Transcript Document

An Idea In Progress – Considering how UNICEF’s
engagements with the corporate sector can reinforce and
support positive norms for children and families
© UNICEF/NYHQ2010-1016/OLIVIER ASSELIN
13 July 2012
Attendance and Original Case Study Comments
Interest on two-fold
 Increase understanding in
order to better communicate
concepts to private sector
partners (corporate/foundation
communities)
 Gain insights to share on
proposed “Champion
Companies” concept under
development and discussion
regarding the Child’s Rights
and Business Principles recent
release.
UNICEF and Corporate Engagement
Corporate Engagement
UNICEF's strategic (non-commercial) interactions with the business sector that make an
identifiable and lasting contribution towards improving the lives of children and protecting
their rights. Such interactions will:
• promote positive changes in business practices,
• support programmes for children,
• encourage innovations,
• collaborate on the development of new initiatives,
• build institutional capacity and
• mobilize resources.
Resource Mobilization
Partnerships
Programme Collaboration
and Innovation
Child’s Rights Agenda
with CSR
Children’s Rights and Business Principles
Range of actions a business should take
to respect children’s rights
Measures business is encouraged to take
to help support and advance child rights
Integration is key through policy
commitment, remediation, due diligence
Based on four basic principles of
children’s rights: survival and
development; concern for their best
interests; participation and freedom of
expression; and equal treatment
regardless of race, gender, disability or
other status.
Created in consultation wit business
experts, child rights experts, civil society,
governments and children.
Released by the UN Global Compact,
Save the Children and UNICEF
IDEA: A Proposed Group of “Champion” Companies
Children under 18 almost 1/3 of world’s
population, some countries almost half
Inevitable business interacts and will
have an effect on lives of children
directly and indirectly.
Children are stakeholders: consumers,
family members of employees, future
employees, young workers, future
business leaders
To date, focus on child labour, but
more: children can be invisible in
supply chain, around premises,
employed as domestic workers for
employees, exposed to products,
migrant workers’ children left home,
etc.
Prevent harm and safeguard
Integrate respect and support into
strategies and core operations can
strengthen sustainability efforts and
create benefits for the business
For example, support employees as
parents, commitment to children can
help recruit staff, build reputation, secure
license to operate
How products meet children’s needs can
be a source of innovation and create
new markets, and help build strong,
well-educated communities = stable,
inclusive, sustainable business
environment
Pilot Workbook. Practical guidance
prevent/minimize harmful impacts and
methods to enhance + impacts in
workplace, marketplace and community
Is the Corporate “Community” a Community?
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Sample Characteristics
Publicly traded Companies
Recognized Rights and Responsibilities
Competitive Environment
Subject to various Legislative and Regulatory requisites
at country levels / also international standards
(legal/voluntary)
Significant sector of society in most country contexts
(business/public/civil society/informal)
Many MNCs envisage growth in developing markets
Role in achieving Millennium Development Goals
recognized
Vary in size/scope/organizational culture etc.
60,000 MNC and 800,000 subsidiaries alone
Interdependent or Independent?
Expectations and the Corporate Community
Although perhaps not a “community” for a social norm intervention as
outlined in class for as a community in and of itself it does not tend
to hold normative expectations, (companies do not tend to do what
other companies think they ought to do*)…
upon reflection it is a sector that could be characterised as affected
by collective empirical expectations (companies could be
considered as sensitive to what they see other companies are doing.)
The proposed “Champion” effort would be served well to keep this
distinction in mind…and focus on strengthening empirical
expectations through actions and activities.
Business and Society Question is a Larger One
In Practice….
Focus on Financial Performance long held…(RoI)
Additionally there are three main areas of concern that have
developed as the central factors in measuring the sustainability
and ethical impact of an investment in companies/businesses
referred to as ESG and are non-financial in nature:
Environmental, Social, and Governance
Posit: The Corporate Community watches each other
in these spaces as well to see what each other are
doing and are affected by what they see might have
given another company competitive advantage,
reputational gains, etc.
For Example… Benchmarking
Triple Bottom Line
Profits ** People ** Planet
Where are we against our Peers?
The ESG Space
Improving Accountability, Transparency and Performance
and
Mobilizing to engage the Corporate Sector in International
development and Community Efforts
 Governance – Recommendations on Governance,
remuneration and Disclosure (GRI working group), (non-money
incentives) Industry sessions on Ethics and Governance (FICCI)
 Environmental – approaches to measure environmental footprint
beyond legislative or regulatory requirements (new products –
less water when washing clothes, manufacturing plants
replacing water they use, planting trees, etc.
 SOCIAL - (where aspects of CRBP could be placed!)
Considerations…for “Champions”
 CREDIBILITY is necessary – a serious, deliberate effort
 VISBILITY is key….
 Question? Could a survey help verify being driven by empirical expectations?
 Question? Needs more analysis -- Any lessons around spontaneous and
organized diffusion relevant? Could “Champions” effort act as a catalyst?
Relevant Reference Group
Perhaps to create demand (and eventually normative expectation?) for CSR reporting
and a broad application of Children Rights and Business Principle concepts?
Quite large but to start some key constituencies in the
constellation of actors:
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Investors (GPI report)
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Shareholders (resolutions such as ICCR?)
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Employees (attracted to companies that “do good as do well”)
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Customers (impacts over price alone? Possible?)
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Stakeholders (NGO advocates for children)
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Policy Makers
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Business press/media/watchdogs (familiarized with CRBP)
and more….
Return to Larger Question of Business and Society
Legal / Moral and Social balance
© UNICEF/RWAA2011-00133/SHEHZAD NOORANI
Thank You
Questions and Comments
13
7/17/2015
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