TEN RULES OF THUMB FOR PUBLIC AUTHORITIES
3.2

The participation of all relevant stakeholders in the creation and implementation of actions is very important. Getting everybody’s point of view and consulting on draft strategies before rolling out any action is a critical success factor and reduces problems in the activity phase of CSR development.
Which stakeholders are to be involved depends on the challenges in any particular region. The business voice definitely needs to be represented and some at least of their stakeholders. The range of partners is certainly broader than the classical stakeholders of workers or shareholders. Others such as consumer organisations, NGO’s and representatives of local society can give the additional input to succeed in a broad strategy. In some cases it is difficult to be sure how representative any particular group may be of the interests they purport to represent – and even among business there is no monolithic voice. For CSR to be credible it must reflect a wide range of interests and public authorities need to take the time to involve them In many of the cases analysed we observed strong involvement of stakeholders in the CSR process.

Public and private partnerships play a stimulating role in creating initiatives in the field of CSR. Establishing new partnerships also develops new working methods and innovation. The classical top-down regulative approach can successfully be replaced by a more interactive bottom-up approach. In this model the government or public authority is one of a number of partners. They can act in a number of ways such as facilitating the process; or creating opportunities for other partners to develop initiatives through funding for example. To create a broadly accepted CSR-strategy we see benefits in the ‘jazz-scenario’ from the World Business Council on Sustainable Development in which all partners play an instrument in the CSR-jazz-orchestra. In the majority of the public initiatives analysed we found that considered creation of partnerships was a factor for successful regional initiatives.

For CSR to be accepted as a priority for action by a range of public stakeholders in the region, it needs first to be seen as a key objective of regional strategies to improve competitiveness and sustainable development. Then CSR activities need also to be seen to link directly with the economic, social and environmental goals of the region’s institutions and to deliver related outcomes. One challenge is to show how mainstream social and environmental programmes promoted by the public sector can have more impact by engaging businesses as key stakeholders. Another is to show how the social and environmental benefits such programmes are providing also benefit businesses and therefore give business leaders an incentive to take part.
In the local events in this project discussion frequently came back to the business case and the need for CSR to be integral to economic and sustainable development.

Where public bodies lead by example and address issues of their own organisation’s impacts and responsibilities they create more credibility and increase the chances of attracting other stakeholders to want to collaborate on CSR.
There are some high profile and effective ways to demonstrate your own commitment to CSR. Local and regional authorities themselves are procurers and investors and can set the example for more sustainable consumption and investment. Public procurement can function as a demonstration to convince others to do the same. Since public procurement budgets are so large they can exert a real influence throughout the supply chain. By ensuring sustainable criteria are embedded in procurement procedures and guidance the public organisations can both improve their own performance and stimulate the suppliers to act in a more sustainable way. Recent changes in the frameworks for public procurement provide increased opportunity to act in this area.

Other ways the public authorities can play an exemplary role include: within the workplace, for example operating effective diversity policies, or skills development programmes; in respect of the environment, for example becoming certified to EMAS or other standards; in corporate governance, for example using socially responsible criteria in their own investments, reporting their own CSR, and acting transparently. Many expect public authorities to develop their own good track record in CSR if they are to challenge businesses and civil society to do the same. In the experience of the consortium only a few of the ten members had seized this significant challenge, but those who did manage their own CSR saw it as a basic rule for implementing a CSR strategy.

It is important to allocate enough resources for the implementation and follow-up of the public CSR strategy. The resources in terms of finance and staff must be sufficient to fund activity among businesses and stakeholders to the point that the strategy gets a critical mass and momentum.

The resources needed are specific to each region and each strategy objective. But in many of the cases that we analysed, we know that a shortfall of resources is a threat to the implementation and impact of the strategy.

Implementing a CSR strategy is not a short-term project with short- term results. It concerns changes of culture and often behaviour among public authorities themselves as well as business managers, employees, suppliers, and citizens. Specific policies may target aspects of CSR and yield short-term outcomes, but the full value of a CSR approach appears to lie in a long- term strategy that is also grounded in the regional development strategy (see also rule 3).

Many of the initiatives identified do not show real results in the early years and long-term commitment is key to securing progress.

There is much successful practice in place to learn from and build on. Many businesses already have voluntary initiatives to implement CSR in their daily work. It is not always necessary to invent a new wheel. By working in partnership with business, voluntary initiatives and stakeholders (as mentioned in rule 2) you maximise the opportunities to learn of the successful practice on the ground, and to evaluate the opportunities to gear up such voluntary models.

The Partnership found that examples of such integrated learning and development appeared among the most successful initiatives.

‘Walk the talk, not talk the talk’. When implementing initiatives it seems crucial that the action points are relevant for the businesses and other stakeholders involved and that they meet their goals as well as those of the public partners.

It is a challenge to get away from dialogue into implementation and partners in the ten regions found many examples of problems in moving an initiative or strategy to the level of action. It goes back to the need for effective partnerships with clear understanding of each partner’s objectives and potential contributions, to ensure effective practice.

It is wise to have clear goals from the beginning. While freewheeling and experimenting help when giving shape to the strategy, there need to be clear objectives once the strategy is rolled and the measures of success should be seen as valuable and relevant by all relevant stakeholders.

By including visible goals, and milestones all partners are able to view progress, trim actions where necessary and contribute to the sustained momentum that delivers long term results. In several of the projects identified by partners the absence of an evaluation framework appears to have limited the energy behind the initiative, in others the provision of clear outcomes has helped to reinforce pride and commitment.

Telling people what action is being undertaken and what is being achieved strengthens the commitment of partners. Getting the terminology and the tone right can make a real difference. To motivate partners among business and in society to adopt CSR they need to understand the concept. If they do not readily associate with CSR, use the terms that they do relate to which might be corporate citizenship, sustainability or another variant. In the regions we found different terminology being used by public authorities, often not CSR.

To build enthusiasm about CSR there are key messages to share about business and society’s interest but if there is no communication, or if it is down beat, the value of any initiatives is limited. For business the commitment to communication in CSR is well understood, among public authorities it appears to be much less.