Global Compact International Yearbook 2014
Fighting poverty and global warming are key challenges for mankind. „This year we are laying the groundwork for success in 2015 on three fronts: achieving the Millennium Development Goals, adopting a meaningful new climate agreement, and establishing a new vision for a sustainable future“, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says in the 2014 edition of the Global Compact International Yearbook. Edited by macondo publishing the new yearbook offers insights to political as well as sustainability issues. This years´ focus lies on the Post-2015 Agenda. We discuss the transition from Millennium Development Goals to Sustainable Development Goals. Question are among others: Are the concepts compatible? How does the architecture of a sustainable future look like? And above all: What role does corporate responsibility play in this context? The second key aspect in our Post-2105 discussion is about measuring the SDGs. In the past indicators have been developed and used in reporting progress toward the MDGs, and now the approach to upcoming SDGs must be systematically developed. This section also includes lessons from innovation management and "big data". Climate change is another focus of teh yearbook. It counts on very prominent authors like Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and Sigmar Gabriel, Vice-Chancellor of the German government and Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy. Other issues are : Traceability: How certification brings positive impacts and better traceability to business. Elaborated NGO inputs by Karin Kreider, the Executive Director of the ISEAL Alliance and one of the world’s leading experts on credible certification and eco-labeling, as well as Markus Arbenz, Executive Director of the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) and Caroline Hickson, Director of Brand, Communications and Strategic Partnerships at Fairtrade International. Mandatory CSR: When CSR discussions started in the late 1960s, early 1970s ethical and moral arguments were the drivers. Since then CSR activities have become more holistic and professional. This becomes a principle-based approach in which business seeks to identify smarter business models, products, and services. Elmer Lenzen illuminates the boder zone between voluntary and mandatory CSR.
Fighting poverty and global warming are key challenges for mankind. „This year we are laying the groundwork for success in 2015 on three fronts: achieving the Millennium Development Goals, adopting a meaningful new climate agreement, and establishing a new vision for a sustainable future“, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says in the 2014 edition of the Global Compact International Yearbook. Edited by macondo publishing the new yearbook offers insights to political as well as sustainability issues.
This years´ focus lies on the Post-2015 Agenda. We discuss the transition from Millennium Development Goals to Sustainable Development Goals. Question are among others: Are the concepts compatible? How does the architecture of a sustainable future look like? And above all: What role does corporate responsibility play in this context?
The second key aspect in our Post-2105 discussion is about measuring the SDGs. In the past indicators have been developed and used in reporting progress toward the MDGs, and now the approach to upcoming SDGs must be systematically developed. This section also includes lessons from innovation management and "big data".
Climate change is another focus of teh yearbook. It counts on very prominent authors like Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and Sigmar Gabriel, Vice-Chancellor of the German government and Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy.
Other issues are :
Traceability: How certification brings positive impacts and better traceability to business. Elaborated NGO inputs by Karin Kreider, the Executive Director of the ISEAL Alliance and one of the world’s leading experts on credible certification and eco-labeling, as well as Markus Arbenz, Executive Director of the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) and Caroline Hickson, Director of Brand, Communications and Strategic Partnerships at Fairtrade International.
Mandatory CSR: When CSR discussions started in the late 1960s, early 1970s ethical and moral arguments were the drivers. Since then CSR activities have become more holistic and professional. This becomes a principle-based approach in which business seeks to identify smarter business models, products, and services. Elmer Lenzen illuminates the boder zone between voluntary and mandatory CSR.
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Green DeLta InSuranCe<br />
unLOCKInG POSSIBILItIeS:<br />
a SteP tOWarD BuILDInG<br />
reSOurCeFuL CItIZenS<br />
By Syed Najmus Saquib and Yashna Islam, Green Delta Insurance<br />
It is noteworthy how, in the past few years, Bangladesh has seen rapid progress in many<br />
sectors, which was unthinkable even a decade ago. Bangladesh is showing consistent growth<br />
every year. We are being viewed as “The Next Asian Tiger” worldwide. Among all the positive<br />
news, the absence of human rights in many cases is hindering our development as a nation.<br />
Women and children as well as poverty-stricken people are always the most deprived ones<br />
when it comes to human rights.<br />
The Ten Principles set by the UN <strong>Global</strong><br />
<strong>Compact</strong> have always been treated with<br />
importance by Green Delta Insurance<br />
(GDIC). In previous years, GDIC has emphasized<br />
environmental issues, labor<br />
rights, and safety issues through their<br />
communication tools. Many issues regarding<br />
human rights also came into the<br />
picture. In 2012, GDIC took the initiative<br />
to create awareness for human rights.<br />
The first initiatives taken by the GDIC<br />
team – with the help of its creative<br />
agency – were to use “shadow puppetry”<br />
in our desk calendar to portray elements<br />
of human rights in a symbolic manner.<br />
After that, GDIC took the initiative to<br />
make direct and positive impacts on the<br />
lives of underprivileged people.<br />
As the Bangladesh experience shows,<br />
economic growth alone is not always<br />
enough to achieve higher levels of human<br />
development. Countries that invest<br />
in education, health, and social protection,<br />
as well as those that promote gender<br />
equality, are moving toward success<br />
more quickly. Keeping these things in<br />
mind, a significant CSR project in recent<br />
years named “SHE” was introduced by<br />
our Managing Director and CEO, Ms.<br />
Farzana Chowdhury. “Supporting Her<br />
Empowerment” (SHE) is a Women Empowerment<br />
and Development Program<br />
by Green Delta Insurance Company Ltd.<br />
to facilitate gender equality and women<br />
empowerment in the workplace. In a<br />
male dominant society such as ours, this<br />
program proved to be effective and offered<br />
open floor discussions, counseling,<br />
mentoring, career development, and<br />
special training programs for women.<br />
Women have the ability to contribute<br />
toward our country’s development, but<br />
sadly they are always overshadowed.<br />
GDIC also works for children’s rights.<br />
As in previous years, this year we made<br />
donations to and sponsored many cultural<br />
and fundraising programs of NGOs<br />
and schools. Green Delta Insurance also<br />
joined hands with Bangladesh’s “Women<br />
Chamber of Commerce and Industry” in<br />
2013 to support their dignified causes. It<br />
started with the BWCCI-GDIC Progressive<br />
award in 2012, which recognized promising<br />
female entrepreneurs of Bangladesh.<br />
GDIC is trying to assist women entrepreneurs<br />
financially and has requested that<br />
they step into formal sectors more often.<br />
The most significant project that Green<br />
Delta Insurance has been working on<br />
is based on children’s rights. We have<br />
partnered with a renowned NGO for this<br />
cause. They have a number of schools all<br />
over Bangladesh that provide state-of-theart<br />
education for poor and underprivileged<br />
children. They are always looking<br />
for sponsors to take responsibility for the<br />
students. There are millions of children<br />
in Bangladesh who live under the poverty<br />
line. They can be seen on streets all<br />
over the capital city: tired, hungry, and,<br />
more often than not, exploited. They get<br />
involved in dangerous professions just<br />
to put food in their stomachs. Instead of<br />
82 <strong>Global</strong> <strong>Compact</strong> <strong>International</strong> <strong>Yearbook</strong> <strong>2014</strong>
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