Practical Guide to CSR and Sustainable Development Brochure
E-Online Course
Practical Guide to CSR and Sustainable Development
Background
No major company, institution either public or private is complete these days without a statement on CSR and Sustainability. The course aims to address the needs of professionals in private companies, NGOs, International Organisations and Governments who are currently involved in CSR and Sustainable Development (CSR for short as our definition shows), or would like to be involved in CSR, and wish to make the concept of CSR applicable in their institution. The emphasis is on making the business case since no company can survive without making profits. The key issue is not profits (or efficiency in non-profits) but the way in which profits (or efficiency) are created.
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) can be understood as a management concept and a process that integrates social and environmental concerns in business operations as well as public and NGO institutions with the full range of their stakeholders.
Course Objectives
The objective of this online course is to introduce the participant to the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility today, operationalising the term and ensuring a cohesive definition of CSR and its applications for corporate sustainability. The learning materials and tools available through the courses allow participants acquire relevant introductory knowledge that will help them and their organizations to better address social responsibility concerns.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this course, participants are expected to meet the following learning objectives:
1. To define and summarise the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability
2. To review alternative definitions of CSR and their strengths and limitations
3. To assess comparative needs for CSR; and
4. To distinguish between the applications of CSR in various practical situations
Content and Structure
The course consists of the following main modules:
1. Introduction & History of CSR
2. CSR Definitions
3. Why CSR and Where is CSR Today?
4. The United Nations and EU’s Treatment of CSR
5. 1950s advertisements
6. Should CSR be compulsory?
7. The three big elephants in the CSR room:
i. ISO 26000 ii. Integrated Reporting iii. Global Reporting Initiative
8. Is CSR philanthropy?
9. Practical examples of CSR (Cadbury, NEC, Wal-Mart, Novo Nordisk)
10. Applying definitions in practice
11. Testing Understanding via an end of course quiz
12. Issuing of Certificate for those successful in the Quiz (NB if you wish your name on the Certificate we can do that for an additional charge – contact us on enquiries@csrfi.com
Methodology
This e-Learning course provides participants with (a) main reading materials; (b) additional reading materials; (c) bibliography of references; (d) glossary of terms; (e) external links to internet resources; (f) discussion forum; (g) one end-of-course quiz to test understanding and provide final grading.
The course requires approximately a 10 to 20 hour time investment that you can accomplish when and where you wish. More time is needed to go through all the documents and videos. The course invites participants to read a number of articles, to watch videos, to reflect on their social and economic environment, and to go through case studies analysis that are provided throughout the course.
By the end of the course, students will have a better understanding of the need for CSR and be able to explain alternative definitions, their strengths and limitations.
There is an end-of-course quiz intended to help participants self-assess their level of comprehension. Participants who obtain a final score of at least 80% will be awarded a certificate of completion from George Mason University.
Targeted Audience
The course aims to address the needs of professionals in private companies, NGOs, International Organisations and Governments who are currently involved in CSR, or would like to be involved in CSR, and wish to apply and embed the concept of CSR in their institution.
Selected Comments Received
“I like your online course, I think it is a good introduction to CSR and it is quite practical to navigate through. I like the fact that you have a quiz at the end” Rania, UNICEF.
“I really like it and I think there is a real need for such a course. Excellent layout and content, and the right balance between theory and practice. Congratulations! Dr. Thomas Osburg. Head, Corporate Responsibility, Intel, Germany, Europe.
“I find it very informative and efficient in terms of return on effort. The introductory video is very good. It sets the tone of the course almost like in a “face-to-face” environment. I like the way to travel through the course, forwards and backwards. It is convenient.
Congratulations for the excellent course. I wish you plenty of the success with it.” Marc. Former Director, International Schools Geneva and Senior Executive Nestle, Switzerland.
Course Instructor: Prof. Dr. Michael Hopkins
Michael is CEO and Chairman of MHC International Ltd. (MHCi: London, Washington DC & Geneva),a research and service company on Corporate Social Responsibility and Labour Markets and CEO of CSRFI. He holds a doctorate in labour economics from the University of Geneva.
In the corporate world, Michael has worked and advised on strategic CSR with World Bank, UNDP, Glaxo-Wellcome, BT, BAT, BP, Nestle, Manpower, O2, SGS, Addax Petroleum, Cargill, UEFA and IBM. He has been Senior Adviser to the US Chamber of Commerce’s corporate citizenship programme, and revised the World Bank’s online CSR courses. Michael is included in the 2013 top 100 thought leaders across the world.
He founded the first ever CSR research center in the world at University of Middlesex in London in the year 2000 where he received his first Professorship. He then founded and was its first Director of all Graduate Executive Programmes on CSR at the University of Geneva in Switzerland that started in 2007. He is also Founder and Director of CSR open enrollment programmes at George Mason University in Virginia, USA; leads the Jeweler Ethical Trading System (JETS) which aims to reduce, inter alia, dependence on blood diamonds and developed an online course of CSR/Sustainability with the United Nations’ new CSR training centre in Antwerp – see: http://www.greeningtheblue.org/news/unitar-launch-new-line-course-csr.
Michael initiated the $100mn Qatar Youth Employment project with Sheikha Mouzah; was Member of the Advisory Council US Center for Citizen Diplomacy; Senior Adviser on Sustainability to the China based NGO – Women In Sustainability Action; and his company has joint ventures to develop CSR activities in West Africa (Nigeria), Pakistan, East Africa (Mauritius and Kenya), Jordan, Switzerland, USA etc. Michael also founded the CSR Meetups (see http://csrfi.com/csr-meetups ) which meet once a month and are now in London, New York, DC, Boston, Athens Greece, Geneva Switzerland, Dubai, Amsterdam and will be in other major cities soon. Do join the one in your area to mingle with like-minded folks and listen to some of the latest CSR and Sustainability thinking from top experts. Recently, Michael formed a consortium to offer GRI certified training courses across 18 countries in Africa.
Before working full-time with MHCi, Michael worked in the HQ of ITT in London, was Research Fellow at IDS, University of Sussex and Senior Economist at the ILO’s HQ in Geneva, where he introduced the ‘basic needs’ development strategy, its World Employment Report and was Secretary for all UN agencies Panel of Econometricians. During his time at the ILO he was Visiting Professor at the Universities of Uniandes and Valle in Colombia teaching labour economics, and was Chief Economist of the Netherlands Antilles where he directed its socio-economic plan that initiated today’s vibrant tourist market in Curacao.
He has also worked on developing and evaluating human resources and labour market issues in over 120 countries around the world, inter alia, Colombia, Brazil, Cote d’Ivoire, Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Dubai, South Africa, Malaysia, China, Philippines, Vietnam, Portugal, and Azerbaijan. A widely published author with 12 books and over 120 published articles – his most recent books on CSR were The Planetary Bargain: CSR Matters (Routledge, re-published 2010) and CSR and International Development (Routledge, republished 2010). His new book is CSR and Sustainability: A Text Book (Springer, Germany, 2015) where he widens the ‘corporate responsibility’ concept to all ‘bodies’ both private and public and focuses on the big issues affecting us all.
Credit card payment
You may pay by credit card or Paypal using the ‘Buy Now’ Button below. Alternatively if you wish to pay via bank transfer just write to us on enquiries@csrfi.com . As soon as we receive payment a username and password will be sent to your e-mail address and you may start when you wish.
