It all began with....

For those not in the know, the Global Compact (GC) is a UN initiative for enhancing the role of business in helping achieve the MDGs, championed by the erstwhile UN Secretary General Kofi Anaan and endorsed--so it appears at this early stage--by his successor. Each country was to establish its own GC network consisting of businesses, civil society and government, to address the 10 GC Principles relating to Human Rights, Labor, Environment and Anti-corruption. See www.unglobalcompact.org for details.

I was approached by UNDP in 2003 to help devise a strategy for Pakistan. As one can imagine, nothing in Pakistan works along neat, linear lines and this was no different. First up, a massive 40 plus National Steering Board that had the Commerce Minister as the Patron in Chief, choc a bloc with civil servants of various ilk and not enough of coporate representation. The strategy I developed, which you can see in the Papers link on this blog, called for an institutional arrangement for the GC Pakistan network, with the corporate world in the driving seat. I'm happy to report that we got everyone to agree on this, with a proposal to establish a GC Pakistan Foundation as a not-for-profit company, an idea which even the GC Head Quarters picked up as they established their own GC Foundation. I'm also happy to share that a number of proposals in that strategic framework have been implemented, including completion of a CSR Study (see Papers section), endorsement of the Pakistan Environmental Reporting Awards and the initiation of a program for SA8000 certification for export firms in Pakistan.

More on what has happened and what hasn't, later.

Papers, Reports, Articles Anyone?

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Welcome

Corporate Pakistan is alive and kicking! Or is it? Is the corporate sector an island unto itself or is it part of the larger community we call Pakistan? Has business played its part in achieving the MDGs or is this whole business of business as a social actor all hogwash? Can Pakistan move beyond corporate philanthropy and enter into the realms of corporate responsibility? Will we move away from using CSR as a Annual Report accessory and start mainstreaming it as a policy tool? Is the corporate sector accountable and how is the regulator handling its responsibilities in this respect?

These are some of the questions to which we need answers. Collective wisdom--in the form of your views, posts, suggestions--is needed, so fire away!