January 12, 2005 - Washington, DC On November 30, 2004 and December 14, 2004 GDLN held a series of Global Dialogues on "How can Corporate Social Responsibility promote a framework of issues for the young such as economic development, unemployment and environment?" The dialogues brought together young entrepreneurs, business students, representatives of civil society groups and government officials working on youth issues from Nicaragua, Ecuador, Colombia, Argentina, Peru, Chile, Bolivia, El Salvador. They were able to share their experiences and ideas among themselves and benefit from the expertise of CSR experts, including representatives from the Organization of American States, the World Bank Institute and the Inter American Development Bank, in Washington, DC. The dialogues were held in conjunction with a multimedia course on Corporate Social Responsibility and Responsible Competitiveness offered by the World Bank Institute.

The first Dialogue gave the opportunity to the different participating countries to present their experiences around CSR, answering the four main questions around which the Dialogue was held:

1. What relevance does the CSR have in national and regional economic development?
2. How can the CSR provide a framework to address issues of great importance for the young, such as unemployment and the environment?
3. What can you do to develop specific projects that promote the application of CSR policies in your country or community?
4. How do health and safety at work represent an effective mechanism to promote CSR and improve local development?

The participants identified a variety of challenges facing CSR practitioners across the region, including the common need to collect together what are currently isolated experiences and promote a set of best practices that can be accepted and implemented throughout Latin America, building a true CSR community for the Americas. They also identified the need to better document, understand and communicate to companies the mechanisms by which CSR can lead to higher profits. In one example, based on statistics of the International Labor Organization, bad practices among companies with respect to health and safety at work lead to great economic losses, amounting up to 10% of the regional GNP. Participants also highlighted the key role that young entrepreneurs can play as catalysts to extend CSR practices among companies, as well as noting the need for government to provide better incentives for companies that establish CSR practices.

The second Dialogue took place after the participants had taken the first two weeks of the multi-media course on CSR. It strengthened some of the issues identified in the first session. Dante Pesce, a CRS expert from Vincular-CSR research group in Chile, emphasized the importance of approaching CSR with different strategies that take into account the heterogeneity of the region, as well as the need of viewing CSR policies implemented by the private sector as complementary to the roles of government, and not as replacements.

From Washington, experts urged countries to use CSR as a way to position the Latin America region against the competition of China. In that respect, the WBI is leading efforts to improve the links between CSR and competitive strategies at the firm and national level. Looking at the national level, participants again emphasized the crucial role of government in promoting fiscal incentives to companies that establish CSR policies and to incorporate CSR into their respective policy frameworks. El Salvador, which already has incorporated CSR in its national agenda with positive results, stressed the need to present CSR as an investment that can yield positive results for companies.

The dialogues provided an invaluable opportunity for participants from different countries to present some of the CSR initiatives they have been working on. Colombia talked about the "achiras", products made in an artisan way that are being commercialized using cooperative partnerships. In Ecuador, Futuro, a non for profit organization, presented the initiative it has led on Health for Indigenous Communities. They offer training workshops to educate facilitators, who then manage community health funds, creating ownership and empowerment for the ones involved. Also in Ecuador, the Fundacion YPF has been managing around 128 projects supporting and educating young people excluded from the community -street children. In Nicaragua, the Teran Foundation has developed an alliance with young entrepreneurs to promote CSR policies in their companies. Chile presented an initiative encompassing around 60,000 companies that pay a monthly fee to promote work safety, educating young people and others to prevent risks at the work place. Also from Chile, we learned of an initiative on good agricultural practices through which around 2,000 certified companies have committed themselves to high environmental, food safety and labor standards. The Inter American Development Bank, through a multilateral investment fund created for CSR practices, has been promoting projects to foster CSR in various countries of Latin American.

Participants agreed on the importance to raise awareness on CSR as a way to strengthen corporate practices. In that respect, the World Bank Group can play a facilitative role, encouraging knowledge sharing and information, helping develop curriculum in several schooling systems of the region and working with companies to help them establish CSR practices. WBI's CSR program is taking a lead in building capacity for CSR initiatives both at the local and regional level, and has already received several requests from organizations that participated to support their CSR efforts in individual countries. At the same time, Fernando Montes, from the Young Americas Business Trust (YABT), emphasized the role YABT must and will continue to play to raise awareness of CRS topics among the next generation of business leaders. Both organizations will seek to build on the momentum and interest generated by the GDLN dialogues.

For more information on Corporate Social Responsibility activities coordinated by the World Bank Institute, please contact Michael Jarvis (mjarvis@worldbank.org). For more information of GDLN activities on young entrepreneurship, please contact Bari Rabin (brabin@worldbank.org).