The FINANCIAL (via finchannel.com) -- The Centre for Strategic Research and Development of Georgia (CSRDG) and Eurasia Partnership Foundation (EPF) – Georgia are hosting the workshop on corporate social/sustainability reporting based on the framework of Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). The workshop will take place in the hotel "Ambasadori" (13, Shavteli str.) on June 25, 2009, 10-14 AM. It will be facilitated by Ms Asthildur Rutten, senior expert from Global Reporting Initiative.
This workshop will provide participants with an introduction to GRI
reporting framework – the most accepted international reporting
framework applicable to corporations of any size, type or locations.
To date, more than 1,500 companies, including many of the worlds
leading brands, have declared their voluntary adoption of the
Guidelines world-wide. Consequently the GRI Guidelines have become the
de facto global standard for reporting.
Corporate social/sustainability reporting (which is integral and
important part of Corporate Social Responsibility) is relatively less
practiced in Georgia. Though, with the growth of the interest of
Georgian private sector towards integration into European business
community, greater importance is attached to adoption of Western
standards – one of which is certainly the practice of reporting on
company’s performance in the economic, environmental, and social areas
(i. e. sustainability reporting). There are already several examples of
Georgian companies reporting on their practices on their web pages, or
in their annual reports.
The event is designed to help Georgian companies learn more about the
world’s most widely used sustainability reporting framework (GRI
framework), which sets out the principles and indicators that
organizations can use to measure and report their economic,
environmental, and social performance, allow comparisons between
companies and bring greater quality and credibility to such reporting.
Participant will be able to:
o Recognize the changes in business context & the drivers for sustainability for organizations.
o Differentiate between philanthropy and responsible (sustainable) management.
o Provide reasons why organizations of all types and sizes are preparing sustainability reports.
o Explain what GRI is and how it can help their organization.
o Identify the main characteristics of the GRI framework for reporting.
o Identify the phases of the sustainability reporting process.
o Prepare a realistic time line for covering the major activities necessary to complete a GRI report.
Thus, the workshop would provide Georgian companies with a valuable
knowledge and will assist them to get listed among world's leading
companies, who are GR reporters.
General informational sponsor of the event:
The FINANCIAL (Intelligence Group Publication)
For more information please contact:
Lela Khoperia
Corporate Social Responsibility program coordinator
Centre for Strategic Research and Development of Georgia
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Tel: 25-07-11/39 90 19
Viktor Baramia
Economic Development Program Manager
Eurasia Partnership Foundation
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Tel: 25 27 78/82 (ext. 119)
SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING USING THE GRI FRAMEWORK
BACKGROUND
What is sustainability reporting?
'Sustainability Reporting' is the practice of measuring and disclosing information about the three areas associated with the concept of sustainable development as it pertains to enterprise performance - economic, social and environmental. 'Sustainability Reporting' is a broad term considered synonymous with others used to describe non-financial reporting (e.g. social reporting; corporate responsibility reporting etc.).
About Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and its reporting framework
The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is a large multi-stakeholder network of thousands of experts, in dozens of countries worldwide, established in 1997; its secretariat is based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
GRI has pioneered the development of the world’s most widely used sustainability reporting framework, which sets out the principles and indicators that organizations can use to measure and report their economic, environmental, and social performance. It creates a basis for standardized reporting that allow comparisons between companies and bring greater quality and credibility to such reporting.
The cornerstone of the framework is the Sustainability Reporting Guidelines. The third version of the Guidelines – known as the G3 Guidelines - was published in 2006. Guidelines are applicable to organizations of any size or type, and from any sector or geographic region, and have been used by thousands of organizations worldwide as the basis for their sustainability reporting.
GRI and Global Compact
The UN Global Compact and GRI are both voluntary initiatives that play complementary roles in advancing universal principles by promoting organizational accountability and improved performance. The two initiatives are mutually reinforcing.
The GRI Sustainability Reporting Guidelines (G3) can be used to produce the Global Compact’s annually required Communication on Progress (COP). Global Compact recommends its members to use GRI Guidelines as a framework for reporting on COP. The GRI reports meet the COP requirements (and exceed them).
GRI INTRODUCTORY WORKSHOP
GRI started its Learning Services area in 2006. Its main goal is to support organizations of all sectors and sizes, to understand the link between their everyday activities and their sustainability impacts, to measure these impacts, and to report on them.
The GRI Introductory Workshops were developed to give participants a first general idea about the GRI reporting process. It will show why and how the GRI Guidelines (G3) can assist organizations to manage and report on their social, economic and environmental impacts.
WORKSHOP DURATION & FACILITATION
The workshop program is organized to run for three to four hours, (1/2 day). Facilitation is done by qualified GRI expert – Ms. Asthildur Rutten
WORKSHOP OBJECTIVES
Participant will be able to:
o Recognize the changes in business context & the drivers for sustainability for organizations.
o Differentiate between philanthropy and responsible (sustainable) management.
o Provide reasons why organizations of all types and sizes are preparing sustainability reports.
o Explain what GRI is and how it can help your organization.
o Identify the main characteristics of the GRI framework for reporting.
o Identify the five phases of the sustainability reporting process.
o Provide a list of activities to be done under each phase.
o Prepare a realistic time line for covering the major activities necessary to complete a GRI report.
WORKSHOP TARGET GROUP
This workshop is focused at those who are responsible for coordinating the process for an organization to come to their GRI sustainability report. This can be either for one part of the process to all, i.e. from initial preparation to producing the end report. The aim of this workshop is initial awareness raising on sustainability issues and the GRI guidelines. We generally aim for an audience of no more than 25 participants per workshop.
WORKSHOP CONTENT
The workshop will cover the following topics:
o Introduction to sustainability issues & reporting
o About GRI & the GRI G3 Framework
o About the GRI Reporting Process
WORKSHOP METHODOLOGY
The workshop facilitators will use the following training methods:
o Plenary presentations
o Discussions & share experiences
WORKSHOP HANDBOOK
The GRI learning publication “GRI Sustainability Reporting: A common language for a common future” is used during the workshop and as such should be provided to participants, as well as the Georgian version of "GRI Reporting Guidelines".
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