CSR, Sustainability and New Opportunities for Greece (AT1)

Course Summary

The course will focus upon CSR and its practical implications with special reference to Greece and its recent financial issues. Starting from a discussion on what is CSR and Sustainability all about, we shall start with a clear and useful definition to help you understand the maze of terms that are being used as well as how they link to other concepts such as those defined by ISO26000, the EU, the UN Global Compact etc. The course draws upon Dr. Hopkins’ vast experience in working with companies, Governments and the United Nations in over 120 countries around the world. The course will cover CSR strategy and how it links to practical conditions with examples taken from large companies as well as small. We shall examine the business case for CSR/Sustainability i.e. how Greek companies can make money by doing good. Delegates will leave the course with a clear idea of how to implement CSR and Sustainable Development in projects and programmes from community development, to employment creating programmes to their own chosen projects.

Course Methodology

This course will teach you available techniques and how to practically apply them through the use of case studies. The course is highly interactive with delegates learning from each other as much as from the instructor. A choice of case studies will be offered and delegates can choose the ones most appropriate to their own needs and requirements.  To do this, delegates will be invited to use our online CSR assessment tool CRITICS and apply this tool before the workshop either to their own company or a company of their choice.  They will use existing materials, websites, corporate (social) responsibility or sustainability reports etc and obtain a score on how responsible the company is on a scale of 0 to 1.  Results will be discussed in the workshop and compared with other companies or institutions in Greece  as well as other companies across the world taken from CSRFI’s data base.

Who Should Attend

This course is designed for delegates who are seeking to improve their CSR and sustainable development skills in Greece and elsewehere:

• Corporate executives working on CSR in different cultural contexts
• NGO leaders who are implementing development projects around the world and seek to know how to increase their sustainability
• Government civil servants who wish to further their knowledge of CSR and sustainability in implementing development projects and programmes
• Directors and business development executives from corporates, equity sponsors and consultancies wishing to reduce risk in their projects and programmes in emerging markets
• SRI finance managers looking for projects to invest in
• Accountants and Lawyers who wish to evaluate emerging market projects and programmes
• Professionals looking to change their focus to be more involved in promoting development while understanding how these can be profitable for companies, NGOs and Governments