|
|
Social and ethical corporate responsibility
Consolidating partnerships among social organizations in Brazil and other countries in Latin America, and demanding ethical attitudes, responsible practices and transparency in the business community, feature among our main objectives. To meet these aims, we act on two fronts: Social corporate responsibility (SCR) and social balance in Brazil and the Red Puentes (the Latin-American SCR Network).
Social corporate responsibility and social balance in Brazil
In Brazil the idea of corporate social responsibility began to be discussed in the late 70s. The following decade saw the appearance of the first social balances of corporations. The proposal, however, only gained national visibility in June 1007, when Betinho launched the campaign for voluntary publication of corporate annual social balances. Ever since then, Ibase has been working with this theme and our social-balance model is now a reference among Brazilian companies.
We stimulate corporations that operate in Brazil to publish their social balance using the Ibase model – a statement divulged every year by the corporation, providing information on projects, benefits and social and environmental actions addressed to employees, investors, market analysts, shareholders and the community. Up to 2005, we registered 976 balances and 305 different companies. These balances are all available for consultation (in portuguese).
In addition, Ibase regularly divulges arguments and indicators based on the analysis of corporations’ social balances. In this way, we believe we are interfering in the public debate by expanding networking and the critical capacity of civil society in the area of SCR.
At present, Ibase offers four social-balance models:
• Companies
• Foundations and social organizations (in portuguese)
• Micro and small companies (in portuguese)
• Cooperatives (in portuguese)
For futher information: www.balancosocial.org.br.
Red Puentes – Latin-American SCR Network
The Red Puentes, set up in January 2002 during the World Social Forum, includes among its objectives the strengthening of international partnerships that stimulate socially responsible practices by using the social balance, the Guidelines of the OECD and other tools of social responsibility.
This initiative helps us to strengthen the construction, consolidation and dissemination of the concept of SCR among a wider public, as well as sensitizing social organizations on the importance of the social balance and its indicators for citizenship-minded public control of companies in Latin America.
At the moment 45 institutions – including NGOs, trade unions, environmental organizations, organizations for consumers’ and women’s rights, and social movements in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Spain, Holland, Mexico, Peru and Uruguay – make up this international network focused on the act of companies in Latin America.
For further information about Red Puentes: www.redpuentes.org.
| |
