys development.

Today, the campaign is a compilation of many

different streams of activities that are woven

into one joint effort. The activities have lives of

their own and naturally grow and expand

driven by the ideas and enthusiasm of the GC

members and the growing number local par-

ticipants from the small towns. For example,

help lines for entrepreneurs to provide coun-

selling in CSR and practical issues concerning

development and implementation of public

service projects have been organized. In addi-

tion, the business incubator MAPZAO held

three workshops on the basics of entrepre-

neurship and established the Foundation

Minsk Region, 21st Century to facilitate dia-

logue between local authorities, communities

and business on the implemention of local sus-

tainable development programmes and for

building multi-stakeholder partnership proj-ects. The campaign has produced and dissem-

inated a wide variety of awareness-raising CSR

publications, and articles about the campaign

have been published in mass media.

One of the important innovative aspects of the

campaign is that it actually serves as a platform

for developing a new model for partnership proj-

ects, involving all members of the network

around a cluster of individual projects thatare in-

terlinked, while each project had its specific

place within the overall development agenda of

the campaign. A number of partnership projects

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of GC members that have both high develop-

ment results and long-term business return have

been developed in the framework of this cam-

paign. For example, in June 2009, a summer caf

was opened in a small town as a result of the

partnership project Business solves small

town problems. One of them is the Telemedi-

cine Development Project, which is provided to

the population in the remote regions of the

country using cellular communication tech-

nologies. Medical cardiological data of the pa-

tients can be transferred via wireless mobile

communication from any point in Belarus to a

specialized doctor in order to carry out a precise

diagnostic. This project makes it possible to pre-

vent critical situations in cardiology through op-

erative counselling by specialists using TeleECG;

it also helps re-train,and decrease the isolation of

medical workers in small, populated areas. An-

other partnerships is the Telemedicine Develop-

ment Project, which started in 2008 and is now

being developed in many regions of Belarus.

Ukraine: The Go Green campaign:

Establishing innovative, interrelated

initiatives

The Go Green campaign launched by GCLN

Ukraine presents another good practice for col-

lective action and collaboration, combining

multi-level strategic planning and implementa-

tion of multiple clusters of interrelated initiatives.

This is the first initiative in the region that ad-

dresses the issue of climate change in great

scope and depth. The campaign acts as the

GCLN major national initiave for all stakeholders,

but also presents a highly innovative collective

action approach focused on making an impact

on two levels: the policy level establishing pol-

icy dialogue with ministries and government on

the topics of green tariffs, renewable energy and

the Kyoto Protocol; and the implementation

level engaging organizations, promoting en-

vironmental public awareness and stimulating

corporate and individual behaviour change

with respect to the environment.

On 3 July 2008, the campaign was launched by

the official signing of the Go Green Declaration

by business and civil society leaders. Since its

launch, the campaign has implemented a

number of joint actions and initiatives, includ-

ing, inter alia: a national photo contest Caring

for Our Planet: Addressing Climate Change

(June 2008); Global Compact corporate clean-

up weekends at Trukhaniv island in Kyiv (July,

2008; October, 2008; April, 2009; September2009; April 2010); various partnership projects,

including three waves of the social advertising

campaign on environmental challenges (2008

2010); and Green Office training for GC mem-

bers (February 2009). The Go Green campaign

was established as an ongoing initiative as it

continues to expand within Ukraine. Among

the highlights of the campaign are two major

events superbly executed by the GC Secretariat

and the GC network, namely:

> The National Survey on Climate Change

Perceptions (December 2008January

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2009) This is the first survey on climate

change perceptions, providing a compre-

hensive picture of climate change awareness

within Ukraine. Survey results were pre-

sented and discussed during the first Ukrain-

ian Business Summit on Climate Change.

> The Ukrainian Business Summit on Cli-

mate Change The United Nations Office

and Global Compact Network in Ukraine,

with the support of the Ministry of Envi-

ronment, conducted the First and Second

Ukrainian Business Summit on Climate Change

in 2009 and 2010. GCLN Ukraine is the first

network acting as convener of a continuing

national debate on the issues of climate

change. They not only succeeded to organize

the first national business summit on climate

change in the region, but further established

it as a traditional annual forum. The climate

change summits contribute toraising aware-

ness on climate change among the gov-ernment, business, the expert community

and NGOs, and also provide a platform for

discussions on the role of business in climate

change mitigation, new innovative business

models for environmental protection, state

facilitation of ecological responsibility of

business, the necessity of PPPs and the im-

portance of eco-friendly technologies and

energy efficiency. The second Summit fo-

cused on, inter alia, the new diverse global

challenges linked to climate change and the

necessary strategies businesses needed to

face them.

These and many other innovative initiatives

within the framework of the Go Green cam-

paign represent important good practices from

the GC project in Ukraine for replication across

the region. The idea of the campaign is already

being replicated in Moldova. Green collective

actions are also implemented by the members

of GCLN Belarus, and are gaining popularity in

Armenia and Georgia.

The Go Green campaign illustrates another

good practice created by the GCLN Ukraine

Secretariat a comprehensive approach for the

development and implementation of network

activities. The network activities are grouped in

thematic streams presenting specific GC prin-

ciples or priority CSR topics, such as environ-

mental stream, under which the Go Green

campaign was developed. Each stream in-

cludes a spectrum of activities and methods of

engagement, from awareness raising, research

and training, to events, campaigns, and in manycases, policy dialogue and partnership projects.

Each stream is also supported by operational

structures within the networks governance

and organizational system: the work is imple-

mented under the leadership of the respectful

working group responsible for planning, deliv-

ery towards targets, and reporting to the net-

work; all WGs are coordinated and supported

by the Secretariat. This thematic stream-based

approach for the development of network ac-

tivities has been replicated by GCLN Serbia.

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hile the context in each of the project

countries may differ, the good prac-

tices presented all offer approaches

that have been successful in expand-

ing and enhancing participation, awareness

and practice of corporate social responsibility

within and among GC Networks. The good

practices have proven useful and successful in

the countries with respect to the the following

categories:

1. Outreach

2. Learning3. Policy dialogue

4. Awareness raising and advocacy

5. Networking and information exchange

6. Collective action and collaboration with

other actors.

These good practices provide a range of

proven approaches and activities that may

help a country or region to increase knowl-

edge, and influence policy and practice in CSR

within the framework of the GC networks,

without limiting other innovative approaches

or measures for fostering inclusive, practical

CSR that meets the needs and demands of

businesses, governments and associated

stakeholders. Each of these good practices

may be adapted to the unique situation of a

specific country or regions as a means to in-

crease regional, national and local participation

of business, government and other stakehold-

ers interested in increasing business competi-

tiveness through CSR practices.

31

C O N C L U S I O N

> CONCLUSION

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32

Box 1. The Ten Principles o the United Nations Global Compact

Launched in July 2000, the UN Global Compact is a both a policy platform and a practical frame-

work for companies that are committed to sustainability and responsible business practices.

Through a wide spectrum of specialized workstreams, management tools, resources, and top-

ical programs, the UN Global Compact aims to advance two complementary objectives:

> Mainstream the ten principles in business activities around the world

> Catalyze actions in support of broader UN goals, including the Millennium Development

Goals (MDGs)

As a leadership initiative endorsed by chief executives, it seeks to align business operations

and strategies everywhere with ten universally accepted principles in the areas of human

rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption.

Human rights

Principle 1 - Businesses should support and respect the protection of internationally pro-

claimed human rights; and

Principle 2 - make sure that they are not complicit in human rights abuses.

LabourPrinciple 3 - Businesses should uphold the freedom of association and the effective recogni-

tion of the right to collective bargaining;

Principle 4 - the elimination of all forms of forced and compulsory labour;

Principle 5 - the effective abolition of child labour; and

Principle 6 - the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation.

Environment

Principle 7 - Businesses are asked to support a precautionary approach to environmental

challenges;

Principle 8 - undertake initiatives to promote greater environmental responsibility; and

Principle 9 - encourage the development and diffusion of environmentally friendly tech-

nologies.

Anti-corruption

Principle 10 - Businesses should work against corruption in all its forms, including extortion

and bribery.

www.unglobalcompact.org/


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United Nations Development Programme

Europe and the CIS

Bratislava Regional Centre

Grsslingova 35

81109 Bratislava

Slovak Republic

Tel.: (421 2) 59337-111

Fax: (421 2) 59337-450

Documents

Good Practices : UN Global Compact Project in Western CIS and Caucasus