good practices : un global compact project in western cis and caucasus
TRANSCRIPT
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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
2
>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.
5
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
6
M A J O R A C H I E V E M E N T S
> MAJOR ACHIEVEMENTS
T
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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.
8
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.
9
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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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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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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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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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.
Country good practices
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
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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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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.
Cross-country good practice
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
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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
> NETWORKING AND
INFORMATION EXCHANGE
O
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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.
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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.
Cross-country good practice
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.
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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
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Country good practices
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.
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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