With support from the GIZ Center for Cooperation with the Private Sector (CCPS), the Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) is currently implementing a one-year project on “capacity building of the Kenyan private sector on energy efficiency and climate change”. The project has three components, namely: energy efficiency in the financial and insurance sector; mobilising professional associations towards addressing energy efficiency and climate issues; and engaging the private sector in climate change and adaptation.

Under the first component, KAM organised its first training workshop on “energy efficiency in the financial and insurance sector” intended to equip financial and insurance sector personnel with modern approaches to financing energy efficiency projects. The workshop took place from April 11-12, 2013 and was attended by 46 participants. The trainees included institutions of higher learning such as Masinde Muliro University and St Paul’s University; banks such as Cooperative Bank, Kenya Commercial Bank and Equity Bank and insurance companies such as Avenue Insurance Brokers and Frezhar insurance agency.

With regard to the third component, KAM organised a stakeholder engagement meeting on February 1, 2013 which was attended by 15 participants. The primary objective of this meeting was awareness creation and learning with the two main themes discussed being the climate change bill in Kenya and the national climate change action plan. Related to this, KAM is planning to prepare short corporate best-practice case studies in climate change mitigation and adaptation. Seven case companies have already been identified.

Title: Value chain development by the private sector in Africa: Lessons learnt and guidance notes

Publication date: March 2013

Number of pages: 178

The publication sheds light on the current understanding, experiences and challenges around inclusive business approaches in Africa. It focuses on the role and responsibility of the private sector on value chain development in the region.

The book is divided into three parts. Part I is a compilation of six feature articles contributed by researchers and practitioners on the subject of inclusive business approaches and value chain development. Part II features three in-depth case studies on inclusive business development in Kenya, Liberia and South Africa, compiled by local experts from these countries to provide a country overview accompanied by practical company case studies. A total of seven short company case studies are presented: three for Kenya (Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture, Sustainable Management Services, Entrepreneurship for Youth Empowerment Kenya); two for Liberia (TOTAL Liberia; Building Markets); and two for South Africa (Standard Bank, RTT Group). The last part provides recommendations and guidance notes which are mainly distilled from the preceding sections and complemented by supplementary information obtained from other sources. This part also contains a “useful links” section which provides information on some of the prominent organisations pursuing inclusive business initiatives in Africa and beyond.

The CCPS hopes that this publication will incite continuing dialogue, research and collaboration amongst the concerned stakeholders on the issue of value chain development and inclusive business approaches in Africa. The full publication can be downloaded here: Link

The Centre for Corporate Responsibility (CCR) at the University of Ghana Business School (UGBS) has offered four training workshops on CSR related themes in 2012.

The first workshop on "Promoting and Hindering Factors of CSR Practice in Ghana" took place in March 2012. 33 delegates from 25 companies and organisations participated. This was followed by a second course on "Anti-Corruption, Transparency and Business Ethics" in June, which was attended by 36 participants. The third training session on "Streamlining CSR into Business Operations" attracted 29 attendees. The fourth one was conducted under the theme "CSR and the Law: Corporate Liability in Ghana". Eleven participants attended the event. These workshops equip managers with the skills and outlook to place sustainability at the heart of their organisations and to foster effective implementation of their CSR initiatives.

The CCR has evolved into a highly skilled service provider for local institutions, private companies and development agencies in Ghana and sub-Saharan Africa. For example in June 2012, the Centre also offered a successful training seminar on anti-corruption issues for senior, non-commissioned officers of the Ghana Police College. A total of 199 officers from Liberia, Sierra-Leone and Ghana attended the event. The Centre also hosted its second stakeholder meeting entitled “A Conversation on Responsible Business in Ghana” in February 2012.

The CCR is a joint initiative of the GIZ Centre for Cooperation with the Private Sector (CCPS) Africa and the University of Ghana Business School, implemented over the period 2012 to 2013 through funding from the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

The GIZ Center for Cooperation with the Private Sector (CCPS) and GIZ Tunisia jointly carried out a study on the landscape of responsible business behaviour or Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in Tunisia.

CSR is the responsible activity on the part of businesses with the aim of using their available leeway to foster sustainable development. It essentially involves doing business in an ecologically and socially responsible manner along the whole value chain. And although as such in the domain of the private sector, CSR is always being carried out in the greater context of a country or a region. The objective of the study was therefore to analyse the “bigger picture” of the CSR-relevant context in post-revolution Tunisia and to develop recommendations as to how to take CSR further.

To this end, political, economic, social, environmental as well as developmental factors that determine the setting in which companies realise CSR were researched. Furthermore, key actors from the private and public sector, civil society as well as academia were interviewed and their understanding of CSR analysed.

The results of the study were presented at the „Forum International des Pionniers de la Responsibilité Sociétale des Entreprises et de la Croissance Verte Inclusive en Afrique“, the international CSR conference, which was hosted by GIZ’s partner organisation CONECT (Confédération des Entreprises Citoyennes de Tunisie) in November 2012 in Tunis.

The full study in French can be downloaded here: Link 

The GIZ Center for Cooperation with the Private Sector (CCPS) in cooperation with the GIZ Tanzania DPP unit commissioned a study on the current perceptions on and implementation of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in Tanzania. The in-depth study was prepared on the basis of about 42 qualitative interviews with relevant stakeholders from the private and public sector as well as civil society.

The findings of the report were presented during the forum “How to improve Ethics in my Business?”, organised by the Tanzania Responsible Business Network (TRBN) on November 20, 2012 in Dar es Salaam. The event was attended by 104 participants.

During his presentation of the major findings, consultant Ernest Mwamwaja pointed out that there is a gradual shift in perceptions on CSR from the traditional philanthropic view of community giving to an integrated perspective emphasizing sustainability, impact and accountability. Also an increasing number of companies have launched a CSR policy or are at least in the process of drafting one. When looking at the actual corporate practice, however, CSR is often still practiced in an ad-hoc fashion with a predominant focus on community aspects such as education or health, at the expense of workplace, governance or environment issues. Another finding was that a national framework or public institution responsible for coordinating and promoting CSR in the country is absent. Despite the increased awareness of CSR issues among a variety of stakeholders the actual implementation is still in its early stages, according to the study. The final version of the study will be officially published in early 2013.

The TRBN is a network of currently ten private companies operating in Tanzania with the objective to promote integrity, ethics and sustainability within businesses. Its activities comprise regular discussions on topics of responsible business, sharing of best practices and the development of common pragmatic solutions in the field. In 2013, CCPS and the GIZ Tanzania DPP unit intend to cooperate further to address the recommendations of the in-depth study in support of the TRBN and its objectives.

From November, 2^nd to 3^rd 2012, the “4ème Forum International sur la Responsabilité des Entreprises”, the international CSR conference in West Africa, took place in Dakar, Senegal. It was organised by RSE Sénégal in cooperation with the Canadian Embassy and the Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar under the patronage of the Senegalese Prime Minister Mr Abdoul Mbaye. The 150 participants were high ranking representatives from the public and private sector, civil society, academia and development agencies from the francophone countries in West Africa as well as Canada, France, and Germany.

On day one, Anne Reiner from the GIZ Center for Cooperation with the Private Sector (CCPS) presented the results of a mapping survey on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in twelve sub-Saharan African countries. Each country profile analyses the factors and players that influence the CSR landscape to give recommendations for its further shaping. Secondly, the survey draws conclusions for the region and presents recommendations on how to enable responsible business behaviour for sustainability.

Others topics discussed on the day were available instruments to institutionalise CSR in Senegal like the “CSR and Sustainable Development Code” developed by RSE Sénégal, the “Corporate Governance Code” of the Private Sector Coalition against Corruption or the “Code of Conduct” of the Institute of Directors Senegal.

The second day was split up between a workshop hosted by the Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar and a symposium organised by the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM).

In the academic workshop, current master theses on CSR were discussed, which had been elaborated by students in the context of a cooperation between the Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar and GIZ Senegal. A discussion on how to foster CSR in Senegal and the specific role of academia in it followed.

The symposium “Doing business in the Mining Sector in West Africa” organised by CIM dealt with different topics along the mining cycle: from investment to local supply chains to the interaction with local communities.

Amongst other contributions, Dr. Mark Mattner from the GIZ Resource Governance Programme West Africa presented the results of the workshop “Local Content in the Mining Sector”, which had been organised in Liberia in August 2012 with the support of CCPS.

For more information please follow the links to the conference (www.forumrsesenegal.org/programme.html) and its organiser, RSE Sénégal (www.rsesenegal.com).

The CSR mapping survey of twelve sub-Sahara African countries (Cameroun, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia) can be downloaded here.

The GIZ Center for Cooperation with the Private Sector (CCPS) recently released its new publication “Shaping Corporate Responsibility in sub-Saharan Africa – Guidance Notes from a Mapping Survey”. This book is the culmination of two years of collaboration between CCPS and the University of Stellenbosch Centre for Business in Society at USB Executive Development.
In a nutshell, the study identifies relevant factors defining the context for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), key role players in the CSR arena and the level of CSR awareness and implementation in twelve selected African countries. Thirteen local experts contributed to the country chapters on Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.
Based on their findings, the lead author, Prof. Arnold Smit from the University of Stellenbosch, and his project team developed recommendations and guidance notes on capacity building and intervention strategies to advance CSR, both in the countries and at the regional level in sub-Saharan Africa. The recommendations are primarily meant for GIZ’s use in cooperating with the private sector. They can however also be useful to the different stakeholders of CSR in sub-Saharan Africa, which this study helped to identify.
The printed study will be available in January 2013 – a low resolution PDF version can be downloaded in our Document Centre.

In August 2012, four board members of the Nepalese National Business Initiative (NBI Nepal, www.nbinepal.org.np) travelled to South Africa for a four day learning visit in the field of responsible business.

The NBI Nepal is a private-sector led initiative with the mission to contribute to sustainable peace through inclusive socio-economic growth. It was founded in 2005 and operates as a non-political NGO with the major business associations and some business houses as its members. It is a long-standing partner organisation of the GIZ Nepal and is currently being supported by an Integrated Expert.

The trip to South Africa was supported and organised by the GIZ Center for Cooperation with the Private Sector (CCPS) Africa together with colleagues from the Development Partnership with the Private Sector Programme (DPP) and the Public Service Reform Programme (PSRP). Topics were the private sector’s role in society more broadly and corporate social responsibility, responsible and inclusive business practices and collective action against corruption more specifically. Of further interest were the South African experiences of the role the private sector can play in times of transition and democratisation.

In this context the NBI delegation met representatives of Business Unity South Africa (BUSA), the National Business Initiative South Africa (NBI SA), Business Against Crime (BAC) as well as the Ethics Institute of South Africa (EthicsSA).

Furthermore meetings with the country director of GIZ South Africa and Lesotho as well as other local GIZ programmes were organised to inform the NBI delegation about GIZ’s work in South Africa and its different forms of cooperation with the private sector. More specifically the Development Partnership with the Private Sector (DPP) of the GIZ Strengthening Local Governance Programme was discussed. It aims at supporting and integrating SMEs into the local value chain of businesses in Harrismith, a small town in South Africa.

On 16^th August 2012 GIZ, in collaboration with SASOL, hosted its second CSR Roundtable with the private sector in South Africa. The workshop “CSR and Return on Investment (RoI)” took place in Johannesburg and was attended by 16 participants from 13 different companies. The fact that several businesses were represented by their CSR Manager as well as by their Financial Manager emphasises the clear link that many companies today see between their CSR and their Corporate Financial Performance (CFP).

During the first CSR Roundtable in March 2012, the participating companies had identified the lack of exact measurement techniques to determine the RoI of their Sustainability projects as one of their most important CSR challenges. Based on the private sector’s demand this was taken up as the topic for the second workshop.

The CSR Roundtable was opened by a presentation by Professor Ralph Hamann, Research Director and Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Business at the University of Cape Town, on the opportunities and challenges of measuring the RoI of CSR activities from an academic perspective.

The following discussion focused on concrete ideas and tools to quantify internal financial as well as external (e.g. for the community or the environment) benefits of CSR projects.

The CSR Roundtables in South Africa are jointly organised by the “Development Partnerships with the Private Sector South Africa Programme (DPP SA)” and the “Center for Cooperation with the Private Sector in Sub-Saharan Africa (CCPS)”. They are designed for the private sector to identify and discuss common burning issues as well as workable strategies on CSR in South Africa.

Due to the companies’ very positive feedback to the Roundtables GIZ will continue the dialogue with the private sector to determine the desired content and format for future meetings.

GIZ’s Center for Cooperation with the Private Sector (CCPS) supported the Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) throughout two years in a process to develop an “Energy Efficiency Accord” for its member companies. This Accord is a voluntary agreement into which companies enter with the national Ministry of Energy and KAM to improve their energy efficiency with a fixed measurable target over a period of five years and thus save costs. This target has been individually set against each company’s specific baseline data established in a reference year.

Throughout the process, which started at the end of 2009, KAM consulted with different stakeholders from the public and private sector, academia, civil society as well as experts from other countries (amongst other South Africa) so as to identify the best way of developing such an Accord for the Kenyan context.

The Kenya Energy Efficiency Accord was officially launched in September 2011, presided over by the Assistant Minister of Energy, Hon. Amb. Eng. Mahmoudand. A total of 19 companies signed up to it on the day of the launch, committing themselves to improving their energy efficiency by nearly 12% on average in comparison with the reference year when the baseline data was established.

15 companies underwent an impact assessment in January 2012 to analyse the effects of the process. Some companies had already started implementing saving measures at the beginning of the two year project while others started upon the signing of the accord.

From 2010 to 2011, five out of seven companies improved their overall energy intensity (amount of energy used per goods produced) by 13% on average. And another eight companies managed to save on average 3% of their overall energy consumption in the short period since signing the Accord in September 2011 and the date of the impact assessment in January 2012. These savings amount to a total of 17,406 GJ which is equivalent to KES 50,000,000 or EUR 450,000.

For each company further individual improvement measures were identified so as to reach the final target as set out in the Accord.

For more information, refer to  http://www.kam.co.ke/

The newly established Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility (CCR) at the University of Ghana Business School (UGBS) held its second stakeholder meeting under the theme “a conversation on responsible business in Ghana”. The event took place on February 29, 2012 at the Alisa Hotel in Accra, Ghana. Around 35 participants attended the event.

In his introduction to the meeting, Director of CCR, Dr. Dan Ofori, reiterated the aims, services and thematic areas of CCR in the light of its broad vision and mission. Dr. Ofori explained the rationale behind the theme for the second stakeholder meeting as “understanding and appreciating the meaning of responsible business”. Following from this, Dr Ofori presented an overview of responsible business as understood by the CCR.

After Dr. Ofori’s introductory address, the following four presentations were made in the practitioners’ session:

• Responsible Business in Telecoms Service Sector - by Mr.Bob Palitz, Telecoms Consultant, Former MD, Kasapa Ltd.
• Responsible Business in the Manufacturing Sector: The Uniliver Model – by Mrs. Bernice Natue, Unilever Ghana Ltd.
• Responsible Business in the Extractive Industries Sector – by Dr. Toni Aubynn, Ghana Chamber of Mines & Dr. Ayesha Hakeem, African Connections Ghana Ltd.
• Hindering and Promoting Factors of CSR – by Mr. Asokwa Nkansah, SIC Insurance Company Ltd.

 Next in line was an interactive, question and answer session with themes grouped under four main headings of reporting issues, promoting responsible business, benefits of CSR to corporate bodies, and contributions to the presentations.

At the end of the event, Dr. Ofori announced that CCR’s training programmes would commence at the end of March, 2012 and he extended an open invitation to participants to take advantage of the opportunity to build their capacity in streamlining CSR within their companies.

The stakeholders meeting got wide coverage in the local press, among others, by The Ghanaian Times, Daily Graphic, Business & Financial Times, and Daily Guide.

GIZ in collaboration with the University of Stellenbosch Executive Development (USB-ED) held a half-day CSR-roundtable with the private sector in South Africa. It took place on March 13, 2012 at the DaVinci Hotel and Suites in Johannesburg.

About 10 companies participated in the roundtable including some members of the Southern African-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Two GIZ programmes were responsible for organised the event, namely the Centre for Cooperation with the Private Sector (CCPS) Sub-Saharan Africa and Development Partnerships with the Private Sector South Africa (DPP SA). The two programmes used the opportunity to introduce their objectives and approaches on CSR in the broader Sub-Saharan Africa region (CCPS) and South Africa (DPP SA). This was followed by a presentation, by the USB-ED, of the draft CSR mapping study Sub-Saharan Africa commissioned by the CCPS.          

Participants highlighted and discussed “their” burning issues concerning CSR which were clustered by the facilitator into three broad categories, namely evaluation and implementation, workplace & resources, and collaboration.

From the roundtable it became apparent that there is a real desire for more collaborative working amongst private sector CSR practitioners and that GIZ has a golden opportunity to ‘hold’ these collaborations as they develop.  Companies are also looking to GIZ to broker partnerships between private sector organisations, bring information and knowledge to the table and to straddle the current divide between the private sector’s approach to CSR and government’s commitment to it. At the more immediate level, there is an immediate opportunity to diarise regular network meetings, each focused on a different core theme, at which participants are encouraged to present their experiences and share learning around the theme. GIZ will continue to communicate with the participants to determine the frequency of the meetings along with the desired content and format.

The Corporate Responsibility Forum Liberia, with support from the GIZ Center for Cooperation with the Private Sector and in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme, Global Fund Programme, National Investment Commission, and the Government of Liberia held a workshop on “Partnerships in Local Supply Chains” on November 25, 2011. The workshop, held at the Cape Hotel (Mamba Point, Monrovia, Liberia) attracted over 80 participants from the private and public sectors, comprising, among others, concessionaires and business associations, development partners, civil society, commercial bankers, and government officials. The Workshop served as a platform for introducing current and future policies and programmes addressing the integration of domestic businesses in investors’ supply chains; opportunities for domestic businesses in public-private partnership arrangements; and possible roles of the CR Forum in the implementation of linkage advocacy and programming.

In related news, the CR forum Liberia marked its second anniversary on February 21, 2012 at a function held in the capital, Monrovia. Liberian Finance Minister, Mr. Amara Konneh, attended the event and unveiled a government initiative on "strategic and productive partnership". According to Mr. Konneh, the initiative, when formed, will be called the Liberia Development Alliance (LDA) and its aim would be, “to approach economic development in a whole new way through constructive engagement with the private sector.” The CR Forum Liberia was launched on February 12, 2010 by the President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf.

For more information, please visit the  Corporate Responsibility Forum Liberia.

The 2nd International Conference on Responsible Leadership will be taking place as part of Africa Leads at Spier Wine Estate, in the Western Cape, South Africa during the week of 19 November 2012.

Africa Leads is a weeklong collaborative learning and research event hosted by the University of Stellenbosch Business School in association with the Globally Responsible Leadership Initiative (GRLI) and Spier Wines.

The theme of the academic conference is "Responsible Leadership for Africa and the World". The organisers invite papers and presentations from local and international scholars, practitioners and agencies under one the following sub-themes:

• Leadership and accountability: Governance, Integrated Reporting and transitioning strategies for Sustainability and Resilience.
• Leadership and ethics: fostering an ethos hope and a culture of responsibility.
• The theory of responsible leadership: A phenomenon studied at individual, institutional and collective level.
• Africa’s homegrown leadership and sustainability paradigms.
• Responsible management education for Africa and the World.

Please refer to the  Albert Luthuli Centre's webpage for further information and the call for papers.

Facilitation of multi-stakeholder processes (MSPs) is a buzz-word frequently encountered in development-cooperation work today.

In our view, while the phrase “multi-stakeholder” is relatively less ambiguous, “facilitation” could mean different things to different people. An individual overseeing a “one-off” consultative meeting or an interactive training seminar views his/her role as that of a facilitator; likewise, so does a development cooperation organization like GIZ– although it might view its facilitation role as a long-term commitment aiming at change processes, societal learning, and collaborative action.

Theory informs us that successful MSP facilitation calls for synchronising the “Paradigm-Methodology-Methods” set used to achieve the intended objectives. What does this mean in practice? What are the challenges? What experiences exist? What helping tools are available?

Against this background, GIZ CCPS commissioned the research and publication of a MSP Facilitation guidebook which has brought together a lead author and four contributing experts in the area of change management, CSR, multi-stakeholder processes, and partnerships.

Although the guidebook is primarily intended for internal GIZ’s project managers and advisors, the expert opinions, experiences and recommendations are without doubt useful to all practitioners working in the field of sustainable development and cooperation.

Please find here the MSP Facilitation Guidebook in English and here the PDM Guide in French.

The First Liberian Mining, Energy and Petroleum (LIMEP) Conference and Exhibition took place in Monrovia  from April 11-13, 2011. The event was organised by  the Liberian Ministry of Lands, Mines & Energy, and AMETrade. According to the conference report ( report), the event attracted an estimated 1200 trade visitors, 352 participants and 37 companies. All in all, 27 countries from around the world also represented. For more information on the conference, please go to the  LIMEP webpage.

CCPS participated as a speaker in the session, “Sustainable development of Liberia’s Natural Resources”. A presentation entitled “CSR: Guiding frameworks for Liberia” was made and discussed with the participants (Presentation on CSR in Liberia). With a number of multinational companies interested in the exploration of various minerals such as petroleum, diamonds, gold, iron, and agricultural commodities like rubber and palm oil, the issue of CSR is expected to gain increasing attention in the country.

Within a two year public private partnership (PPP), Woolworths and GIZ developed wasterwater management guidelines for fruit and vegetable packing- and processing facilities (download). For more information, please follow the link or contact us.

On 25th May 2011, the Business Code of Conduct for the Private Sector in the Democratic Republic of Congo was launched by the Minister of Justice in Kinshasa.

Integrity, good governance, respect, and transparency are the core values of the Code of Conduct which was elaborated by the companies themselves.

In 2008, leading companies together with GIZ formed the Responsible Business Initiative (RBI) with the aim to enhance the competitiveness of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and to engage in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and public private partnerships. Corruption affects all areas of business and is seen as the main problem in the DRC. Therefore, the companies chose to focus on anti-corruption as a starting point.

The signatories can choose on different levels of compliance, like 1.) accept the code, 2.) integrate the code into the business, or 3.) comply with the code and be externally audited.

Companies have publicly agreed to integrate the code, but a common plan of action for implementation and dissemination is not yet compiled. Further discussions with selected companies will be held in due time, and we hope to proceed with collective action on CSR and anti-corruption with few independent and highly motivated companies.

The State’s Minister and Minister of Mines, Industry, Agro Industry and Small and Medium Enterprises chaired the opening session of the 3rd international conference on CSR in Dakar: "Le Forum International de Dakar sur la Responsibilité Sociétale d'Entreprise". The Canadian Embassy, the Economic Community of West African States, the Regional Director of GIZ Senegal and the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie gave each an introductory key note.

During the three day conference, more than 300 delegates from companies, private sector associations, unions, civil society organizations, universities and the public sector attended, representing Canada, France, Germany, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea, Mali and Senegal.

Four thematic areas were covered:

• Opportunities of the creation of a regional CSR association
• Presentation of the International Standard ISO 26.000 on CSR
• Dialogue between the private sector and local communities
• Legal framework for the private sector's societal engagement

GIZ contributed to the conference through the presentation of its programme for development partnerships with private companies and the presentation of its Multi-Stakeholder Process Guidebook. The Guidebook, based on literature review, opinions of international experts and experiences of CCPS’s work, guides facilitators and interested parties through a process that involves parties from different societal sectors. (CCPS's presentation is available both in English MSP Guidebook and in French Guide de Facilitation)

RSE Sénégal, the organisor of the conference, offers to download all the individual presentations from the conference as well as a  brief overview of the conference in French.

The first conference day hosted the opening ceremony as well as presentations on ISO 26.000 ( Forum Dakar 2011 Day 1). The second conference day was dedicated to the dialogue between local communities and the private sector ( Forum Dakar 2011 Day 2).

For more information, please visit  RSE Sénégal, organisor of the conference, or  Forum RSE Dakar, the official web page of the conference.

From May, 18^th – 20^th 2010, the first International Conference on Responsible Leadership took place in Pretoria, South Africa.

Some 140 participants from an international and local, an academic and practitioner background gathered together to talk about the topic of responsible leadership and how to “Develop the Next Generation of Responsible Leaders”.

The conference was organised by the Albert Luthuli Centre for Responsible Leadership (CRL) at the University of Pretoria and supported by GTZ.

Key Note Speakers were

§  Mr Stephan Ohme, First Development Counselor of the Germany Embassy Pretoria

§  Prof Mervyn King, Chairman of the King Committee on Corporate Governance and Chairman of the Global Reporting Initiative

§  Mr Jacko Maree, CEO, Standard Bank Group

§  Prof Cheryl de la Rey, Principal and Vice Chancellor of the University of Pretoria

§  Ms Wendy Luhabe, Chancellor of the University of Johannesburg

§  Prof Thomas Maak, Associate Professor Esade (Spain)

§  Prof Pierre Tapie, Dean and President of Essec (France)

The ‘CEO roundtable’ which took place over breakfast during the last day of the conference hosted Benjamin Mophatlane (CEO of Business Connexion), Mark Drewell (CEO of the Global Responsible Leadership Initiative in Brussels), and Russel Loubser (CEO of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange).

For more information, please visit the  CRL.

The Corporate Responsibility Forum Liberia (CRFL) was officially launched on February 12, 2010 by Her Excellency, President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf at a ceremony held at the Cape Hotel in Mamba Point, Monrovia.

Close to one hundred guests from the business community, government departments, civil society, diplomatic missions, the United Nations and international organisations attended the launch. Also in attendance were the Ambassadors of the Federal Republic of Germany, the USA and the Peoples Republic of China. GTZ Liberia Country Representative, Mrs. Claudia Hermes, also attended and described the launch as “very successful”.

The launch received wide coverage from the international press including CSRWire and  BBC News .

The GTZ Centre for Cooperation with the Private Sector initiated the CRFL in the final quarter of last year in cooperation with ArcelorMittal Liberia. GTZ has since been providing vital advisory and financial support to the Forum through various forms; these include concept development for the CR Forum; drafting of the Forum’s by-laws and its certificate of registration; and commissioning of a case-study research on relevant CR issues in Liberia. GTZ also facilitated the consultative workshop held in September 2009 in Monrovia which aimed at drawing a blue print for the formalisation and official launch of the CRFL.The CCPS has also pledged to support the CRFL’s capacity building endeavours. One such example is the inaugural project, Capacity Building for Better Business in Liberia, unveiled during the official launch- which the CCPS will support financially and through concept development. In addition, CCPS will also strive to link the CRFL with other, relevant GTZ initiatives in the region- such as the Regional Natural Resources Governance in Fragile States of West Africa, in which Liberia is one focus country.