Social Investment in South Africa

The leadership of the ISO Working Group on Social Responsibility (ISO/WG SR) is now analyzing the results of a positive vote on the Draft International Standard (DIS) version of ISO 26000, Guidance on social responsibility, before taking a decision on whether or not the document should now progress to the status of Final Draft International Standard (FDIS).

The vote, by national standards bodies (NSBs) which are members of ISO, closed on 14 February. More than two thirds of the ISO members participating in the development of ISO 26000 – known as “P-members” – voted in favour of moving the document to the FDIS stage, and less than one quarter of the total number of ISO member bodies (including members not participating in the ISO/WG SR) were against. These are the two numerical criteria laid down by the ISO/IEC Directives for consensus acceptance of a DIS.

However, before drawing final conclusions, the ISO/WG SR leadership will analyze the result further, including the comments received from ISO members and from organizations with liaison status to the working group. These liaison organizations are associations representing business, consumers or labour, and include both inter-governmental and non-governmental organizations. They do not have voting rights, but can participate in developing ISO 26000 and comment on the document.

The voting results and comments are being analyzed, and a final decision is expected end of February. 

If the decision is positive, the document will then be published with any modifications agreed on as an FDIS in the third or fourth quarter of 2010. The text of the FDIS cannot be prepared before the next meeting of the ISO/WG SR in Copenhagen, Denmark, in May 2010. The official target date for publication of ISO 26000 as an ISO International Standard is by the end of 2010, but the schedule is rather tight and it may be necessary to revisit this date at the Copenhagen meeting.

ISO 26000 will provide harmonized, globally relevant guidance based on international consensus among expert representatives of the main stakeholder groups and so encourage the implementation of best practice in social responsibility worldwide. The guidance in ISO 26000 draws on best practice developed by existing public and private sector SR initiatives.

The ISO/WG SR is made up of experts from ISO members (NSBs) and from liaison organizations. Membership is limited to a maximum of six experts per NSB and two experts per liaison organisation.  In total, the group comprises 436 participating experts and 195 observers from 94 ISO member countries and 42 liaison organizations.

■For more information on ISO 26000 and the ISO Working Group on Social Responsibility, see the dedicated Website: www.iso.org/sr.

We get a lot of enquiries about how does one go about contacting the “Dis-Chem Foundation” which is a CSI / CSR initiative out of pharmacy chain Dis-chem.

You can find out more information on them via the Dis-Chem website at www.dischem.co.za and there is an e-mail address listed below. I tiny piece of feedback is that they should try and do a bit more to promote themselves. They are tucked away on the Dis-Chem site but a simple Google search still finds it difficult to pull up their details.

The write-up on the Dis-Chem Foundation describes the initiative as follows:

To provide care and support to improve the lives of individuals in their environments with their specific needs, and in so doing, relieve the burden of those around them.

“The Dis-Chem Foundation has been established so that we at Dis-Chem Pharmacies can continue to grow our commitment to our customers and extended communities.  In a country that is so needy on different levels, the Dis-Chem Foundation will assist people in need and our motto is ‘one- on-one caring for the community’”  said Lynette Saltzman, Director of Dis-Chem Pharmacies.

The aim of the Dis-Chem Foundation is to select individuals to whom we can offer specific relief in different circumstances. In this way we are relieving the burden of supporting them from family friends and communities, therefore our efforts are more far-reaching than merely caring for the chosen few.

The Foundation’s aim is to help people whose faces and names you will come to know and whose stories will become a part of your life. We will follow their progress so you are able to feel the positive impact that assistance from the Foundation has made.

The Dis-Chem Foundation is a part of Dis-Chem Pharmacies Benefits Programme, a customer loyalty programme whereby members get benefit points on what they spend in the stores, and at the same time Dis-Chem puts a percentage into the Foundation Fund.
 
The main endeavor of the Dis-Chem Foundation is to help people in various circumstances for example: financial, lifestyle improvements, educational needs, health attention etc.

Requests for assistance can be emailed to foundation@dischem.co.za

Probably one of the best Social Responsibility projects in South Africa are the OutSurance Pointsmen.

I haven’t seen them around since getting back to JHB 10 days ago and I hope that the initiative has not been stopped as they made an enormous difference to the lives of South Africans who have to sit in massive traffic backlogs throughout the day.

Basically the initiative involves dispatching pointsmen on bright green scooters to busy intersections to try and assist with the flow of traffic. It really does work and can cut as much as 30 minutes off of my time to and from work when they are at intersections on our route.

Productivity up, less stress (less road rage) etc.

Please carry this on in 2010!