The aim of any business is to generate sustainable profits. The goal of sustainability is to achieve this while also minimising adverse impacts on society and the environment. Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives form part of a larger strategy of sustainability.

The importance of sustainability whether in the environmental field or the economic arena is paramount to global progression.

Recognising the busy schedules of professionals, EconoServ and Kulima Solutions have designed a series of sequential afternoon workshops aimed at highlighting the opportunities for your business that occur be embracing sustainability as well as monthly breakfast briefings to keep you up to date with sustainability news.

Workshops will run regularly, in order to fit in with your schedule, and are sequenced, allowing growth and development of knowledge as appropriate to your priorities and responsibilities.   Furthermore, the series of workshops is repeated throughout the year so that participants who wish to attend all 4 sequenced workshops can do so at any time.

The half day workshops will take place between 13h00 and 17h00 at the EconoServ Offices:

4^th Floor Willow Grove

Houghton Estate Office Park

Cnr. Louis Botha Avenue and Osborne Road

Telephone: 086 1 11 3094

Workshop outlines:

This session provides an introduction to sustainability, highlighting its evolution over time and the development of key concepts, including triple bottom line, corporate social responsibility and corporate citizenship.  It then highlights a variety of tips and mechanisms for promoting sustainability within your company, using case study examples from around the world.

After this session, participants will:

• be able to differentiate between various approaches to sustainability within the corporate environment
• be aware of a range of mechanisms to promote sustainability within their company

This session assumes no prior knowledge.

This session introduces the major reporting guidelines that exist in the field of sustainability, namely the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), AA1000, ISO 14001, and stock exchange indices from around the world.  Presentations will summarise the various guidelines and inclusion criteria, discuss the strength and weaknesses of the most commonly used reporting systems, and  provides a step-by-step guide to the indicators necessary for GRI compliance.

At the end of this session, participants will:

• have an awareness of the major sustainability reporting initiatives and benchmarks
• be able to identify the key indicator groups to report in accordance with the GRI

This session assumes no prior knowledge.

This session talks about the evolution of corporate social responsibility to corporate citizenship, and highlights the implications of this for what you do in your company to be sustainable, including sponsorships, staff volunteering opportunities, environmental risk management, branding and reputation.  It also shows you how to develop a roadmap of strategies and implementation for sustainability, and talks about the process for getting buy-in within your company.

At the end of this session, participants will:

• be aware of the various approaches to being sustainable, with examples from companies around the world
• have a roadmap for developing strategies and implementation plans for sustainability within their company

Attendance at "Introduction to sustainability and practical tips for your company" or other prior experience of sustainability is important for you to get the most benefit from this session.

Using a case study and working in groups, this session gives participants the opportunity to simulate the process of designing indicators that comply with the GRI.  Once the process is understood, EconoServ will demonstrate a computer-based reporting tool that can be adapted for collection and management of data required for a company's specific GRI indicators.

At the end of this session, participants will:

• be able to identify the key indicator groups to report in accordance with the GRI
• be able to put into practice the process of GRI-compliant sustainability reporting

Attendance at "Introduction to reporting and the GRI" or other prior experience of reporting frameworks is important for you to get the most benefit from this session.

We would like to keep up to date with current news for the breakfast briefings so we only have the first two topics. As soon as there are new developments we will work this into the briefing and will let you know in due time before our next breakfast. Bookings for these political breakfasts will be taken by contacting us on 0861 11 3094.

The first breakfast briefing will be on the 16^th of February and we will discuss The Copenhagen Climate Change Conference: process, outcomes and next steps

An update on the decisions made at Copenhagen, which countries committed to what, the implications of South Arica's commitment for internal energy and environment policy, and what this may mean for your business.

The following month the breakfast will take place on the 23^rd of March and will be discussing Practical Sustainability and Reporting

A basic introduction to sustainability and reporting aimed at business people with little or no background in the field.  It will also outline other Econoserv and Kulima training opportunities to allow business people to identify their needs.