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British Council has been working with Turkish Industrialists and Businessmen's Association (TUSIAD) on building up the CSR working group with the participation of TUSIAD members and other relevant stakeholders such as UNDP and CSR Association of Turkey since the end of 2007. On 22 July, a round table discussion was organised by the CSR Association of Turkey at TUSIAD. The round table discussion was followed by a keynote speech hosted by British Council Turkey.
In his speech Richard Howitt shared his thoughts on the challenging question ‘How can Turkey can benefit from CSR in the EU harmonisation process?’ with business and NGO representatives. Amongst the representatives attending the event were TUSİAD, Koç Group companies, TEKNOSA, Istanbul Textile and Apparel Exporters’ Associations, Vodafone, UNILEVER, Borusan Holding, Doğan Yayın Holding, Sütaş and Mr. Faik Öztrak, MP for CHP in Tekirdağ.
Richard Howitt was challenged by different questions and comments from the participants.
Faik Öztrak, MP for CHP representing Tekirdağ – member of Turkish Parliament – asked about the UK government’s position. Howitt stated that the UK government strategy on promoting CSR is more based on rewarding companies rather than punishment.
Melis Şenerdem, from Fortune, asked if the auditing responsibility of the CSR processes of a company is based solely on the NGOs or as a member of parliament there are things she could do? She noted that the reporting processes for environmental and social responsibility themes started in the same way as financial reporting processes, and that she would like to know the auditing methods to be followed and bodies who would carry this out. In answer to this question, Howitt stated that auditing CSR projects should have global standards just like financial circles. He also added that in case these auditing processes were too tight, there would be a danger of upsetting SMEs particularly because these projects are supposed to be based on a voluntary basis.
Howitt also mentioned the importance of industry level partnerships, as well as developments to merge OECD Guidelines for Multinationals, UN Global Compact, International Labour Organisation standards under one framework. Lastly, Howitt complemented British Council Turkey’s support in launching BITC’s Engage programme with Corporate Volunteers Association. He stated that community involvement programmes is a bridge in shifting corporate behaviour from philanthropy to a business level strategy.
In the near future, British Council Turkey will support the launch of UK-based CSR supporting programmes and will keep encouraging CSR representatives from UK to meet with their counterparts in Turkey. The next event will be a CSR panel with prominent speakers from BITC, FTSE and CBI at the
17th National Quality Congress in Turkey. We believe these efforts create more and better working relationships between Turkey and the UK as well as highlighting the role of business in role in British Council’s work.
High resolution photographs of the event can be downloaded from links below:
Picture 1 - Picture 2 - Picture 3
RICHARD HOWITT, MEP for East England joined the Labour Party at the age of 18 and was appointed as the European Parliament’s spokesperson on Corporate Social Responsibility. He has used this position to secure a very important personal goal - to ensure that big businesses are made to act in a responsible way.
As Euro MP for East England ‘Ensuring that big businesses act in a socially and environmentally responsible manner’ and ‘Making sure that we play a full part in the future of the European Union, including full support for enlargement to the Balkans and Turkey’ are amongst his priorities.
Most recently, Richard Howitt was on a study visit to Turkey in his position as the European Parliament’s spokesperson on Corporate Social Responsibility and joined the CSR working group of TUSIAD.
CSR Association of Turkey is an independent NGO formed by the efforts of academics, businesses and other civil society organizations, aiming at promoting the ideas of CSR in the world of business and also to other stakeholder groups such as government and non-governmental organizations. Believing in CSR, and the values behind it, provides the CSR Association in Turkey with an important insight in order to enrich its social development.
The British Council Turkey is the UK's main agency for creating stronger cultural relations with other countries. The Council has been working in Turkey continuously since 1940, and have centres in Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir. We are also active throughout the rest of Turkey. Two major themes underline most of our work – demonstrating the UK’s support for Turkey’s accession to the EU in practical ways and in empowering young people in Turkey and the UK through the relationships that we encourage and support.
British Council Turkey is recognised as a founding member and actively works by sharing input through the UK experience in CSR such as organising the visit of Excellency Centres in the UK in March 2008, visiting leading CSR organisations such as the International Business Leaders Forum, Business in the Community, Global Compact UK Network, CBI and FTSE4Good Index.
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