7th World Conference on Sport and the Environment - International ...

Report
all worked together with the Government of Pakistan and the Sialkot Chamber of Commerce to develop
a programme to eliminate child labour. In this way the sporting goods industry, which has no expertise
or even mandate to deal with child labour, was able to enlist the cooperation of the international and
national agencies that do. The programme has not always worked as well as it should have and if
one were to do it over again it would benefit from greater degrees of external monitoring and more
transparency but the multistakeholder approach is undoubtedly the correct one.
One could equally cite examples relating to public health or the environment. In each case, business
or sporting organizations could be adversely affected by health or environmental issues and they need
to be helping to deal with those issues in order to ensure their own long term prosperity. It is therefore
essential that any business or sporting activity acknowledge the social context and its implications for
them. This is key to the concept of sustainable enterprise, even if only to manage risk. It can however,
(and I would argue should) go further than risk management. Business or sporting initiatives mobilize
significant resources and have the potential to deliver social goods that otherwise may not be delivered. I
have already referred to the provision of infrastructure by the extractive industries but one could also find
examples in other sectors. Human resource development is another area in which business often steps
in to improve on the education and training of workers provided by public bodies. In an immediate sense
this may be necessary simply to ensure the competitiveness of the enterprise, but in a broader sense it is
a contribution to the human capital base of the society as a whole.
The International Labor Organization (ILO), the oldest and most representative agency in the UN
system, recognized this fact when they noted that poverty anywhere threatens prosperity everywhere.
Government and the social partners (business and labour organizations) all share in the responsibility to
deliver social goods because any breakdown in their delivery will threaten all social groups, not only those
deprived of the service. The Chinese government has recognized this potential contribution and appealed
to all enterprises and organizations to contribute to building a harmonious society. In essence, this means
helping to fill-in the gaps in social development. Strictly speaking, it is the job of public agencies to do
that, but since other organizations would also be affected by those gaps it is in their interest as well to
ensure that they get filled and they often generate resources that could contribute to that process.
I would argue that business or sporting activities should make a contribution to social development, both
in their own short or longer term interests but also because it is the right thing to do. Any activity that
takes broader social needs and concerns into account will benefit from a more constructive relationship
with its potential consumers and stakeholders. Identifying, understanding and responding to those
needs will help the company align its activities and products with society and ensure more sustainable
operations. Helping to protect and strengthen the development of society ensures the future operating
environment of the company and its stakeholders and sets up a virtuous circle where each one gains
from the development of the other.
This raises however, the issue of sustainability. Public agencies are responsible for delivering social
goods and that is their core business. They should perform that role consistently and without favour.
Businesses who decide to deliver public goods however, may not have the same commitment do so in
the long term without any bias in favour of one group or another. A business (or a sports organization,
for that matter) may decide at a certain point that their priorities have changed or that they need to
devote those resources to other activities and may cease to deliver a certain public good. An oil or
mining company that provides education and health services at one of their sites may eventually move
when their extractive activity is no longer profitable and they are unlikely to continue to support the
public services they previously provided. For this reason it is essential that any delivery of public goods
that business or sport organizations decide to engage in be selected and managed in conjunction with
other social actors. This will help to ensure that the choice of the goods and their delivery mechanisms
is appropriate and also that there are partners who can continue to ensure delivery even if the business
or sports organization withdraws at some point. The other partners will of course require preparation in
order to be able to continue without their business or sports partners. That implies capacity building and
resource allocation to ensure that they are ready, willing and able to sustain the activities even once the
principal partners withdraw.
There are additional reasons why business or sports organizations should work with other groups when
delivering social goods. Firstly, the social goods in question may not be in the core competencies of
the business or sports organization and so they will need to enlist the help of specialists from other
organizations. Secondly, the business or sports group may not be seen as a legitimate party in that field
and they can overcome that lack of legitimacy by selecting partners who are.
<strong>7th</strong> <strong>World</strong> <strong>Conference</strong> on Sport and the Environment
International Cooperation and Development Dept.
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