An Emerging Awareness of CSR Potentialities
In Egypt, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is an emerging phenomenon and is understood mainly as a philanthropic concept, in accord with traditional values and inspired by the Islamic and Christian faiths. So far, there is no explicit CSR public policy, but, due to the presence of a strong state, numerous laws and regulations do exist pertaining to corporate governance, consumer protection, reporting or environmental issues. There are also a number of Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs), mainly in the field of community development and awareness-raising of international standards and guidelines.CSR is slowly becoming a prominent topic in Egypt because of the country's increasing openness to the global economic system and because of the enhanced role of its private sector. Up to now, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), agricultural products and imports have predominated in the country's economic sector. In terms of CSR, therefore, the promotion of local business will play an important role in helping Egyptian corporates adapt to global markets. A second important rationale is to use CSR as a means of building upon traditional values in order to mediate between philanthropic traditions and modern economic structures.
The IMC National Sustainability Award
sba was mandated by the Industrial Modernisation Center (IMC) for setting a National Sustainability Award in Egypt. This National Sustainability Award will be based on the sustainability reporting of enterprises according to the aspects defined by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines.
Reporting on sustainability focuses on the triple bottom line concept (“TBL” or “3BL”: people, planet, profit) and should highlight the performance of a company according to the three pillars of sustainable development (social, environmental and economical). These are key elements of an enterprise's accountability towards the society.
What is IMC?
The Industrial Modernisation Centre, IMC was established by a presidential decree as an independent body to implement and coordinate the modernisation of the Egyptian industry. Jointly funded by the European Union, the government of Egypt and the Egyptian private sector IMC has a total budget of US$76.5 million. Today IMC is part of the everlasting process of continuously bringing the Egyptian industry to international competitiveness with serious commitment from the government of Egypt for continued financial support for years to come.
Website: www.imc-egypt.org
Diploma of advanced studies en stratégie environnementale et enjeux économiques
