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In search of sustainability

The road of Corporate Social Responsibility in Latin America


and AVINA Foundation’s contribution

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IN SEARCH OF SUSTAINABILITY. The road of CSR in Latin America and AVINA Foundation’s contribution

INDEX
Presentation ................................................................................................................................................. 5
Executive summary ...................................................................................................................................... 7
Timeline: CSR in Latin America ................................................................................................................... 10

Methodology
a. Focus ......................................................................................................................................... 13
b. Approach ................................................................................................................................... 14
c. Content structure ....................................................................................................................... 15

I. THE TRODDEN ROAD


In search of sustainability
1. CSR’s beginnings in Latin America ............................................................................................ 19
The road of Corporate Social Responsibility in Latin America and AVINA Foundation’s contribution
2. CSR’s evolution in Latin America .............................................................................................. 20
2.1 Pillars of CSR’s evolution ........................................................................................................ 20
2.1.1 Organizations and networks ................................................................................................. 21
AVINA Foundation 2.1.2 Concepts ............................................................................................................................... 27
Chairman: Brizio Biondi-Morra 2.1.3 Tools ..................................................................................................................................... 31
CEO: Sean McKaughan 2.2 Behavior changes .................................................................................................................... 36
Director of Continental Initiatives: Valdemar de Oliveira Neto 2.2.1 About the changes in the private sector .............................................................................. 36
CSR Program Director: Marcus Fuchs 2.2.2 About the changes in other social players .......................................................................... 42
CSR Team (2008-2010): Andrés Abecasis, Edgard Bermúdez, Eduardo Rotela, Eulalia Pozo,
Heiver Andrade, Mauren Carvajal, Pamela Ríos, Paulo Rocha, Valeria Freylejer II. AVINA FOUNDATION’S CONTRIBUTION
1. The mission of AVINA and CSR ................................................................................................. 47
2. Strategies of intervention for CSR’s development ................................................................... 49
Consulting 2.1 Focus on social capital ............................................................................................................ 50
2.2 Focus on financing .................................................................................................................. 57
Project direction: Mercedes Korin
2.3 Contribution on the basis of the pillars of the CSR movement ............................................. 60
Associate researcher: Yanina Kinigsberg
2.3.1 Organizations and Networks ................................................................................................ 61
Research assistant: Natalia Gimena Martínez
2.3.2 Concepts .............................................................................................................................. 62
Collaboration: Andrea Vulcano, Graciela Cereijo, Jaquelina Jimena, Mariela Strusberg 2.3.3 Tools .................................................................................................................................... 64
3. AVINA’s influence on CSR’s evolution ...................................................................................... 65
Design: Romina Romano
Cover photos: Eduardo Mercovich, iStockphoto, stock.xchng III. IN SEARCH OF SUSTAINABILITY
Translation into English: Jorge Reparaz 1. How far we have reached today ................................................................................................. 73
1.1 CSR’s present scenario in Latin America .................................................................................. 73
ISBN: 978-99967-632-0-5 1.2 About the fields where CSR is promoted ................................................................................. 75
1.3. Development agendas: signs from initiatives with AVINA’s participation .............................. 77
This study is available at www.avina.net 2. How far we can reach tomorrow ................................................................................................ 81
2.1 The need for a new model ....................................................................................................... 81
To quote this study: 2.2. A feasible road ........................................................................................................................ 82
AVINA Foundation and Mercedes Korin. AVINA Foundation, Buenos Aires, March, 2011.
A point of view ............................................................................................................................................. 85

Copyright © 2011, AVINA Foundation. All rights reserved.


ANNEXES
A. Interviewees ............................................................................................................................... 89
B. Interview and poll methodology ............................................................................................... 93
C. Timeline detail: CSR in Latin America, the 2000s ..................................................................... 95
D. AVINA’s contribution in publications ........................................................................................ 101

RECORD DOCUMENTS .................................................................................................................................. 103

ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS OF ORGANIZATIONS ............................................................................... 111

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IN SEARCH OF SUSTAINABILITY. The road of CSR in Latin America and AVINA Foundation’s contribution PRESENTATION

Presentation

CSR in Latin America - The Trodden Road


When I was invited by the United Nations to call and coordinate a group of leaders from multinational
companies in preparation of the so-called “the Earth Summit” in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, Corporate
Social Responsibility (CSR) was hardly talked about in the world. The concept was just being forged,
although some pioneering companies were beginning to worry about the impact of economic activities
on society and the environment. Our dialogue led to the creation of the World Business Council for
Sustainable Development (WBCSD), an organization that currently has the active participation of some
two hundred companies and a network of over 50 business associations in nations on all continents.
It was from the reflection of business associations, WBCSD among others, that the concept of CSR
began to gain increasing visibility and strategic importance, both for business and for the common
good and sustainability.

I believe we can state that in the past two decades, it has become rather obvious the need for a
business view more aware of the limits of natural resources and the demands of societies imposed
on companies. That is why the publication of this book is so timely. Since 1992, the manufacturing
companies have become aware of the fact that their responsibilities go beyond the returned obtained
by their shareholders, and those at the forefront have found that concepts such as CSR, eco-efficiency,
triple bottom line, and inclusive business are key to their ability to thrive in a world of growing scarcity.
It is perceived that the discourse of companies has changed and so have many of their practices,
although oftentimes not in the same proportion. What progress has been made over the years? What
remains to be done? These are open questions that motivated AVINA to produce this publication.

Since I decided to create the AVINA Foundation in 1994, its purpose has been to contribute to
sustainable development in Latin America, promoting alliances between civil society and business
in pursuit of the common good of their communities, countries and Latin America as a whole. In its
early years, AVINA began to support and promote leaders and organizations of the CSR movement,
first in some specific countries and then throughout the region. To AVINA, it has been fertile ground
for dialogue between sectors, trust-building between stakeholders and business players and joint
collaborative action as not only companies should thing of their social responsibility, but all sectors
of societies should be committed to ethical conduct and the common good. In order to improve
conditions in our societies, it is necessary to build bridges of cooperation between the business
community, civil society and governments.

It was in this spirit that AVINA, since its foundation in 1994, has invested resources and efforts in
promoting CSR across Latin America. AVINA is part of a growing list of organizations and business
associations, actively promoting CSR by means of investments in its strengthening, intellectual
production, collaboration among sectors and links among organizations that work on the issue of
social national and international networks.

Some accomplishments of this coalition of leaders and organizations can be seen in reality. A little
over ten years ago, CSR was often confused with companies’ philanthropic activities and their work
with the community. Some business people bestowed a more strategic interpretation on it, laying the
foundations for the emergence of the first business organizations focused on transparency, ethics
and management practices in the region. This book makes it clear that great strides have been made,

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IN SEARCH OF SUSTAINABILITY. The road of CSR in Latin America and AVINA Foundation’s contribution EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

although there is still a great deal of work to be done. In fact today there might be more opportunities Executive Summary
than in the past for companies to help build more equitable and sustainable societies on the basis of
responsible and innovative business practices.
The survey In search of sustainability. The road of Corporate Social Responsibility in Latin America and AVINA
Foundation’s contribution explains corporate social responsibility in the last three decades, with the focus
AVINA has carried out the study presented here as a contribution to the reflection of the many players
on its evolution at a regional level and in the early years of the 21st century.
and organizations that are responsible for the progress of CSR in Latin America. It is a record of the
trodden road, another contribution to the learning of our region and, above all, a call to join forces
The survey begins with a Timeline that shows the various milestones of CSR in Latin America. It includes
to define strategies for the future. This study represents a collection and systematization of data,
the development of organizations and networks, concepts and tools, highlighting those to which AVINA
analysis of publications and the conduction of 76 interviews with key people in the subject within the
was related.
regional context.
The survey is divided into three parts: Part I, “The trodden road”; Part II, “AVINA Foundation’s contribution”;
I would like to thank the people and organizations that provided the raw material of this study that and Part III, “In search of sustainability”. In each of these parts, record documents and the testimonies of
complements and validates AVINA standpoint. They are the main players of this account that, without 76 CSR experts consulted in 17 countries throughout 2010 were used. This job was done by a consulting
a shadow of a doubt, does not finish here but continues its evolution with renewed significance for team led by Mercedes Korin, under AVINA Foundation’s supervision.
the region.
Part I, “The trodden road”, starts with CSR’s beginnings in Latin America and the peculiarities of this region,
Stephan Schmidheiny and goes on deeper into the subject through three “pillars of evolution” taken into consideration for this
Founder of AVINA study (Organizations and Networks, Concepts and Tools), looking into the changes in business and social
behavior.

The pillar of Organizations and Networks refers to the players from different fields that promote CSR.
This includes from institutions aiming at CSR as their very purpose (mostly business association) to those
including this subject matter with other objectives in mind (such as academic institutions). It also includes
collaborations among players institutionalized through subject-related networks, territorial ones, those in
a particular field or multisector networks. The pillar of Concepts refers to well-established definitions, from
philanthropy to sustainability, and dissemination mechanisms (events, publications, specialized media),
which have been spreading and increasing drawing power. Lastly, the pillar of Tools refers to CSR evaluation
and management tools, both integrated and specific models (finance, environment, among others).

Part I ends with the research on behavior changes. Regarding the private sector, the main motivations
for change are attempted to be determined, and data and statistics reflecting the increase in companies
adopting international sustainability principles, standards and report models, even when not translated
into improved responsible competitiveness indicators in the region as of yet, are provided. Regarding the
changes in other players of society, the wide spectrum of views on CSR is shown, from joining multi-player
spaces in the subject and civil society approaching this concept (monitoring corporate practices, outside
supervision of sustainability reports, alliances for sustainable development) to the gap between consumers
and this subject who, if interested, often show such interest through a purchase decision.

Part II, “AVINA Foundation’s contribution”, begins with Stephan Schmidheiny’s view on the transformation
potential shown by the development and coordination of social and business leaderships and, in line with
this concept, AVINA’s creation and, then, the VIVA Trust (trust set up by AVINA and GrupoNueva).

The second section of Part II describes AVINA’s intervention strategies for the development of CSR,
approached from its central focuses (social capital and financing), plus the main services of the organization
in terms of the promotion of the subject and AVINA’s characteristics, with sets it apart. Furhter on, CSR-
promoting initiatives are classified on the basis of the contribution to each pillar of evolution. In the pillar of
Organizations and Networks, initiatives seeking the setting-up, strengthening, coordination and strategies
for the start-up, launch, structuring, financing, evolution and territorial expansion of organizations. Within the
pillar of Concepts, CSR promotion strategies in events, publications, evaluations and dissemination of best

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IN SEARCH OF SUSTAINABILITY. The road of CSR in Latin America and AVINA Foundation’s contribution

practices are included as well as the fostering of dialogue and participation, the support of research, awards
and competitions, the dissemination in the media, and training. In the pillar of Tools, AVINA’s intervention
methodologies, which contributed to the development of self-regulatory tools, certifications, indicators,
guidelines and indexes as well as implementation models, including the generation of innovative cases,
were analyzed. After going over AVINA’s strategies, the impact of the organization on CSR development in
Latin America is shown, based on the rating of the people interviewed for this survey, with a quantitative
and qualitative systematization that rates it as “High” and some suggestions made to AVINA regarding
goals and strategies for CSR and its sustainability.

Part III, “In search of sustainability”, is divided into two sections: “How far we have reached today” and
“How far we can reach tomorrow”. In the first part, CSR’s present scenario in Latin America is detailed,
taking into consideration the region’s own characteristics; the subject is analyzed on the basis of CSR-
promotion field, showing then stance of companies, CSR organizations, academic institutions, civil society
organizations, the media, the government and society. AVINA’s present approach towards the role of
companies in sustainable development agendas, including some of its initiatives in this regard, is also
described.

The second section of Part III includes a reflection on the need for a new model, considering that there is a
favorable platform for a change of paradigm although it is still necessary to stimulate those who have not
adopted a responsible management culture. Signs and opportunities of a likely way to achieve this change
through the consolidation of the region are shown as well as the development of innovative and effective
solutions, the implementation of objective reward mechanisms for responsible behavior and punishment
for irresponsible behavior, society’s empowerment, the establishment and consolidation of global alliances,
and the change from a reactive to a proactive attitude by companies.

The sections completing this survey are: Methodology; “A point of view”, which wraps the survey and
includes comments on the process of this research; record documents, and a list of acronyms and
abbreviations of the organizations herein mentioned. The annexes show a list of the experts interviewed
and their significance in their own countries, fields of work and links to AVINA; data on the methodology
of interviews and polls; a detail of the Timeline that goes through the 2000s; and AVINA’s contribution
shown in some publications.

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IN SEARCH OF SUSTAINABILITY. The road of CSR in Latin America and AVINA Foundation’s contribution TIMELINE

TIMELINE: CSR IN LATIN AMerica

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IN SEARCH OF SUSTAINABILITY. The road of CSR in Latin America and AVINA Foundation’s contribution METHODOLOGY

Methodology

a. Focus
The purpose of this survey is to deal with the evolution of the subject of Corporate Social Responsibility
(CSR) in Latin America and AVINA Foundation’s contribution, with the focus on the past ten years. Thus,
it expects to give a chronological and continent-wide view not very much shown so far as there are few
studies with consolidated information among the different countries in the region, and with a historical
perspective.

Due to this fact, we were faced with the following questions:


• How has CSR been developing in Latin America throughout this decade? Which have been the
milestones; which have been the most emblematic organizations and initiatives? Which has
been CSR’s contribution to Latin America in this decade? Has the constitution of social capital
and knowledge to improve people’s life standards through better behavior been one such
contribution?
• What has been AVINA’s contribution to CSR in Latin America during this decade? Which were
the strategies adopted? Which were the focuses and outcomes? What do CSR experts think of
the job done by the organization?
• Which is CSR’s present scenario in Latin America and where does the trend seem to be
heading? What considerations might be taken into account for CSR to be a driving force
towards sustainability taken into account the region’s particularities?

Thus, the first part of the survey deals with CSR’s overall evolution, the second part analyzes AVINA’s
contribution to such evolution and the third part explains possible trends on the basis of the current
scenario.

Here are some facts in order to define the scope of the survey:

CSR’s scope. By CSR it is meant the CSR subject matter, that is, the practice of a culture of responsible
management by companies, and those organizations and networks, concepts and tools that contribute to
the promotion of CSR.

Continent-wide view. The goal was to establish a Latin American view through the analysis of facts,
initiatives and processes constituted as regional from the very beginning, and of the analysis of facts,
initiatives and processes taking place in each country, but which have a regional nature since they inspired
or were inspired by similar situations in other countries. The focus was on countries where AVINA has been
present in the course of these years; that is, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador,
El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay. By Latin America is
meant, interchangeably, Latin America and the Caribbean or just Latin America, based on the information
available; this is how the terms “regional” or “continental” must be understood, except in cases in which
“regional” refers to a particular region within Latin America, which is clarified by the context where the
term appears.

Period. As to the period spanned, the last ten years of CSR promotion was considered (the 2000s),
however, the previous periods are also taken into consideration (especially in Part I) and forward-looking
trends (especially in Part IIII). The decision of going deeper into this decade is due to the fact that it shows
the greatest Latin American activity in the CSR field, which can easily be observed in Organizations and
Networks, Concepts and Tools making up the Timeline of CSR in Latin America. This Timeline highlights the

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IN SEARCH OF SUSTAINABILITY. The road of CSR in Latin America and AVINA Foundation’s contribution METHODOLOGY

milestones in the regional development —broadly speaking in the 1980’s and 1990’s and year over year, in The interviewees were chosen along with AVINA Foundation aiming at a significant diversity in terms
the 2000’s—, important facts as they show drawing power and were innovative, with an impact, replicable of countries, fields of work in the promotion of CSR (business associations, AVINA’s current and former
and/or explain trends. members, corporations, civil society organizations, academic institutions, the media, and the public sector/
cooperation); and different links with AVINA (AVINA’s allies, AVINA’s former representatives, AVINA’s local
Initiatives and their products. The CSR promotion initiatives included in the survey are mentioned since their representatives, AVINA’s top management members, others). Thus, interviews with the following experts
existence allows explaining the evolution of the analyzed pillars (Organizations and Networks, Concepts, (organized by they country home countries)3 were done:
Tools). They are not evaluated by their quality or outcome on a stand-alone basis.
Argentina: Alberto Willi, Alejandro Langlois, Carlos March, Carmen Olaechea, Claudio Giomi, Fernando
Institutional Perspective. One of the most important legacies from the leaders boosting CSR in Latin Barbera, Gabriel Griffa, Karina Stocovaz, Luis Ulla, Mariana Caminotti, Silvia D’Agostino. Bolivia: Álvaro
America was the creation of institutionalism reflected in organizations and networks. This allows the survey Bazán, Andreas Noack, Eduardo Peinado, Gabriel Baracatt, Leslie Claros, Lourdes Chalup, Maggi Talavera.
to directly deal with institutions without overlooking the job done by leaders and pioneers that enabled Brazil: Francisco Azevedo, Geraldinho Vieira, Helio Mattar, Jair Kievel, Maria de Lourdes Nunes, Oded
the movement to be put into motion, progress and be consolidated. Grajew, Paulo Itacarambi, Sean McKaugan, Susana Leal. Chile: Francisca Tondreau, Gilberto Ortiz, Guillermo
Scallan, Hugo Vergara, Marcos Delucchi Fonck, Paola Berdichevsky, Rafael Quiroga, Soledad Teixidó, Yanina
Impacts. The impact of CSR promotion is considered mostly in terms of behavior changes. While there Kowszyk, Ximena Abogabir. Colombia: Bernardo Toro, Diana Chávez, Emilia Ruiz Morante, María López,
are not enough objective indicators to reliably show a behavior change in companies, since usually the Roberto Gutiérrez Poveda. Costa Rica: Luis Javier Castro, Olga Sauma, Rafael Luna. Ecuador: Camilo Pinzón,
companies themselves (and a group in particular) provide their own data in a systematized way, the opinion Jorge Roca, Juan Cordero, Ramiro Alvear. El Salvador: Roberto Murray, Rhina Reyes. England: Simon Zadek.
of the experts plus some other research allowed performing an analysis and were also meaningful sources Guatemala: Guillermo Monroy. Honduras: Roberto Leiva. Nicaragua: Matthias Dietrich. Panama: Andreas
to approach the changes in both social and business behaviors. AVINA’s impact on the CSR movement was Eggenberg, Marcela Álvarez Calderón de Pardini, Teresa Moll de Alba de Alfaro. Paraguay: Beltrán Macchi,
measured taking into account AVINA’s contribution to the milestones and the emblematic organizations and Diana Escobar, Ricardo Carrizosa, Susana Ortiz, Yan Speranza. Peru: Baltazar Caravedo, Bartolomé Ríos,
networks, and the interviewees’ perception of its importance. Carlos Armando Casis, Felipe Portocarrero, Henri Le Bienvenu, José de la Riva. United States: Aaron Cramer,
Estrella Peinado Vara, Terry Nelidov. Uruguay: Carmen Correa, Eduardo Shaw, Enrique Piedra Cueva, Rubén
Casavalle.
b. Approach
With each of the experts consulted, a 1 1/2-hour deep and confidential interview was carried out, which
This survey was done throughout 2010 by a team of consultants made up of eleven professionals involved additionally included a brief poll4. Forty-nine interviews were performed in-person and 27 virtually.
in different tasks: design of methodology and development of guidelines and information and interview
approach methodologies; evaluation and analysis of documentation; development and processing of
interviews and polls; analyses of the opinions obtained; writing and edition; graphic design; translation c. Content structure
into Portuguese and English. The job was supervised by a team from AVINA Foundation, which provided
systematized information on the organization and made a first institutional contact with the interviewees. The analysis of the information and the opinions were approached based on five components. Three are
pillars of evolution (the Organizations and Networks, the Concepts and the Tools) and two are resulting
The survey was mostly based on two types of sources whose information was organized by classification ones: the outcome of such evolution (Behavior changes) and the outcome of AVINA’s contribution (AVINA’s
categories adapted from Mapeo de Promotores de RSE en América Latina (www.mapeo-rse.info). On the one impact). The three pillars of evolution allow organizing the recount in order to analyze the relation between
hand, existing publications about CSR (integrated or of each of its areas) in the region and Internet sites CSR’s evolution and AVINA’s contribution, while the components of the resulting ones seek to determine
with relevant historical information1, as well as AVINA’s institutional documents and information furnished the impact of CSR in general and that of AVINA in particular.
by the organization on investments in CSR made largely between 1999 (when it published its first annual
report) and 20092. Also, 76 significant experts, continent-wide and/or country-wide, were consulted. Thanks The pillar of Organizations and Networks includes the emergence and strengthening of the major
to the interviewees’ excellent willingness to help, it was possible to: organizations and networks involved in CSR in the region. The pillar of Concepts refers to the initiatives that
• adjust the finding aids during the trial period of such aids; helped conceptualize, disseminate, and establish CSR. The pillar of Tools spans the evolution of the CSR
• complete and confirm the information on CSR’s evolution to be included in Part I; application, evaluation and communication instruments. The component of Behavior aims to explain the
• constitute the perception of AVINA’s contribution, which is in Part II; current impact of the issue in terms of both corporate and non-corporate behavior changes. The component
• establish suggestions so that the CSR movement strategies and AVINA’s in particular, could of AVINA’s impact aims to reflect AVINA’s effect on CSR evolution. The mentioned components constantly
efficiently contribute to drive companies to be part of the sustainability process. overlap each other; they are only set apart with the purpose of organizing the analysis.

The content of this survey is structured in three main parts: CSR evolution, AVINA’s contribution and current
situation and trends of sustainability. The first and second parts allow evaluting the relationship between
1  See “Record documents”.
AVINA and CSR through the three pillars of evolution defined for this survey (Organizations and Networks,
2  The initiatives supported by AVINA and mentioned in this survey mostly received an economic investment from AVINA, in addition
to other type of support such as collaboration in the planning process, contacts, etc. When initiatives in which AVINA made economic
investments are mentioned in this survey, the companies in which such investments were made are mentioned, as well as the year in 3  For further details about the interviewees and their profile, see Annex “A. Interviewees”.
which the investment began and the home country of such organization. 4  For further details about the interviewing methodology, see Annex “B. Interview and poll methodology”.

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IN SEARCH OF SUSTAINABILITY. The road of CSR in Latin America and AVINA Foundation’s contribution

Concepts and Tools), and through the CSR Timeline in Latin America (in its brief version and, in Annex C,
in its detailed version).

The first part, “The trodden road”, is divided into two parts: CSR’S beginnings in Latin America, with the
origins of CSR; and CSR’s evolution in Latin America from two perspectives: the evolution pillars of the CSR
issue and the behavior changes in the private sector and in players from other areas.

The second part, “AVINA Foundation’s contribution”, is divided into three pats: AVINA’s interest in Latin
American CSR as its raison d’être; the organization’s strategies, with its focus on social capital and financing
PART I
and with its outcomes, and taken from the perspective of CSR evolution (complemented with Annex D
about publications linked to AVINA); and AVINA’s effect on CSR development. THE TRODDEN ROAD
The third part, “In search for sustainability”, analyzes how far we have reached today, showing CSR’s
present scenario in the region, the areas from which it is promoted, and initiatives with AVINA’s participation
that explain the new development agendas, and moves on to look into how far we can reach tomorrow,
presenting trend signs, opportunities and challenges faced in order to achieve sustainability.

The survey ends with the section “A point of view”, made up of comments on the survey process made by
the consulting firm that led it, the annexes, the record documents and a list of acronyms and abbreviations
of the organizations mentioned.

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IN SEARCH OF SUSTAINABILITY. The road of CSR in Latin America and AVINA Foundation’s contribution PART I. THE TRODDEN ROAD

1. CSR’s beginnings in Latin America


In Latin America, the philanthropic link between businesses and society has existed for centuries, derived
from the bygone “On assistance to the poor” and charity from the 16th to the 19th century, when charity
works gained momentum mostly fostered by religious institutions. As from the early 20th century, such
business-community relation developed within a local context characterized by the presence of small- and
medium-sized companies, usually family-type, which used to make donations. Such deeds used to be
based on the religious, ethical and moral values of the owners of such companies. With the owners’ money,
companies helped charities and public hospitals, supported sports associations or promoted art.

In the second half of the 20th century, international consensuses such as the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights, the International Labor Organization (ILO) Declaration regarding the Fundamental Principles
and Rights at Work and the United Nations Guidelines for Consumer Protection, the globalization of the
economy and the progress of information and communication technologies unleashed the expansion of the
concepts of sustainability and social responsibility, gaining greater force in the last two decades.

As antecedents we can see some pioneering social reporting models: the Asociación Chilena de Seguridad
(ACHS), created in 1975 and based on a French model, was the first internal social balance in Latin America
and measured different factors such as the companies’ working life quality. Another pioneering case in
the region was that of Colombia, based on the ILO’s Social Balance Model, elaborated by the Asociación
Nacional de Empresarios de Colombia (ANDI), along with the Cámara Junior de Colombia (CJC), in 1987. And,
during 1997, the Instituto Brasileiro de Análises Sociais e Econômicas (IBASE) created its own model of
Social Balance and Peru’s ILO its Manual of Social Balance, in association with the Confederación Nacional
de Instituciones Empresariales Privadas (CONFIEP), based on Colombia’s version.

The region’s particularities


In the past few decades, Latin America, with its peculiarities and the increasing importance of global
issues, has constituted the framework within which Corporate Social Responsibility gains momentum in this
region. A very brief overview of this scenario:
• Democracy is the widespread type of government, crucial in most countries, to advanced social
participation, the generation of social capital for sustainability and steady legal security. But
progress is slow, affecting fundamental questions such as labor conditions, the access to basic
services and the development of environmental sustainability.
• Latin America enters the global economy adopting various international trade-opening policies.
• The States keeps showing scarce effective mechanism controls of business behavior and barely
any legislation and incentives related to CSR issues.
• Business, influential both in its own environment and at a national level, lives along with large
foreign multinationals with great weight in production and labor, a growing number of trans-
Latin companies and a huge number of small- and medium-sized companies, which account for
a significant part of the private sector and job creation and which are, many of them, family-
owned.
• Civil society becomes increasingly organized under different forms and with the support of the
new information and communication technologies.
• Social inequality, poverty and unemployment account for the region’s main problems.

Sources: www.eclac.org | www.worldbank.org | www.oas.org

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IN SEARCH OF SUSTAINABILITY. The road of CSR in Latin America and AVINA Foundation’s contribution PART I. THE TRODDEN ROAD

Throughout the 1990’s —with an increasingly competitive global market demanding to meet new labor higher level of supply than demand for tools, and a systematic and complete application of CSR by the Latin
and environment standards, and with growingly fast information dissemination worldwide, which made American business sector as a whole still seems unlikely, which it is logical due to the lack of a regional
irresponsible practices more visible and put the spotlight on multinationals operating or outsourcing its coordinations in other aspects; a feature that differentiates Latin America from other regions.
operations in less-developed regions—, corporations started to notice that the focus on pricing, innovation
and publicity was not sufficient. In comparison with previous decades, the CSR movement has shown faster progress since the turn of this
century, highly influenced by international standards and incipient local developments that attempt to
Philanthropy became social investment, with resources from companies destined to the nearby environment, respond to the specific needs of each country in the region.
as a medium-term planned strategy. The objective was to improve the relationship with their workers, the
community and their overall reputation, seeking to generate confidence since business started to see the Latin American CSR already has numerous organizations promoting the subject. Each country has at least a
benefits of having the community as a potential ally and the risks of the opposite. But under the current CSR specific organization that might have been set up for such purpose or might have existed previously,
conditions, it was not enough either. but was rechanneled into this subject. There are also civil society organizations and, to a lesser extent public
agencies working on CSR from one of its areas in particular such as environment and labor practices. A
This resulted in an analysis that took us from the question “What can business provide to society?” in terms professional field around CSR has emerged: among others, organizations’ staff devoted to this, consultants,
of philanthropy or social investment to the question “How should a corporation behave?”. academicians.

From this new approach, there were businessmen who started to work on the concepts of sustainability and The CSR concept advances in terms of expansion, depth, and segmentation for various business sectors
corporate citizenship. These pioneers that put forward responsible practices, took part in the construction through different dissemination and debate means: each country has national congresses, meetings,
of organizations and networks, fostered sector agreements and alliances with the purpose of being “peers workshops and/or conferences, awards, recognitions, and CSR indexes. There are also important national
calling on peers”, according to many of the people interviewed for this survey. and regional indexes, first-steps manuals and other implementation tools.

A milestone in this sense was the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in 1992, However, the concept is established above all at a theory level and the supply of tools is higher than its
known as the Rio Summit or the Earth Summit, which managed to establish in the world agenda the concern demand as the experts consulted for this survey agree. No massive implementation has been achieved
about global warming, the concept of eco-efficiency and the need to have public and private policies to do nor has an overall transformation in business management taken place except in isolated cases at those
with environmental management. This Summit, which drew representatives from 172 nations and 2,400 civil companies leading the subject.
society organizations, was the stage for a meeting among business leaders willing to work to necessary
conditions for a CSR culture in business practices, called by businessman Stephan Schmidheiny who thinks This is a process with progress, stagnation and backward steps, built heterogeneously. In turn, as at a social,
“There is no successful enterprise in a failed society”. As part of this process, the World Business Council cultural, economic and political level, in Latin America there are significant CSR differences among countries
for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) was consolidated later in time, an organization acting in different and, even within each country. Thus, as countries face different degrees of evolution, methodologies and
countries in Latin America, which, at first, primarily focused on environmental issues and then became complexity in social and environment terms, there are differences in their approach since in many cases
involved in Corporate Social Responsibility as a whole. CSR is still, in practice, associated with philanthropy. There are also organizations and initiatives with their
own CSR objectives coexisting with others that use the concept for other ends.
By the end of the decade, while proposals for the implementation of CSR were being put forward, such as
the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and the standard SA 8000 (both in 1997), in Latin America, national Each country’s regional context, particular history and situation are regarded by most of the people
organizations promoting CSR, wholly or in some of its areas, began taking shape. Out of them, the Instituto interviewed as a driving force of CSR in Latin America. Economic crises and social conflicts are mentioned
Ethos de Empresas e Responsabilidade Social, set up in Brazil in 1998 by a group of businessman that in Argentina, Bolivia or Chile, while Paraguay and Peru highlight social needs and demand solutions from
had been working at the think tank Pensamento Nacional das Bases Empresariais (PNBE) was one of the businesses. In turn, particular questions in some countries, such as agricultural reforms and crises in the
earliest organizations to approach CSR and it is the most emblematic of Latin American institution within agricultural sector, influenced the way in which CSR evolves in each place although there is consensus
the movement as agreed by the people interviewed for this survey. on the fact that there are no measures which, isolated, might have brought about a fundamental and
significant change in the CSR movement.

2. CSR’s evolution in Latin America In some Latin American countries —like Argentina, Bolivia and Chile, as experts in CSR interviewed for this
survey state— CSR was a movement that was born or is stronger in the provinces due to a need and an
2.1 Pillars of CSR’s evolution opportunity channeled from the interior of the countries to the capitals, or, which in any case, there were
trends responding to the needs of the interior of the countries and others to the needs of the capitals.
When looking at the three pillars of evolution, we can see that the formation of organizations shows
important antecedents, which were strengthened throughout the decade under analysis and that has
2.1.1 Organizations and networks
moved towards the coordination and formation of networks. Meanwhile, at the level of Concepts and Tools,
theory and international standards are adopted combined with incipient local developments. Whereas from
The pillar of evolution of the Organizations and Networks looks into the emergence of major organizations
a conceptual point of view, progress is being made towards consensuses on the need for an overall CSR
devoted to CSR in the region that, with different origins, make up the CSR movement’s institutional base
and the search of sustainability, when it comes to implementing responsible practices, criteria differ, a
in Latin America. During the first decade of the 21st century, this base expanded and diversified, generating
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IN SEARCH OF SUSTAINABILITY. The road of CSR in Latin America and AVINA Foundation’s contribution PART I. THE TRODDEN ROAD

initiatives of inter- and intra-sector coordinations, strengthening and creating continent-wide networks.

Evolution of CSR organizations: Fundema’s case


CSR organizations
Most of the track record of CSR organizations in the region is clear by taking the first institutions that
emerged as there are common denominators in terms of the way they drew companies, the diversification
The formation of organizations in Latin America has one of its main antecedents in different associations
of the supply and the alliances to increase the scope. In this sense, here it is described the evolution of
of business leaders (many times linked to religious communities as the Christian one) and in business
Fundación Empresarial para la Acción Social (Fundemas) from El Salvador.
associations initially promoting philanthropy. It was in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s that CSR-specific
Created in 2000 by a group of Salvadorian business people with the purpose of contributing to their
organizations were created (which often include “CSR” in their name) and some pre-existing ones
country’s sustainable development, Fundemas, by 2009, was made up of individuals, companies, 11 unions,
incorporated this concept into their objectives such as the Asociación de Empresarios Cristianos (ADEC) in
12 foundations and 7 universities. By this time, it was incorporated into Forum Empresa, boosted the
Paraguay, the Asociación Cristiana de Dirigentes de Empresa (ACDE) in Argentina, the Asociación Cristiana
Red Centroamericana para la Promoción de la RSE (currently, IntegraRSE), and established alliances with
de Dirigentes de Empresa (ACDE) in Uruguay, Perú 2021, the Asociación Empresarial para el Desarrollo
organizations like Accountability (the United Kingdom) to carry out surveys on responsible competitiveness
(AED) in Costa Rica.
in the region.
As many other Latin American organizations, it started to operate with the contribution from
Simultaneously, global organizations like WBCSD and initiatives such as the United Nations Global Compact
the W.K.Kellogg Foundation and private partners. And, as it also happens with major CSR promoters, it
promoted the creation of national spaces in Latin American countries while networks began forming, many
has strategic allies such as the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the German cooperation agency
of which currently identified as major promoters of CSR.
Internationale Weiterbildung und Entwicklung gGmbH (InWEnt), the United Nations Development Programme
(UNDP) and the US Embassy.
The number of companies (generally large and multinationals) that join this type of organizations started
Having developed a CSR management model, according to their own figures, it has made over
to increase as time went by and the proposals began diversifying and deepening. Today, the organizations
10,000 people aware in ten years through the publication of 165 articles in specialized media, 11 practical
face basically two challenges: On the one hand, to support themselves, assuming that the financing from
guidebooks and 4 CSR surveys, in addition to the documentation of 170 cases of good practices, 194
companies supporting them is not stable, and that, unlike other kinds of non-profit organizations, having
events, 36 workshops and 163 talks.
economic support from companies does not imply an exchange of services, in these cases the relation
In this decade, Fundemas has worked on a diversity of CSR-related aspects: with companies of
is different. On the other hand, to be updated on the new trends while they still stimulate companies
various sizes —large-, medium-, small-sized and microenterprises—, in CSR areas such as child labor and
that have not been incorporated into the CSR system, raising their awareness and advising them on the
environment, in sectors such as construction, in public-private alliances, in the development of tools such
implementation.
as standardization methods, along with other Central American organizations, of the IndicaRSE indexes or
the elaboration of conduct codes.

The growth of CSR business associations Source: Fundemas. Memoria de Sostenibilidad 2009. 10 años Fundemas. Por + competitividad responsable
The increase in the number of companies interested in being part of a business-nature CSR organization
is clear when analyzing the evolution of companies joining this type of institutions. Such increase shows
that to companies, mostly big ones, being a member of a group specialized in CSR adds value, since they
Most of the institutionalization of the CSR movement started with the initiative of individual or small
can interact with their peers, being updated and take part in debates on the movement.
groups that led up to the creation of organizations based on their founders’ views and which are currently
Forum Empresa, a continent-wide alliance of CSR business institutions in the whole of Latin America
regarded as emblematic institutions. These leaders knew how to stimulate those who were emerging and
set up in 1997, concentrates 16 national business associations from Latin America that show a significant
help multiply their acts.
rise in the number of their member companies. According to information from Forum Empresa provided
for this survey, if the difference among companies adopting CSR between the year each organization was
While most pro-CSR business association concentrate big companies and have largely emerged in country
established and in 2009 is taken into account, we can see a 586% increase, from 385 empresas to 2,643.
capitals, there are groups that have a small-sized company nature and originated in the interior of each
Leading this increase is the Instituto Ethos de Empresas e Responsabilidade Social, from Brazil, which
country —with owners of companies either native to the area or from neighboring areas in which the group
started with 11 companies in 1998 and in 2009 had 1,340, followed by the Centro Mexicano para la Filantropía
was created—, as was the case in Argentina, where after several years they formed the Red Argentina de
(CEMEFI), from Mexico, which had 28 companies when it was set up in 1998 and in 2009 concentrated 495;
RSE (RARSE).
Acción RSE, from Chile, set up in 2000 with 14 companies and which in 2009 had 93. Other organizations
also showed a significant increased percentage: Fundación del Tucumán (Argentina, 1985) and Fundemas
(El Salvador, 2000) grew by 400%; DERES (Uruguay, 1999), 316%; FundahRSE (Honduras, 2004), 275%;
and AED (Costa Rica, 1997), 144%. A CSR national coordination with a small-sized company nature and a federal perspective
Another quantitative analysis of the degree of representation of these organizations is by considering In 2007, in Argentina, a group of business people —mostly owners of small- and medium-sized
the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) percentage that related companies add. For example: the annual billing of companies— progressed in the setting-up of a federal-nature network, a National Movement of Companies
Instituto Ethos’s member companies comes to approximately 35% of Brazil’s GDP and related to CentraRSE for CSR, with the purpose of creating a space for debate among business people who think that there are
32% of Guatemala’s GDP. other feasible ways of producing and consuming that might benefit society, working on the basis of local
Sources: Forum Empresa, for this survey | www.ethos.org.br | www.fundahrse.org realities.

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IN SEARCH OF SUSTAINABILITY. The road of CSR in Latin America and AVINA Foundation’s contribution PART I. THE TRODDEN ROAD

Established in 2010 as Red Argentina de RSE (RARSE), it is made up by the Consejo Empresario de
Entre Ríos (CEER, Entre Ríos), Foro Patagonia, Gestión Responsable (Córdoba), Marcos Juárez (Córdoba),
Minka (Jujuy), Movimiento hacia la RSE (MoveRSE, Rosario), Nuevos Aires (Buenos Aires), Pacto San Juan Early support to the CSR leadership: the Leadership in Philanthropy Program
(San Juan) and Valos (Mendoza), in alliance with the Instituto Argentino de RSE (IARSE). The W.K. Kellogg Foundation is one of the donor organizations that most boosted CSR in the region
The network’s aim is to create an environment for cooperation, share lessons and help other business from its very beginnings through financing and and other kind of support. Its Leadership in Philanthropy
groups that might decide to adopt CSR in their areas and have national and international significance to Program, implemented since 1997, has worked as a hotbed of CSR leadership evolution: it started providing
affect public policies. support and making cooperation easier among 28 people on scholarships from different origins and
backgrounds, from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Panama, Mexico, Peru and the United States, who
Source: www.fororse.org.ar
were seeking to develop corporate responsibility —at the time applied basically as philanthropy— in their
own countries.
With the framework of this program, the project Ação Empresarial Pela Cidadania (AEC) was set up in
Brazil, and in 2003, with the added support of the AVINA Foundation, the Núcleo de Articulação Nacional
An increasing number of networks are promoting CSR with various characteristics (achieving a CSR federal
(NAN) was formed with the purpose of bringing together existing CSR centers in inner Brazil created within
perspective in a given country, promoting the subject in academic institutions as shown further on, etc.).
the framework of the industrial federations.
On the subject of business associations, the network formed in Central America stands out as it has as its
In Brazil, the Kellogg Foundation supported organizations such as the Associação Brasileira dos
main goal to contribute through CSR to the integration of a bloc of countries.
Fabricantes de Brinquedos (Abrinq), founded by Oded Grajew, who in 1998 together with other business
people founded the Instituto Ethos de Empresas e Responsabilidade Social, and contributed to the first
steps of the Grupo de Institutos Fundações e Empresas (GIFE).
Central America: CSR as an integration factor of a bloc of countries
The Red Centroamericana para la Promoción de la RSE (currently, Red para la Integración Sources: www.wkkf.org | Núcleo de Articulação Nacional - Federação das Indústrias do Estado de Minas Gerais (FIEMG). Nan,
Centroamericana por la RSE, IntegraRSE) is created in 2003 when leading business people in Central Núcleo de Articulação Nacional. Ação Empresarial pela Cidadania. Brazil.
American countries decided to adopt a joint approach towards CSR through the job of national organizations
involved in the issue: Asociación Empresarial para el Desarrollo (AED, Costa Rica), Centro para la Acción de
la RSE in Guatemala (CentraRSE), Fundación Hondureña de RSE (FundahRSE), Fundación Empresarial para Diversity of players in CSR promotion
la Acción Social (Fundemas, El Salvador), SumaRSE (Panamá) y Unión Nicaragüense para la RSE (UniRSE).
They jointly concentrate 418 member companies. In the course of time, the diversity of players promoting CSR grew in Latin America, which, with different
The network has made progress in the dissemination of CSR (there were six ConvertiRSE conferences backgrounds and interests, joined the first CSR-specific organizations and international initiatives.
between 2002 and 2010, in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama)
and in the development of implementation instruments with a CSR self-evaluating indicator system for Numerous civil society organizations assumed that the CSR concepts allowed facing the work with
Central America, IndicaRSE, based on the indicators created by CentraRSE and applied since 2009, when companies in such a way that it might yield higher strategic results (previously the relationship was
189 companies took part. Additionally, it is implementing the project “Integrated management systems basically one of philanthropy or in monitoring or denounce). This is when the network Red Puentes
focused on CSR for small- and medium-sized companies in Central America” along with the Internationale Internacional emerged, set up in eight Ibero American countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, El Salvador,
Weiterbildung und Entwicklung gGmbH (InWEnt), training consultants and providing consultancy services Mexico, Peru, Spain and Uruguay) by 43 civil society organizations specialized in different subjects like
for this type of companies. labor practices, transparency, consumers, environment, fair trade, economic and social development, micro
The groundwork laid among organizations has enabled the business sector represented in the network and small enterprises, citizen participation, and gender. The Red Puentes Internacional was created with
to regularize a cooperation link with the Secretaría General del Sistema de la Integración Centroamericana The Netherlands’ support, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Novib cooperation agency. In
(SICA) —an intergovernmental agency created by the States of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, 2005, it was recognized as a non-governmental liaison organization in the international ISO 26000 working
Nicaragua and Panama—, for the CSR development to be one of the factors that might contribute to the group on social responsibility, contributing its opinions to this elaboration process and cooperating with
SICA’s end, that is, Central America to be a region of peace, freedom, democracy and development. other experts and observers.

Sources: IntegraRSE. Visión: Estado Actual de la RSE en Centroamérica (in elaboration process). | www.sica.int
Universities, in turn, created university chairs, programs and later centers for research and training in this
subject. Among them, the Instituto Centroamericano de Administración de Empresas (INCAE) in Costa Rica
and the Universidad del Pacífico (UP) in Peru appear as the main academic institutions mentioned by the
In the interviews, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the AVINA Foundation appear as the institutions that interviewees. On the academic scene, in turn, networks such as Social Enterprise Knowledge Network
knew how to visualize and sustain the importance of the support to the movement first through their (SEKN), and more recently, the Red Iberoamericana de Universidades por la RSE (Red UniRSE), were set
leaders and then through the organizations and networks they created. With already-existing organizations, up, seeking to establish methodologies in common for questions like the development of case studies and
the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) through the Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF) is also attached training of trainers.
an important role due to its CSR programs for value-chain small- and medium-sized companies of large
companies. Made up of a group of business schools of Ibero America in alliance with the AVINA Foundation, SEKN
has specially worked on evaluation, conceptualization, knowledge dissemination and training in subjects

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IN SEARCH OF SUSTAINABILITY. The road of CSR in Latin America and AVINA Foundation’s contribution PART I. THE TRODDEN ROAD

of inter-sector alliances, social enterprises and inclusives businesses. Among its publications, three de Empresas (INCAE), Asociación Empresarial para el Desarrollo (AED), Ministry of National Planning and
books published by Harvard University Press and the IDB stand out: Social Partnering in Latin America Economic Policy, Oikocredit, AliaRSE, Instituto de Fomento y Asesoría Municipal (IFAM), Instituto de Normas
(2005), Effective Management of Social Enterprises (2006), and Socially Inclusive Business: Engaging the Técnicas de Costa Rica (INTECO), the AVINA Foundation, the School of International Affairs, the Universidad
Poor through Market Initiatives in Iberoamerica (2010); and a collection of 70 teaching cases published by Nacional de Costa Rica, the Confederation of Cooperatives of the Caribbean and Central America (CCC-CA).
Harvard Business School Publishing. Honorary members: the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Costa Rica, the Costa Rica
Ombudsman, the Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional para el Desarrollo (AECID), the Spanish
New communication or CSR-specialized dissemination media began to emerge —regional ones like Embassy in Costa Rica and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ).
ComunicaRSE, which initially centered on Argentina and later expanded its focus to Iberoamerica, or
national ones like Stakeholders magazine in Peru— or massive media that started to include CSR sections Source: www.ccnrs.com
or supplements, like La República, in Colombia.

In contrast with the diversification of organizations in the above-mentioned areas, there is a consensus,
2.1.2 Concepts
among the interviewees, on the shortage of public agencies involved in CSR promotion and on the need to
adopt responsible criteria both in policies and tax schemes and public management.
The pillar of evolution of the Concepts refers to the initiatives that helped conceptualize CSR, establish the
subject in the public agenda, draw people and organizations, build consensuses and generate social capital.
There are countries in which, throughout the decade under study, national agencies were set up to boost
It encompasses dissemination, academic research, conferences, visibility events, specific publications,
CSR-related areas, for example, national committes to foster clean production through public-private
media coverage, awards and recognition.
cooperation (Consejo Nacional de Producción Limpia in Chile, Centro de Eficiencia Tecnológica in Peru,
Centro de Producción Más Limpia in Uruguay). Or, within the framework of the review of the Guidelines of
Established definitions: from philanthropy to sustainability
the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in 2000, the National Contact Points
in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico y Peru to promote the recommendations of governments to multinational
The whole CSR conception, which considers all its areas, is today reflected in the diverse definitions
companies with voluntary principles and regulations for a responsible corporate behavior in tune with the
generated by the most important organizations involved in this subject and regional meetings, and includes
existing legislation.
some local touches. But CSR as such began in Latin America with imported concepts, a high influence from
international agencies, multinationals and tools from developed countries; in turn, as in other regions, it
With this diversity of fields in which CSR is developed, coordination between sectors is increasingly usual
was in tune with the global conception of eco-efficiency and clean production, fostered by the Rio Summit
in Latin America. To the innovative alliances between companies and civil society organizations —well
92 by the WBCSD with the focus on the private sector. Such focus, expressed in the book Changing course:
beyond the philanthropic nature that used to link them—, public-private alliances were added plus an
a global business perspective for development and environment, by Stephan Schmidheiny and the WBCSD,
increasingly deep job among civil society organizations, companies and public agencies. The growth of
started to gain force in the decade we are centering on.
organizations and the coordination ability led to a strengthening of the movement through regional, intra-
sector and inter-sector integration, in several cases with networks being consolidated that, when sharing
While concepts referring to environment gained momentum, the term philanthropy was being displaced by
knowledge, paved the way for countries lagging behind through conceptual and methodological packages
that of social investment or that of CSR, almost interchangeably and confusingly. By the late 1990’s, (and
that simplified processes for organizations and business.
still today in many cases), CSR was understood as punctual cases, largely infrequent, from the company
towards the community, towards a particular group of the population or towards the environment.

Multisector cooperation: The Consejo Consultivo Nacional de Responsabilidad Social in The association between sustainability and responsible business practices in Latin America started to gain
Costa Rica force in the first decade of this century, when the social development and economic development concepts
Since 2008, Costa Rica has had the first national multi-sector advisory committee for social began to turn into sustainable development, and companies’ overall management process was expected to
responsibility of Latin America. This is the Consejo Consultivo Nacional de Responsabilidad Social (CCNRS, take the “triple bottom line” (economic, environmental and social) as a parameter for its decisions and risk
national advisory committee for Social Responsibility), an alliance of public and private organizations and assessment. The leitmotiv of this stage, as identified by the interviewees, was the win-win concept, which
the civil society with the purpose of generating a platform of constant and sustainable integration to define refers to the acknowledgement of the interdependence between businesses and community, especially in
an agenda of social responsibility. While it emerged boosted by the CSR subject, the CCNRS opted to focus not always stable contexts as the Latin American ones.
on the term “social responsibility”, which refers to a concept of co-responsibility reaching every player over
and above its field. While the CSR subject was progressing, an answer to Latin America’s particularities, not considered or
The inter-sector nature of CCNRS allows for the interaction among diverse areas and this joint work somewhat overlooked in global developments, was being sought. Thus, specific approaches were adopted
boosts measures, experiences and efforts around Costa Rica’s social responsibility. The purpose is to have in issues like labor conditions, poverty, lack of access to basic services; in particular types of companies
some weight in the design and implementation of public policies through alliances, socially responsible like the small- or medium-sized ones and cooperatives; and in diverse regions, like Central America. Within
production chains, the demand for transparency and accountability and institutional strengthening. Latin America’s own frameworks, existing rules began to be adapted and new ones created.
The CCNRS is made up of full members and honorary members. Full members: Ministry of Economy,
Industry and Trade, Chamber of Industries of Costa Rica, CEGESTI, Instituto Centroamericano de Administración Just as in organizations and networks, Latin America’s characteristic diversity prevents continent-related

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IN SEARCH OF SUSTAINABILITY. The road of CSR in Latin America and AVINA Foundation’s contribution PART I. THE TRODDEN ROAD

generalizations about the development of concepts associated to CSR and their interpretations. The and diversification of these dissemination instruments and places, with some expanding its scope, from
appropriation of CSR varies on the basis of the socio-cultural, economic and political realities of each a national one to an international one, like ComunicaRSE and the Mapeo de Promotores de RSE, initially
country, and even within different territories in a given country, or still among different players in different with the focus on Argentina and today with an Ibero American and Latin American scope, respectively.
fields or the diversity of business sectors in a very same area. Upon going over some reference publications The conferences specialized in CSR reflect —at least at a theoretical level— the conceptual way of CSR,
devoted to the subject, it is possible to see that by 2005 there was no common definition of CSR in Latin from philanthropy to sustainability. In Latin America, the people interviewed regard as most emblematic
America, but this was precisely one of the core issues at debates, discussions, conferences and meetings. the conferences organized by the Ethos Institute (national since 1999 and international since 2005) and
The Ethos Institute is presented as one of the main leaders with foresight, but as it is so interwoven with the Inter-American ones organized by IDB (which started in 2002). They also mention the Central American
Brazil’s reality, the interviewees regard this view as far from the possibilities of the other countries in the conferences, ConvertiRSE (since 2002), and then each interviewee refers to the national ones in their own
region, which hinders the scope expansion of its models. country. The regional conferences have been a means of being updated, meeting peers and defining goals
for CSR professionals and experts. They have been the breeding ground for knowledge and horizons, with
When listening to the interviewees’ opinions, based on the reality of their own countries, we can see that the views of inspiring visionary, oftentimes subsequently invited to national events in each country.
CSR has different interpretations and is applied in different ways and degrees of depth, albeit, in the past
few years, the trend has seemed to be taking on a continent-wide general interpretation common to all the
major CSR organizations, which coincides with the international advance towards the idea of sustainability. Evolution of CSR meetings: the IDB Conferences
Regional conferences allow showing how the proposals on this subject have been evolving as well
Today, it is common to see the CSR subject present at meetings of the private sector or at those of social as their drawing power. For example, let us take a look at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)
organizations. This means that, at least, the companies and groups participating in these events know Conference, created with a continent-wide focus
the existence of CSR, have a rough idea what it is all about or, at least, heard of the terminology even The various subjects to do with CSR are clear in the Annals of the successive Conferences: in 2002
though using the same words they might refer to different approaches or there might not be coherence integrated reports was started to be discussed; in 2003, the application of CSR to human resources and
between their theory and their practices. In contrast, while it is somewhat unusual to hear companies say the opening of new markets at the base of the pyramid; in 2004, companies’ environment responsibility;
that their only obligation is to pay salaries and taxes, Latin American medium-sized companies —and big in 2005, there is a reference to sector developments (mining industry and hydrocarbons) and to the public
companies too— still present a deep lack of information, a high degree of prejudice and still associate sector responsibility with CSR; in 2006, the fight against corruption is considered; in 2007, albeit with
CSR with philanthropy or even with a marketing strategy rather than with a model of the whole business antecedents in previous years, free trade treaties are important issues and they also mention the need
management process. for the private sector to get involved in malnutrition subjects and the development of inclusive business
(which was dealt with more deeply in 2008 and 2009 during the world economic crisis); in 2009, the climate
In this context, by the late 2000’s, the relation between CSR and sustainable development is beginning to change.
merge in the sustainability concept while there are still debates put forward by those who think CSR should As regards drawing power, the table shows the increase in the total number of participants between
be obligatory, regulated and controlled by the states, and those who think that getting to the point of a the first and last conference, and how the number of Latin American participants increased proportionally
transparent self-regulation is part of the very same corporate responsibility. A controversy associated to (with the caveat that the first conference took place in Miami, the only occasion outside Latin America).
this subject is who should finance the necessary investment to achieve sustainability, (for example, changes
in the energy matrix). Simultaneously, from different CSR promotion areas, the need for public policies Participants at the IDB Inter-American Conferences, 2002 and 2009
stimulating the implementation of responsible practices is often requested.

2002 2009
Along with the progress of the concept of sustainability, there is an incipient debate on the need to Participants
give CSR “a twist”. Organizations like the WBCSD and, in Latin America, the Ethos Institute, are putting Number % Number %
forward their view of a development model for the years to come to do not only with corporate behavior, Latin America and the Caribbean 256 50,89 657 88,18
but also with the review of the habits of individuals and institutions as well as the rules of the game in Other regions 247 49,10 88 11,81
interactions in order to achieve a deep transformation, taking into account that processes take a long time TOTAL 503 100 745 100
and that the poverty figures, climate change and crises as the financial one show the need for a change
Source: Own elaboration based on IDB/MIF information provided for this survey.
is increasingly urgent. Among the people interviewed, some agree with this strategy while others remark
that the important point is to keep working on the basic concepts established so far and the use of the Fuentes: Annales of the IDB Conferences, from 2002 to 2009 | www.csramericas.org
tools already developed as most companies in Latin American countries are still not aware and, much less
so, apply a whole CSR process. Therefore, the debate seems to revolve around the co-existence of both
strategies and put forward the same question, whether it is necessary to aim at more drastic changes or At the same time major CSR conferences start, the interest in the subject translates into the increase in
keep the process moving without disrupting it. academic research, initially aiming at reviewing, studies and dissemination of best practices cases. A case
in point is SEKN, which in 2001 was a pioneer in its continent-wide approach towards alliances between
Dissemination mechanisms companies and other players.

Since the 1990’s, CSR is disseminated and debated in publications, conferences, congresses, the media In the course of time, sector studies on companies and their CSR behavior started to emerge, just about
and events promoted from different CSR-related areas. Throughout the last decade, there was a growth in
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IN SEARCH OF SUSTAINABILITY. The road of CSR in Latin America and AVINA Foundation’s contribution PART I. THE TRODDEN ROAD

always at a national level, with some continent-wide view as is the case of the overview of the media by ECODES, and Fundación Chandra).
the Fundación Nuevo Periodismo Iberoamericano (FNPI), which analyzed 37 companies with almost 120 This research showed increased space devoted to the subject, but also a superficial approach and
media in 13 Latin American countries. low intensity, and a deep lack of information reflected in the contents. For example, the analysis of the
monitoring processes show that it is far more usual to find information about the relation of companies in
terms of social investment or philanthropy than data about their relation with other groups such as supliers,
workers or public service agencies. This seems to indicate lack of knowledge of CSR in general terms and
Publications focused on multinational companies: Spain’s interest
a bias when taking as responsible practices those applied to the community and not towards inside of the
Outside of Latin America, Spain was the most pro-active country in generating publications about
companies except in questions of cooperative voluntary work (which also includes among their activities a
the region, specially aiming at raising awareness and providing tools for multinational companies (many of
link with the community). Thus, they become involved in certain contents such as donations, volunteering
which Spanish), through cooperation institutions like the Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional
and charity, and there are scarce examples of those related to models of good labor practices, full exercise
para el Desarrollo (AECID) and the Fundación Carolina and organizations like Fundación Ecología y Desarrollo
of the rights, economic, social and cultural inclusion in value chains, among others strategic questions of
(ECODES) and the Observatorio de la Responsabilidad Social Corporativa. Especially after 2006, there were
CSR in businesses. In the same line, companies are often a source of information, but not the interest
publications focused on: the relation between Spain and Latin-America regarding CSR; the private-public
groups involved, such as workers, consumer associations and suppliers.
agreement; corporate practices against corruption, companies’ contribution to the Millennium Objectives of
The outcome of the monitoring of the media clearly showed the need to encourage the critical
Development; studies on the value of Spanish companies in the region; CSR interlocutors in Latin America.
perspective and train media professionals in CSR. In this sense, various Latin American organizations
promote the subject among journalists, seek to cooperate in a network, give training courses and grant
Sources: www.fundacioncarolina.es | www.ecodes.org | www.observatoriorsc.org
awards to the best media coverage. As a common denominator, they suggest a transversal approach of
responsible practices within the context of sustainability from every area focused on in the media.

Among the remarkable mechanisms for CSR promotion, most of the interviewees highlighted awards since Sources: www.avina.net | FNPI, AVINA Foundation, Fundación Carolina and Pontificia Universidad Javeriana. La otra cara de la
companies regarded them as a communicable result, of public domain, of their practices. The increase in libertad. La responsabilidad social empresarial en medios de comunicación de América Latina.
the number of companies applying for different competitions in order to obtain recognition shows that,
for companies, being “socially responsible” represents a value. A pioneering case in Latin America was
the Empresa Socialmente Responsable (ESR) emblem, launched in 2001 in Mexico by Alianza por la RSE
(AliaRSE) and the Centro Mexicano para la Filantropía (CEMEFI), and expanded in 2009 along with Forum 2.1.3 Tools
Empresa to include a regional methodology. Other awards and recognitions mentioned are those granted
by organizations such as Centro para la Acción de la RSE in Guatemala (CentraRSE), the Corporación The pillar of evolution of the Tools comprises the progress in the necessary tools to apply, measure
Boliviana de RSE (COBORSE), the Ethos Institute or Perú 2021. Also, in the course of time, awards to quality and communicate CSR. Indicators, social reports, standards, indexes, certifications, conduct codes,
and excellence incorporated CSR criteria, such as the cases of Costa Rica, Argentina and Chile (in the last sector developments, regulations, public policies and legislations. It also comprises the training and
two cases they are part of public policies). professionalization of this subject, essential to apply and optimize the tools.

Regarding the CSR media coverage, along the years the space devoted in traditional media increased Integral models
although with a superficial content and an uninformed approach, which shows lack of information as
reflected by the surveys in Ibero America fostered by the AVINA Foundation in the first decade of the In its pillar of Tools, the Timeline allows distinguishing a process that begins with the emergence of tools
2000’s. At the same time, the presence of CSR in the media is clear when the Observatorio Uruguayo de that, in different degrees, contribute to the CSR process. At the beginning of 2000s, international proposals
Medios was created and among its responsibilities was to audit CSR issues. On the other hand, several headed by GRI and the principles of the UN Global Compact set the tone, and at the same time the Ethos
publications in different formats specialized in the subject emerged, disseminating companies’ practices, Institute indicators were launched. The presence of these instruments expanded. As from 2000, the UN
providing an agenda of events and training centers and disseminate the debates coming up. Global Compact local networks were created in the region (first, in Paraguay, and then, in Argentina,
Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Panama, and Peru), and in 2009, the
Regional Center in Latin America and the Caribbean started to support the UN Global Compact. By 2007,
GRI established in the Ethos Institute its first Focal Point in the world with the purpose of coordinating the
The communication of CSR according to the mass media
measures on the continent, and is presently developing a media sector supplement together with FNPI,
The information disseminated through the media is considered a potential driving force of CSR. With
the AVINA Foundation, he Journalism Studies Program at Pontificia Universidad Javeriana de Colombia.
this purpose in mind, in 2007 the monitoring boosted by the AVINA Foundation in eight Ibero American
As to Ethos indicators, they were adapted to the region’s different countries, and then they had a Latin
countries of CSR coverage in the traditional media (newspapers, magazines, radio and television) was made
American version within the framework of the CSR Latin American Program (Programa Latinoamericano de
known. The research was started by the AVINA Foundation with a qualitative and quantitative research
RSE, PLARSE).
methodology developed by the Agência de Notícias de los Derechos de la Infância (ANDI) and the Instituto
Ethos de Empresas e Responsabilidade Social, which they carried out in Brazil and, along with local
organizations, in Argentina (Wachay), Bolivia (Fundación Emprender), Chile (La Aldea), Ecuador (Quito’s
Chamber of Commerce), Paraguay (Agencia Global de Noticias de Global Infancia and Red de Empresarios
para el Desarrollo Sostenible, REDES), Peru (Toulouse-Lautrec) and Spain (Fundación Ecología y Desarrollo,
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The increase in the supply of renowned models helped companies that had adopted CSR individually to unify
criteria and be able to review, measure, compare, plan and communicate their actions. Meanwhile, just as
The evolution of the Ethos indicators tools increased, so increased the number of professionals interested in offering companies their application
Among Latin American indicators for CSR process, the most remarkable due to their scope are those and the companies’ need to train their staff in these subjects. This led to a rise in CSR workshops and
lauched by Instituto Ethos de Empresas e Responsabilidade Social in 2000. The Ethos indicators were first seminars; the proposals of academic training (such as the case of the universities the network Red UniRSE
created for Brazil and then, translated into Spanish based on the adaptation of the Instituto Argentino de concentrated), which incorporated the subject into traditional careers and opened post-graduate courses;
RSE (IARSE, 2005 and subsequent editions), and adapted for Perú 2021 (2006), the Corporación Boliviana sector training courses (as that of the Vincular center in Chile with the fruit-producing sector) and the
de RSE (COBORSE, 2009) and the Asociación de Empresarios Cristianos (ADEC, 2009), in Paraguay. courses on the use of CSR indicators. There has been a gradual increase in the professionalism of CSR and
The Latin American version of the indicators was launched within the framework of the Programa the new traditional-career graduates start to reach the labor market with a wider-scope view of companies,
Latinoamericano de RSE (PLARSE), an initiative promoted by AVINA Foundation, Forum Empresa, the of their responsibility, risks and competitiveness.
Organización Intereclesiástica de Cooperación al Desarrollo (ICCO) and the Ethos Institute, which has the
cooperation of ADEC (Paraguay), CECODES (Colombia), CERES (Ecuador), COBORSE (Bolivia), Ethos Institute Presently, international tools coexist with local ones (the latter, in tune with global standards), while
(Brazil), IARSE (Argentina), Perú 2021 and UniRSE (Nicaragua). the process of the ISO 26000 guide, significantly present in Latin America, sought to provide Social
In turn, the Ethos Institute joined forces with sectorial organizations to develop specific indicators, Responsibility with a homogeneous framework.
thus creating indicators for bread and pastry production, restaurants and entertainment, paper and cellulose,
mining, banks, oil and gas, public transportation, civil construction, newspapers, franchises. It also carried
out, together with the Serviço Brasileiro de Apoio às Micro e Pequenas Empresas (Sebrae), various editions
of indicators for micro- and small-sized companies, also with adaptations in Spanish by IARSE, for small- The ISO 26000 process
and medium-sized companies. The process of debate of the new ISO 26000 standard on Social Responsibility, boosted by the
Part of the CSR subject evolution can be seen through the various editions of the Ethos indicators. International Organization for Standardization (ISO) agency, started in 2003 due to the importance the
In the 2003 version, for example, some aspects were incorporated like customer and employee privacy subject gained and the diversity of tools and it had the support of representatives from several countries
protection, some questions like the elaboration of the social balance were reinforced, the value of diversity, and sectors, to be finally approved in 2010.
remuneration policies, benefits and career path. A year later, points related to corporate governance, fair Latin America had an important presence in the process, which was reflected in analysis documents
trade, moral harassment and forced labor were added. In 2005, the new issues were: sustainability in as in a survey commanded by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and
forestry economy and citizen construction by companies. The 2006 version incorporated the Business- the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) performed in 2006, Avances en la discusión
Child Development Index, about life quality and children’s rights indicators, and reinforced diversity by sobre la ISO 26000 en América Latina: Precedentes para apoyar el proceso ISO en la Región.
committing to racial and gender equity. There is also a deepening quantitative process as in the 2009 In figures, if we consider the seven international plenary meetings marking the ISO 26000 process
version there are 5 general indicators more than in the 2000 version and, within the general indicators, the in 2005-2009 (in Salvador de Bahía, Bangkok, Lisbon, Sydney, Vienna, Santiago de Chile y Québec5), Latin
binary indicators increased from 66 to 294 and the quantitative indicators grew from 55 to 169. America’s presence relative to the other regions represented 22% with 376 participants over a total of
1,701. Thus, the region ranks above Africa, North America and Oceania; and below Europe and Asia.

Sources: www.ethos.org.br | www.centrarse.org | www.iarse.org | www.coborse.org | www.peru2021.org | www.adec.org.py |
www.plarse.org

While these instruments were gaining ground consolidated, several international standards like the SA 8000
(Social Accountability International, SAI, connected with labor rights and value chains, carrying out training
programs for workers in countries like Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Honduras, Mexico and Costa Rica since 2001)
or the Accountability 1000 (known as AA 1000, incorporates the participation of the interested parties in
the process and which opened an office in Brazil), became consolidated. In turn, national instruments or
adaptations of existing instruments to the Latin American reality started to be developed.

Based on the above-mentioned initiatives, models began to be created in almost all the countries on the
continent, carried out by local business associations and specific CSR organizations. CSR-related elements
began to appear like implementation manuals and questionnaires of self-evaluation from Acción RSE in
Chile, Desarrollo de la Responsabilidad Social (DERES) in Uruguay, Centro Colombiano de Responsabilidad
Empresarial (CCRE) in Colombia, Fundemas in El Salvador, Perú 2021, Instituto Argentino de RSE (IARSE),
Consorcio Ecuatoriano para la Responsabilidad Social (CERES) in Ecuador, and CentraRSE in Guatemala Source: Own creation based on the minutes of the ISO 26000 international plenary meetings, on www.iso.org
(validated in 2008 for Central America), among others. By the mid 2000s, the first official CSR regulations
started to appear, pioneers in Latin America, like those in Brazil (NBR 16001, in 2004), Mexico (NMX- SAST-
004-IMNC-2004, in 2005), and then in Colombia (GTC 180 RS, in 2008). 5  The last meeting, organized in 2010 in Denmark, is not included as the data were still not available at the time of the survey.

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Upon analyzing the presence by Latin American countries, we can see that Brazil shows the highest For example, we detail the instruments for the financial sector and instruments for the environment
number of participants, followed by Argentina, Chile, Mexico and Colombia. management, which stand out due to the variety of existing proposals.

Latin American participants by country


Sustainable finances
Country Number of participants % of Latin America The “sustainable finances”, a set of financial products and services that take into account economic,
Brazil 112 29,79 environmental and welfare aspects, show that markets started to expand their concept of the business, of
Argentina 63 16,76 the risks and the dimensions to consider when appraising the companies.
Within this trend, in 2005, the Índice de Sostenibilidad Empresarial (ISE) (Index of Corporate
Chile 50 13,30
Sustainability), created by the São Paulo Stock Exchange (BOVESPA), together with various Brazilian
Mexico 42 11,17 institutions linked to the CSR. The ISE BM&FBOVESPA —called like this since in 2008, when BOVESPA
Colombia 29 7,71 merged with the Stock Exchange of Goods and Futures (BM&F)— comprises approximately 40 companies
quoting on such stock exchange, with the focus on corporate governance. The index was originally financed
Costa Rica 17 4,52
by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and its methodological design was in the hands of the Centro
Peru 15 3,99 de Estudios en Sostenibilidad de la Escuela de Administración de Empresas de São Paulo belonging to the
Venezuela 15 3,99 Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV-EAESP).
In the international context, in 2003, the Principles of Ecuador were launched, a framework for
Uruguay 11 2,93
financial institutions based on the IFC guidelines, a World Bank institution. Unibanco (Brazil) was the first
Ecuador 6 1,60 Latin American bank (and the first in a developing country) to adopt the Principles of Ecuador in 2004.
Bolivia 5 1,33 By June 2010, out of 67 banks that had adopted such principles, 13% (9 banks) were established in Latin
America (4 from Brazil and the rest from Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica and Uruguay). In 2005, the
Santa Lucía 4 1,06
Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) were added, an joint initiative between the United Nations and
Barbados 2 0,53 global investment funds. By June 2010, out of 70 signatory institutions, 48 are from Latin America and the
Cuba 2 0,53 Caribbean (6%): 42 from Brazil, 2 from Puerto Rico, and the rest from México, Ecuador, Saint Vincent and
Jamaica 2 0,53 the Grenadines and the Cayman Islands. Additionally, in 2008, the PRI Brazil Network was created, the first
focal point of PRI in the world, as an answer to the strong demand of the signatories for a local platform
Panama 1 0,27
in Portuguese.
TOTAL 376 100
Source: Own creation based on the minutes the ISO 26000 international plenary meetings, on www.iso.org Sources: www.bmfbovespa.com.br | www.equator-principles.com | www.unpri.org

The proliferation of voluntary norms, standards, codes and indicators for companies contrasts with a Environmental sustainability
scarce production of legislation and regulations related to CSR, as a common denominator on the whole The environmental management performed by companies is a methodology that gained momentum
continent highlighted by many of the experts interviewed, who mention the limited state intervention, the in the early 1990’s, particularly after the Earth Summit in 1992. As part of this trend, a vast variety of
weakness of public institutions (particularly the ones involved in environmental and social issues), and the environmental standards and certification have been developed seeking to guarantee the responsible
poor legislation stimulating its application. In this sense, the interviewees agree on the need to incorporate management of resources.
responsibility criteria into public policies, including tax schemes, and into public management as a whole. In Latin America, standards like ISO 14000 began to expand for a management of the environment
Even in the few countries where there is CSR-related legislation or stimulus by the government, it is difficult in a broad sense, to which sector certifications added, such as the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC),
to know the scope of the measures and their enforcement. with offices in Latin America since 1994 (first in Mexico and then through national initiatives in other
nine countries) or national ones like the Certificate of Tourist Sustainability in Costa Rica —created in
Specific models 2000 by Centro Latinoamericano para la Competitividad y el Desarrollo Sostenible (CLACDS), belonging to
the Instituto Centroamericano de Administración de Empresas (INCAE)—, and international initiatives for
After the initial stages in which general CSR–management models were created, we can see a diversification specific subjects like the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), a coalition of investors from all over the world
in the development of proposals aiming at specific questions. These instruments (indicators, principles, seeking to reduce greenhouse gasses emission and measure the companies’ environmental management
standards, certifications, etc.) were elaborated with various types of segmentation in mind: the company risks and that has an office , among other cities, in São Paulo.
size (for small- and medium-sized companies those of the MIF/IDB were developed, or the already quoted
from the Ethos Institute and their adaptations), the business sector (like the financial one) or a CSR-related Sources: www.iso.org | www.fsc.org | www.turismo-sostenible.co.cr | www.cdproject.net
area (such as the environment).

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IN SEARCH OF SUSTAINABILITY. The road of CSR in Latin America and AVINA Foundation’s contribution PART I. THE TRODDEN ROAD

2.2 Behavior changes Broadly speaking, Brazil is at the forefront in terms of CSR implementation. In addition to Brazil’s own
characteristics in terms of size and economic, political and social aspects, the interviewees agree on the
By behavior changes, we mean the impact of the CSR subject (developed through organizations and fact that Brazil’s business sector fostering CSR is a differential relative to the rest of the region. Other
networks, concepts and tools) in concrete alterations in corporate behavior and in that of other players countries developed in this subject, when analyzing indicators like presence in the ISO 26000 process, GRI
(civil society organizations, public agencies, and citizens as a whole). application and adhesion to the Global Compact are Mexico, Argentina, Colombia and Chile, though when
taking other indicators into account some other countries emerge like Costa Rica in terms of multi-sector
2.2.1 About the changes in the private sector CSR institutionalization (the first country with a National Consultation Body in Social Responsibility) and in
terms of involving academic institutions with the INCAE, as a case in point.
Many companies start to have a medium- and long-term view, seeking to gain trust and assuming that their
role in the sustainable development is part of a collective agenda subject. As to the shape CSR generally There are also other signs that CSR is becoming a link among countries, as shown by the process of
assumes, while the statement is the trend to sustainability, in their practices it is clear the existence of Central American integration sought at a political, economic and social level. The business sector found
philanthropy with social investment and some isolated examples of an integral management, according in CSR a means to support this integration among the region’s countries, though the creation of the Red
to experts. Large companies, especially, take part in debates about their role in poverty (for example, para la Integración Centroamericana por la RSE (IntegraRSE), the ConvertiRSE conferences, the creation
in the context of international initiatives like the United Nations Millennium Development Goals), they of the CSR indicators system IndicaRSE and, in 2010, the regulation of the cooperation among the six
select suppliers that implement responsible criteria and communicate their good labor and environmental CSR business groups -CentraRSE in Guatemala, Fundemas in El Salvador, FundahRSE in Honduras, Unión
practices. More and more often, an increased number of new business cases in different subjects such as Nicaragüense para la RSE (UniRSE), AED in Costa Rica and SumaRSE in Panama- and the Secretaría General
eco-efficiency and inclusive businesses appear. del Sistema de Integración Centroamericana (SICA), which includes annual planning meetings between it
and the presidents of the organizations (heads of large business groups in each country).
The movement around CSR arouses expectations about a change in roles and links among the different
However, a change in behavior is a slow process in Latin America when compared with other regions
players. The most noticeable change is the growing number of alliances materializing between the private
in the world, and there is still a long way ahead when we analyze the gap between the supply of CSR
sector and civil society organizations (due both to the kind of link and the solutions to social problems),
implementation tools and their application. Most experts think that CSR, still focused on relations with the
with an exchange in which everyone receives a benefit. On the other hand, the private and social sectors
community, did not take roots in the business culture or structure, it has still not been taken as structural;
agree on the demand for a change put to the State. Broadly speaking, such demand could be summed up
it is a pending issue in Latin America. On the other hand, the people interviewed in the private sector
in the request of a bigger role from the State, for it to interact and establish a dialogue; the difference is
highlight the changes relative to their internal public (which matches the survey by Forum Empresa quoted
that some generally seek incentives, while others usually demand for regulation and intervention. But there
further on) and speak of a new way to do business.
are cases in which such difference starts to fade, as shown in the commitment made by Brazilian companies
to reduce the emission of C02 and the formal request put to the government to take the leadership in this
In other words, in business practices we can see numerous changes in communication and positioning, and
issue and a joint job to be done with all the sectors in order to reach regulations.
also in behavior. However, such changes have not reached the whole of the Latin American private sector.
Thus, the hegemonic point of view among the interviewees, according to whom, the movement has reached
its initial dissemination goals, but it has hardly managed to establish effectively systematize changes: the
A proposal of companies for sustainability: a reduction in CO2 emission expectation about players involved in the mobilization process, understandably high, has not been fulfilled.
In this trend towards sustainability in a country like Brazil, companies have started to be part of the
players stimulating public policies for the general welfare. In August 2009, a group of twenty large companies
from Brazil signed an agreement to stimulate the reduction in carbon gasses emission. This commitment was
The CSR state according to the private sector
informed through the Carta aberta ao Brasil sobre mudanças climáticas (“Open letter to Brazil about climate
Forum Empresa, the association of CSR business organizations, did a survey entitled El estado de la
changes”), addressed to the government and the Brazilian society and had the support of organizations such
Responsabilidad Social Empresarial bajo la mirada de ejecutivos de empresas de Latinoamérica 2009 (The
as the Fórum Amazônia Sustentável and the Instituto Ethos de Empresas e Responsabilidade Social.
state of Corporate Social Responsibility according to Latin American business executives 2009) in which
The proposal was to publish a stock of the greenhouse gasses, include strategies to reduce their
it analyzed the views of 529 business executives in 15 Latin American countries with the purpose of
emission in processes, products and services, work on a steady reduction and on the net balance of CO2
diagnosing the progress made and the pending issues relative to the region’s responsible practices.
emissions, and support emission reduction measures, among other questions. Some of the main conclusions of Forum Empresa’s survey are:
On the other hand, companies asked the government to take a leading stance in negotiations of • Most executives consider that the CSR level at their companies is high in just about every
the XV Conference of the Parties of the UN Convention about Climate Change, in Copenhagen at the end dimension.
of 2009. Additionally, they also requested the government to defend the streamlining and agility of the • Of the CSR dimensions studied, the executives consider that progress was made in a descending
implementation of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), and to support the creation of an incentive order in the following areas: Relations with workers, Consumer and users, Relations with the
mechanism to reduce the emission from deforestation and forest degradation, among other things. A year community, Environment, Decision-making processes (corporate governance) and Transparency.
later, 27 companies were already making regulation proposals in Brazil. • Sixty-eight percent of the companies are members of a CSR-promoting company. The larger the
company is, the bigger the likelihood of it belonging to a CSR organization.
Sources: Carta aberta ao Brasil sobre mudanças climáticas | www.redandi.org • Most companies, 65%, have in their organization chart a position devoted to CSR —more usual
in large companies.

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• Forty percent of the companies publish a sustainability report. Of this percentage, 70% use GRI In Latin America, there are motivating factors for changes towards CSR that agree with the region’s own
methodology and 58% involve their interest groups in the reports. characteristics. According to various experts in CSR, the process of incorporation of CSR will speed up
• Among the standards companies go by, the most important are: ISO 9000 - 38%, the UN Global when a generational change takes place that will leave the management of companies in the hands of
Compact - 29% and ISO 14000 - 22%. Thirty-seven percent of the companies have not adopted professionals currently trained with this new perspective.
any CSR-related standard.
• There is higher installed capacity in the industrial sector, followed by the commercial one, and
at a middle level by the service sector.
Motivations for the change in business behavior
• The poll on “looking-forward expectations” shows widespread optimism relative to CSR,
One of the most intrinsic purposes of the CSR movement is to achieve changes in behavior tending
particularly, among executives of large companies. The executives’ perception of their companies’
towards sustainability and social transformation. From this viewpoint, it is fundamental to establish the
CSR development has a positive impact on their views on CSR future development.
motivating factors of social responsibility for companies in Latin America. That is, why companies decide to
perform socially responsible management. These are the main motivations for companies to change their
Source: Forum Empresa. El estado de la RSE bajo la mirada de ejecutivos de empresas de Latinoamérica 2009
behavior according to experts:

Main motivators for a change in behavior in companies as a whole


In the Responsible Competitiveness Index that Accountability did in 2003, 2005 and 2007, and which includes
corporate responsibility indicators, expresses that Latin America’s figures remain stable in those years. • The economic and political crises that various countries in the region suffered in the decade under
study partly led companies to seek new strategies to link themselves with the community and, in
this context, CSR was considered a good strategy, many times applied as social investment or in
Responsible competitiveness in Latin America an eventual and reactive fashion.
The Responsible Competitiveness Index (RCI), produced by Accountability, aims at showing the way • Markets that started to demand responsible practices led many companies in the region providing
national economies promote the sustainable development. This is why it gathers information on the public international companies to incorporate CSR wholly.
and private sectors and the civil society, with indicators on issues like the existence of healthy labor plants, • CSR being a fashionable issue: the companies’ interest in positioning themselves in new trends.
environmental safety and good corporate governance practices. • The supply of tools like CSR measuring indicators that facilitate its implementation in companies.
The RCI was launched in 2003 and repeated in 2005 and 2007 based on available information, which
Main stimulus for behavior change in large companies
includes the caveat that there are countries with outdated data. The list of countries integrating RCI in Latin
America is Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama and Peru. • Risk management centered on social pressure (resulting from social dissatisfaction and inequity
When analyzing Latin America’s performance in terms of responsible competitiveness over time, we which characterizes the continent, in addition to companies’ irresponsible behavior).
come to the conclusion that between 2003 and 2007, Latin America has remained stable, in the range of 6 • Reputation (large companies usually make sizeable investments in their public image and take their
points below average and with a higher score than Asia, which has been descending (from the range of -7 reputation as an indispensable component to be competitive).
points to that of -9 points) while the European Union, always above average, has been improving: moving • The demands of headquarters located in developed countries.
from the range of 4 points to that of 6.
Main motivation for change in small- and medium-sized companies

• The demand for client companies to meet standards.


• The owner’s need to instill into the company an ethical management culture to be in force when
he is not present.
• The owner’s willingness of helping the neighboring community, which, in many cases, knows him
from the very beginning.

Source: Systematization of interviews with experts

As CSR is rooted conceptually, it is possible to see that one of the changes in companies is the pursuit of
transparency mechanisms in their processes, for example, through sustainability reports. In line with the rest
of the world, Latin America is moving into the incoporation of measurement and communication models of
CSR, codes of conduct, management systems and certifications related to responsible practices. Integrated
reports begin to circulate, especially in large companies, highly boosted by affiliates of multinationals that
have to meet their headquarters’ standards. The commitment to global principles like the Global Compact
Source: Own creation based on information provided by Accountability for this survey
is combined with the use of international models like GRI and the application of local indicators like those
proposed by the Ethos Institute.

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Business commitment to universal principles: The Global Compact Increase in sustainability reports: the GRI model
Within the CSR framework, a significant number of companies has committed to international principles The increase in the number of companies measuring CSR is clear based on the rise in reports based
after the United Nations Global Compact proposal. From its launch, in 2000, until October 2010, 1,444 on Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). Between 1999 and 2009, the Latin American companies submitted
institutions in Latin America and the Caribbean committed to the global agreement, out of which 952 are 483 GRI-based reports out of 4,745 reports worldwide. This means 10% of the total number of reports
companies. This number makes up 23% of all the member companies in the world. The countries with the and we can see a rising trend since an increase between 2008 and 2009 was recorded when 12% of the
highest number of companies committed are Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, the Dominican Republic and Mexico. international whole was surpassed, with 134 and 171 Latin American reports respectively over worldwide
The average number of companies committed by country in the region is lower than the world average total numbers of 1,068 and 1,368. The application of the GRI model is particularly obvious in companies
by country, considering the countries that have member companies. Specifically, there is an average of from Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru.
45 companies committed by country in the region as opposed to 54 companies by country worldwide.
However, the level of compliance with the progress reports is high in Latin America relative to the world
average: Upon analyzing the relation between the 952 companies committed in the region and, of which,
the 790 active ones (that is, the ones with updated their Communications on Progress ) we conclude that
83% are active, while the world average of active companies is 78%. The countries in the region with the
most active companies match, albeit in a different order, those with the most member companies: Brazil,
Colombia, Argentina, the Dominican Republic and Mexico.

Companies in Latin America and the Caribbean committed to the Global Compact (as of 2010)

Companies
Country
Committed Active
Brazil 200 148
Argentina 153 127
Colombia 143 137

Dominican Republic 100 87


Mexico 89 63 Source: Own elaboration based on GRI Reports List 1999-2010, on www.globalreporting.org
Peru 63 48
Panama 58 52 Number of reports of Latin American companies that applied GRI, by country (as of 2009)
Chile 38 30
Bolivia 29 24 Country Number of Reports % Relative to Latin America

Paraguay 27 27 Brazil 66 38,60


Venezuela 16 16 Chile 36 21,05
Ecuador 10 10 Colombia 17 9,94
Uruguay 10 10
Mexico 17 9,94
Trinidad and Tobago 6 5
Peru 15 8,77
Costa Rica 3 2
Ecuador 8 4,68
Nicaragua 2 1
Haiti 1 1 Argentina 7 4,09

The British Virgin Islands 1 1 Bolivia 2 1,17


Puerto Rico 1 1 Venezuela 2 1,17
Barbados 1 0
Panama 1 0,58
Dominica 1 0
TOTAL 171 100
TOTAL 952 790
Source: Own elaboration based on GRI Reports List 1999-2010, on www.globalreporting.org
Source: Own elaboration based on Participant Search, on www.unglobalcompact.org
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IN SEARCH OF SUSTAINABILITY. The road of CSR in Latin America and AVINA Foundation’s contribution PART I. THE TRODDEN ROAD

In the first edition of the Readers’ Choice Awards (biennial awards granted by GRI since 2008 based collectively to sales yet, but an optimistic view might regard them as a first step towards a responsible
on the reading of the sustainability reports performed by different organizations based on its model, and consumption, which might mean a change in social behavior. Upon checking data from different surveys
on the opinion of readers on their quality), Latin America obtained a significant presence between finalists done in Brazil, it is possible to highlight that, on the one hand, willingness to change; according to a
and winners. Out of eight awards granted based on categories, two were for a Brazilian company —one of research job done in 2010 by Conselho Empresarial Brasileiro para o Desenvolvimento Sustentável (CEBDS)
the categories awarded is the total of the opinions of all the groups that voted— and one for an Argentine and Market Analysis, in the city of São Paulo, 48% of consumers is willing to change their consumption
business foundation, while among the sixteen finalists, eight were Latin American organizations, six of habits in favor of environment and society7. However, the percentage of aware consumers —by which we
which from Brazil, one from Argentina and one from Nicaragua. mean those who carry out considerable conscious consumption practices— did not increase between 2006
and 2010, staying at 5% according to the last survey by Akatu Institute and Ethos Institute performed in
Source: www.globalreporting.org different places in Brazil8. In turn, these figures are complemented with answers processed in other studies
that express the distrust toward CSR measures carried out by companies, as shown in a poll performed by
Gallup in 2008 for Latin America.
2.2.2 About the changes in other social players

Among the experts consulted, there were split opinions about the change in the social behavior, to which The view of the public opinion on the impact of CSR measures
the development of the CSR subject might have contributed. The people interviewed who are members In 2008, the Gallup consulting firm performed an opinion poll on the changes in business behavior
of civil society organizations usually consider that there have been social transformations, while the rest relative to CSR. The poll was based on interviews with 500 people older than 15, from Argentina, Bolivia,
noted that although there had been changes in attitudes and practices, they were actually not enough to Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti,
generate behavioral changes. Regarding the magnitude of the social changes, the differences among the Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay and Venezuela.
people interviewed are based, basically, on the degree of information of the society about their rights and Some conclusions were:
the degree of empowering of consumers in order to achieve social pressure. • On average, most people polled in Latin America do not consider corporations invest in CSR.
• Forty-nine percent of those polled do not think that companies invest in the development of
Those who do believe there is a change in social behavior highlight a greater level of awareness in citizens, their employees as opposed to 32% that think they do and 18% who do not know or do not
and an increase in expectations and demands regarding business practices. They highlight as a decisive answer
factor and a more knowledgeable degree and societ’s better access to information, the role played by • Forty-six percent of those polled do not think that companies give progress opportunities to
the Media and the Internet. Also, globalization, economic and political crises, and civil society campaigns any well-trained employee, regardless of his/her race, social origin, or gender as opposed to
organized, above all, that of environmental and human-rights organizations appear as decisive motivating 37% who think they do and 17% who do not know or do not answer.
factors. The major issues to consider are environment and health. • Forty-five percent of those polled do not think that companies make contributions or donations
in key areas for the community where they operate as opposed to 36% who think they do and
Those who do not see changes in social behavior attribute this fact to a scarce or zero level of society’s 21% who do not know or do not answer.
knowledge about CSR and its scope. This group also considers that there are prejudices about and distrust • Forty-five percent of those polled do not think that companies are really committed to producing
of companies and their practices, which shows for instance in the lack of interest of unions, which usually a positive impact on consumers’ life quality as opposed to 35% who think they do and 20%
do not take part in CSR promotion activities or in alliances or networks within this framework. who do not know or do not answer.

The other side of the changes in business is the change of social behavior. There is an increasing trend Source: Brown, Ian. Private sector has bigger role to play in the Americas. Views on corporations underscore the need for
to raise the level of demand towards companies and express the dissatisfaction regarding irresponsible responsible practices, April 17th, 2009.
business behavior. In this point it is clear that trust in not only achieved through social investment, but that
it is necessary a whole application of CSR. In this society’s empowering process, social organizations play a
key role by monitoring companies, notifying and channeling complaints and initiatives, while they promote In turn, there are various civil society organizations and institutions of other kind who have changed their
social participation, and the ground gained through the digital media, which allows for greater interaction, views on companies, moving from a view focused on philanthropic benefits to a more complex and deep
plurality of opinions, collective construction, feedback and information dissemination speed. A regular relation more focused on the common good. Players from different fields make use of the CSR framework
monitoring process of Latin America and other regions is that performed by Transparency International (TI) to approach work with companies, as shown in the high participation of organizations from Latin America
through its Global Corruption Barometer. This barometer considers the perception of corruption in various and the Caribbean that are not companies and support the Global Compact; higher than the world average.
sectors —among others, the business sector—, furnishing, for instance, data about the degree in which
companies resort to bribery to influence government policies, laws or regulations6. Academic institutions, business associations, municipalities, foundations, labor organizations, non-
governmental organizations and public-sector organizations make up the local networks of the United
Public opinion barometers and other surveys performed with consumers show their intention of considering
CSR in their purchase decisions, and punishing irresponsible companies. These responses are not transferred
7  CEBDS y Market Analysis. Sustentável 2010. Comunicação e Educação para a Sustentabilidade.
8  Instituto Akatu and Instituto Ethos. O consumidor brasileiro e a sustentabilidade: Atitudes e comportamentos frente ao Consumo
6  TI. Report of Transparency International’s Corruption Global Barometer 2009. Consciente, percepções e expectativas sobre a RSE. Pesquisa 2010.

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IN SEARCH OF SUSTAINABILITY. The road of CSR in Latin America and AVINA Foundation’s contribution

Nations Global Compact that have been emerging since its launch in 2000. Up until October 2010, of the
1,444 institutions that joined the Global Compact from 21 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, 492
are this type of organizations, which represents 20% of the participants worldwide. While the countries with
the highest number of participating companies are Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, the Dominican Republic and
Mexico, in the case of non-business organizations, the countries are Mexico, Brazil, Venezuela, Argentina
and Panama. While, as already pointed out99, the average of business participants by country in the region
is lower than the world average by country (considering the countries with companies that participate), in PART II
the case of non-business organizations, the average by country in the region is higher: 23 organizations by
country in the region as opposed to 20 organizations worldwide. AVINA FOUNDATION’S
As mentioned in the previous point, the main change resulting from CSR is that of the new links established
between companies and civil society organizations. Such alliances seek to contribute to business CONTRIBUTION
transparency, for example with the verification of third-party reports or with the links of the company with
its interest groups.

A case about the current role of civil society organizations


Through the history of Fundación Casa de la Paz, a charity created in Chile in 1983 by Ximena
Abogabir, we can witness the changes in the relationship between civil society organizations and companies.
Relationship based for centuries on philanthropy and which, with the progress made by CSR, started to
change.
Casa de la Paz was born focused on the pursuit of peace and, since the 1990’s, it has added
environmental issues, as well as social and economic ones, as part of the search for sustainability. In
this process, the organization modified its link with companies. After the creation of an environmental
management program, it began to work with CSR, which in turn led it to work on citizen participation, going
from the exclusive focus on social investment to a wider focus that involves the impact management and
the relationship of companies with interest groups.
It cooperated with the oil company Shell to design an environmental impact evaluation with the
citizens’ participation; it created along with the company Masisa a consultation methodology and registry
of perception of communities, organizations and public and private agencies, of the operations in their
industrial plants in Valdivia and Cabrero, in Chile, which was later also applied in Argentina; it participated
in the verification of responsible behavior for the Chemical Industrialists Association; and, together with
the BCI Bank, it cooperated in the incorporation of environment protection criteria in internal management.
Since 2005, it has worked on the subject of productive undertakings as part of a joint initiative with Gerdau
AZA to boost and turn sustainable the collection of household scrap, and generate inclusive businesses. It
has the support of the Inter-American Foundation (IAF), through Acción RSE, and AVINA Foundation.
Currently, Casa de la Paz’s mission is to educate, create links and reach agreements among the
community, companies and the government to encourage a sustainable coexistence with the environment,
socially just and economically feasible. The concept of “sustainable coexistence”, included as part of
their targets since 2002, refers to a participative, dynamic and voluntary process that seeks to generate
relationships based on trust links and cooperation, linked to a sense of identity and tending to the common
development.

Sources: Abogabir Scott, Ximena. Sueños y Semillas. 25 Años de Casa de la Paz. Fundación Casa de la Paz , Santiago, Chile, 2008.
| Fundación Casa de la Paz. Report on Sustainability 2008.

9  9
See “Adoption of universal principles: The Global Compact”, in “2.2.1 About the changes in the private sector”.

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IN SEARCH OF SUSTAINABILITY. The road of CSR in Latin America and AVINA Foundation’s contribution PART II. AVINA FOUNDATION’S CONTRIBUTION

1. The mission of AVINA and CSR


The conviction of the transforming potential that business and social leaders can reach working jointly on
sustainable development drove the Swiss business and philanthropist Stephan Schmidheiny to create the
AVINA Foundation in 1994; a hybrid, innovative organization in terms of its social/business management
model. Its project of drawing leaderships for social transformation had begun to materialize when —known
for his purpose of making his family’s businesses to adopt social and environmental criteria— in 1990
Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference of Environment and Development asked him to take
over the position of Main Advisor for Trade and Industry at the Conference to take place in 1992 in Rio
de Janeiro: the Earth Summit. The objective was that, due to the summit, Schmidheiny gathered business
leaders to reach a consensus on a socially and environmentally responsible behavior.

These businessmen, grouped at the then Business Council for Sustainable Development (BCSD), with the
purpose of set a stance at the Summit, established a perspective of the private sector about sustainable
development expressed in the book Changing course: a global business perspective for development and
environment. Among the definitions published in that document highlighted by Schmidheiny in his book My
path, my perspective, some pointed out are that “companies must serve society, not the other way around”,
and that the search for sustainability can turn companies more competitive.

While initially, the BCSD had been thought out with a view to the Earth Summit, once finished, the group
decided to continue working jointly to carry out the business perspective of sustainable development it
had announced, and in 1995, joined the International Chamber of Commerce to create the World Business
Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD).

In 1994, Schmidheiny decided to also contribute to sustainable development with civil society measures.
AVINA was created with the purpose of approaching social leaderships in order to boost them and
establishing bridges between both sectors. Thus, the idea was granted the institutional-nature that
the mutual cooperation of business and social leaderships may generate virtuous circles of sustainable
development.

With this track record, we can see that AVINA’s mission of promoting leaderships for sustainable development
contains in its raison d’être Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), although it was not called so at the time.
From the start, AVINA was aware of how important it was that companies take a transforming role along
civil society. This is what Schmidheiny remarked in the above-mentioned book, the purpose for the creation
of AVINA: “(…) to establish associations in Latin America with individuals from society and the business
community that have a pioneering spirit, in order to support them in their initiatives for a sustainable
development”.

With the idea of reaching out to the highest number of people as soon as possible, over the first years AVINA
entered into long-term alliances with pioneering organizations in social entrepreneurism, like Ashoka, and
with private-sector organizations that were already working in the region, like Fundación para el Desarrollo
Sostenible, Fundes (contributing to this organization’s strategy towards competitive development of the
small- and medium-sized companies in Latin America, which had been created by Schmidheiny with Panama’s
archbishop Marcos McGrath), and the Instituto Centroamericano de Administración de Empresas, INCAE
(financing the creation of its Centro Latinoamericano para la Competitividad y el Desarrollo Sostenible,
CLACDS).

By 1997, AVINA started to merge this strategy with another that wound up becoming the mission:
partnering with social and business leaders and encourage alliances between them to promote sustainable

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IN SEARCH OF SUSTAINABILITY. The road of CSR in Latin America and AVINA Foundation’s contribution PART II. AVINA FOUNDATION’S CONTRIBUTION

development, doing away with poverty by fostering equal opportunities and boosting citizen participation, 2. Strategies of intervention for CSR’s development
education and eco-efficiency.
In the CSR subject, as in the rest of the subjects AVINA is involved in, intervention strategies were flexible
The first leaders with whom AVINA started to work to reach its goals came from the social sphere. Then
on the basis of needs, opportunities and changes depending on the moment and area in the region.
AVINA started to extend its work to the field of business leadership, boosting the CSR subject since the
Along with its allies, AVINA took the path CSR did in the different territories, learning and contributing its
early 2000’s, when Stephan Schmidheiny engaged the organization in CSR training given to his group of
experiences to establish the concept and then involve it in other subjects of interest in the organization,
companies (the Grupo Nueva, made up at the time of companies like Amanco and Terranova, currently
such as inclusive markets and sustainable cities.
Masisa).
In this path, very wide in interests, as shown in the interviews performed for this survey and other records
At that time the participants in Latin America beginning to use the term Corporate Social Responsibility
of the organization10, AVINA got involved both in punctual issues (for example, facilitate the trip of an
were very few. Grupo Nueva was part of this small group and AVINA was starting to boost the subject while
expert to a conference in terms of venue and knowledge) and in sustained alliances over time and renewed
witnessing the practical experience of that business group who had the same founder as its head, sharing
in the materialization of various initiatives with different scopes:
perspectives and values. AVINA sought to help establish the concept in the region and Grupo Nueva sought
to be an emblematic case. In 2003, when AVINA and the Grupo Nueva went on to set up the VIVA Trust (a
• Initiatives promoted from various fields (business groups, civil society organizations, companies,
new institutional structure created by Schmidheiny to contribute to sustainable development), AVINA’s CSR
academic institutions, the media, the public sector).
promotion gained momentum.
• Initiatives that conceived the CSR in an integral manner (that is, in all its fields) and initiatives
in specific CSR fields (like environment management).
Unlike other subjects —very involved in the needs and opportunities of each territory—, various CSR
• Initiatives that promoted CSR for the private sector as a whole and initiatives aiming at specific
promotion initiatives began to emerge from the different local offices, thus today, looking back, we can
types of companies (a given size, such as medium or small, or a particular sector, like mining).
do a continent-wide global analysis of those initiatives by approaching the intervention strategies with
• Local initiatives (a municipality), national initiatives, region initiatives (that of a set of countries
their focuses and outcomes. The CSR Timeline in Latin America exhibits AVINA’s presence in the CSR
like Central America, or that of an area made up of territories of several countries, like border
development in the past few years, showing the emblematic organizations and networks it helped create
areas) and continent-wide initiatives.
and/or become stronger, and the milestones generated within the framework of initiatives carried out along
• Initiatives aiming at the whole of CSR and initiatives in which the CSR was only one component
with those organizations.
(for example, initiatives of local development).
• Initiatives of a philanthropic nature (like helping civil society organizations finance themselves
with the support of companies) and initiatives that sought to establish CSR at its most innovative
The VIVA Trust: innovation at institutions for development creating spaces of dialogue and debate.
“Oftentimes, it is possible to obtain better results outside established guidelines” states Stephan • Initiatives that in an integrated manner contributed to the different CSR pillars of evolution
Schmidheiny in his book My path, my perspective. By 2003, Schmidheiny had designed and put underway (form and/or strengthen organizations and networks, establish concepts and develop tools) or
an organizational structure different from well-known institutional forms: an institution with shared Vision that contributed to a pillar of evolution in particular.
and Values (VI-VA) grouping the Grupo Nueva and AVINA, joining forces to optimize the outcome in
boosting Latin America’s sustainable development: The VIVA Trust. A systematization of the answers of the experts we consulted for this survey about AVINA’s decisions allows
That year, Schmidheiny withdrew from the presidency of Grupo Nueva —where he had concentrated determining the central strategies of the organizations in the CSR development, the core services and the
all his business in Latin America— and donated to the trust the value of his business group’s shares and an characteristics that meant a differentiation factor in its contribution:
investment portfolio, encouraging the business group and AVINA to join efforts to boost both institutions’
goals. VIVA provides strategic advice to Grupo Nueva and AVINA, supervises them and facilitates the
contact between them, although they are managed independently.
In addition to promoting sustainable development in the region, the VIVA Trust has an ultimate goal:
being an institution that goes beyond those exclusively involved in generating profitability or in social
investment, it intends to be a role model so that other philanthropists develop their own organizational
creations in favor of a fair Latin America.

Sources: www.vivatrust.com | www.avina.net | www.stephanschmidheiny.net

10  Source: Sistematization of the interviews with experts; sistematization of initiatives provided by AVINA based on its database;
AVINA’s annual reports, 1999-2009.

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IN SEARCH OF SUSTAINABILITY. The road of CSR in Latin America and AVINA Foundation’s contribution PART II. AVINA FOUNDATION’S CONTRIBUTION

AVINA’s most significant strategies in CSR promotion Results from AVINA’s focus on social capital for CSR
• Identification, development and visibility of social and business leaderships in favor of CSR. • Orientation in the formation of organizations and networks.
• Support to the emergence and strengthening of CSR organizations. • Strengthening of organizations and networks.
• Promotion of dialogue, cooperation and exchange of experiences within sectors and between sectors. • Positioning of organizations and networks.
• Facilitation and help in the creation or consolidation of alliances and networks. • Focus on new subjects.
• Establishment of approaches, subjects and models. • Focus on new cooperation manners.
• Support to theoretical elaboration. • Identification of counterparts for inter-sector cooperation.
• Support to CSR formation. • Exchange of experiences and knowledge.
• Support to the standardization through instruments like CSR indicators. • Generation of trust among significant leaders.
• Support to information dissemination through events and the media. • National and regional scalability of different types of cooperation.
AVINA’s main services in CSR promotion
Source: Systematization of interviews with experts
• Generation of a network platform among CSR promoters from different fields.
• Debate among CSR promoters and approach of sustainable development thinkers towards key
The purpose of the leadership measures was to identify and help develop existing leaderships and foster
people in CSR promotion.
potential ones, both in the business and social sectors. AVINA helped generate initiatives with different
• Financing and leverage of resources from different sources for CSR promotion.
territorial scopes, local ones and more expanded ones, supporting a diversity of companies and business
AVINA’s characteristics that meant a differentiating factor in its contribution people and civil society organizations interested in specific CSR areas (like environment, consumers, labor
• Pioneer in the identification of leaderships for its formation and development. practices), and getting journalists and academic institutions to take interest in the subject. The purpose
• Facilitator of processes of development and cooperation between leaders in the business and social of the cooperation measures was to facilitate inter-sector links that might foster the establishment of CSR
sectors and between each other. in specific agendas (in CSR areas as the above-mentioned ones), the local development from a horizontal
• An efficient working group capable of carrying out strategies. participation of different players and the generation of cooperation models between the business sector
• Innovative in the financing of opportunities with potential. and the civil society.
• Persuasive when bringing in other donor organizations so that donations are seen as investments
and the stakeholders as partners. In the following graphs we can see some of the initiatives focused on leadership development and inter-
• Efficient in the contribution to leverage of significant amounts by other donors for CSR development. sector cooperation, pillars of AVINA’s mission11. They include AVINA’s allied organizations, the home country
• Created by a determining individual: Stephan Schmidheiny’s presence, ideas and work as AVINA’s of the organizations and the years in which the investments in the initiatives started.
creator were inspiring for companies and organizations promoting CSR.
• The close relationship to Grupo Nueva allowed showing a practical case.
• Present, in a steady way, over fundamental years for the CSR movement.

Source: Systematization of interviews with experts

AVINA’s intervention strategies for the CSR development subject basically had two focuses: social capital
generation and financing. Approaching the organization’s work with these two focuses enables us to
analyze methodologies and outcomes of what came to be a “way of acting” of AVINA. These are two
focuses implemented in an integrated manner, but they are detailed separately for a better understanding
of their implications.

2.1 Focus on social capital

Working on social capital has meant to AVINA creating, strengthening and sustaining a whole group of
relations, interactions and trust-building with leaders and institutions with high transforming potential
locally and continent-wise. In the CSR subject, that pattern implied, above all, two action courses centered
on leadership for CSR promotion and inter-sector cooperation.

11  In point 2.3 “Contributions based on the pillars of evolution of the movement” it is possible to see other initiatives supported
by AVINA, classified by Organizations and Networks, Concepts and Tools. These initiatives also contributed to the development of
leaderships and coooperation, but are approached in this survey with the focus on the pillars of evolution.

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IN SEARCH OF SUSTAINABILITY. The road of CSR in Latin America and AVINA Foundation’s contribution PART II. AVINA FOUNDATION’S CONTRIBUTION

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IN SEARCH OF SUSTAINABILITY. The road of CSR in Latin America and AVINA Foundation’s contribution PART II. AVINA FOUNDATION’S CONTRIBUTION

AVINA dedicated itself, especially as from the early 2000s, to identifying people with leadership skills this context, AVINA facilitated the training process in CSR, which —even when it was not its initial goal—
to develop the CSR subject, consulting them —as it had bee doing with leaders in other arears— about wound up paving the way for a new professional crop that was emerging, CSR consultants, to have people
their objectives in social change and their way of reaching them, and establishing, along with them the trained in the subject.
contribution the organization might provide them with to carry out their projects.
AVINA and the business leaders the organization associated with valued the idea that “peers draw peers”,
Identification was not simple. From AVINA’s offices, “The fact that AVINA was a regional institution through which it tried make business people enthuse others through their own experiences. While the
it was sought to spot leaders in the business sector fully committed to the subject and that, addionally, identification of business leaders implied a complex process, it is important to highlight that a sustained
with a perspective of sustainable development, as had available funds for us to learn the concept at alliance over the years was largely achieved, once the link was established.
it had been done in the fields of communication, the time turned out to be fundamental. And the
education, community and environment, but to fact that AVINA had business people like Stephan The organizations promoting CSR that were “The creation of CSR organizations was very
this end it was necessary to develop innovative Schmidheiny behind, who was also the founder consolidated in different countries (mostly important, but its strengthening is even more so,
approaches both for the private-sector players and of WBCSD and that started to link the concept business associations, both those created with in the sense of getting established as an expert for
for the people in charge of the offices themselves, of CSR with that of sustainable development a CSR purpose and those that changed their companies: if these organizations get established
who in the first generations were primarily from I believe was an important sign.” (Owner of a course of action) became essential players that as experts, the movement moves faster.” (Executive
the social field. Nevertheless, the fact that a group of companies, president of a CSR business cooperated with AVINA in the importance of director of a CSR organization)
leading businessman in the subject had created association) business leadership. AVINA, in turn, helped these “They helped us do research, take part in
AVINA was a differentiating factor that business organizations present their ideas, get trained, an academic competition, have an expert in
people valued: AVINA had the “success case” that linked saying to doing. develop tools and publications, become experts communication, through which we have been able
and establish a network. to write about CSR in the column of a newspaper
To identify and call on agents of change in the “The first time someone suggested our getting for six or seven years so far, and create the first
private sector, AVINA contacted business people organized was AVINA: the great chatalist of all AVINA’s help for promoters to acquire new focuses manuals. We were constantly together in activities
individually and approached already existing this. It was fundamental the fact that AVINA and disseminate their own through different means suggested by AVINA itself, and through exchanges
business associations. It was about detecting had facilitated the contact among the business of exchange (training courses, meetings with with other members.” (Executive director of
business people aiming to stimulate CSR, trying organizations in the different provinces because AVINA’s members, congresses, joint initiatives, etc.) another CSR organization)
to get them to associate or —in the event they today we are trying to create a CSR National turns out very valued by the people interviewed.
already were— have them boost their associations Network. In this whole trust development it was
in favor of this subject, have them get together a true driving force.” (Businesswoman, executive “AVINA brought to Chile people who knew these contexts very well and, very generously, organized
with other players, and implement responsible of an association of small- and medium-sized meetings and seminars. From Chile they used to go to other countries. This allowed disseminating
practices in such a way that they could become companies) information and giving the chance of expressing differing views in different countries, which generated a
emblematic cases and that, in turn, such business “All this interaction fostered by AVINA helped us, mixture that wound up with a good average.” (Chile)
people call others with similar ideas and exchange business people, to establish guidelines and the “AVINA was one of the driving forces that opened stakeholders’ mind because initially I didn’t understand
experiences about the problems faced in the basis of our organization. AVINA achieves impacts interest publics as AVINA presented them. Especially in terms of the relationship with civil society: how to
process of implementation in order to look for over the time, right through cooperation with other build on the basis of the social network. I believe in that very complex strategy proposed by AVINA.” (El
joint solutions. organizations in Latin America, so that it later Salvador)
joins them and carries out initiatives with a greater “AVINA was always aware that CSR means much more than complying with the law. It understands CSR
Basically, the way of working with the business impact and scope.” (Businessman, president of a in terms of generating sustainable development, think about future generations’ resources and the
sector was to get to know it and help it be trained business association) legitimacy of each piece of ground gained. Over time, AVINA started to incorporate the perspective of
in the subject (through workshops, bringing people inclusive markets and the companies’ commitment to the people making up the base of the pyramid.”
from abroad, organizing training courses), to have them contact each other and position themselves. There (Argentina)
are offices that also sought to help these groups have a say in public policies for business development
and CSR, with different outcomes. Seeking to push the limitations of the link between civil society, the business sector and Estate, the
AVINA Foundation had the mission of encouraging leaders to associate and join forces, bringing together
In countries like Argentina, Bolivia and Chile, it was primarily far from the national capitals where these the social and business worlds. Based on this macro goal of the organization, and the pursuit of linking
business leaders —mostly owners of small- and medium-sized companies— were found faster and more companies and society, CSR promotion constituted a fundamental strategy. However, if the identification
easily. According to the people interviewed, coexisting in smaller territories allowed them to be closer to of business leaders was not simple for AVINA, neither was it to create links between them and social
the needs in their area of influence, share a language in common and take the commitment to seek possible leaders. The situation is described in the 2001 Annual Report: “Civil society leaders had hardly any or no
solutions, generating exchange opportunities and, in the cases in which they were still not organized in an experience at all with the private sector while most business leaders sensed that social organizations had a
institutional way, creating their organizations. Meanwhile, in the national capitals, a space of service supply lot to offer, but did not know how to approach them”. With this reality ahead, AVINA sought to encourage
was taking shape, with professionals from the communication field, human resources and environment communication and cooperation and supported every mutual effort towards teamwork, with different results
management seeking to making companies aware and work with them on the implementation of CSR. In that were improving over time, when prejudices of both parts waned thanks to enriching exchanges for all.

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IN SEARCH OF SUSTAINABILITY. The road of CSR in Latin America and AVINA Foundation’s contribution PART II. AVINA FOUNDATION’S CONTRIBUTION

Regardless of the specific cooperation between social and business leaders, AVINA developed proposals to follow-up process to do away with antagonism and keep identities and differences which in many cases
build a community spirit around CSR by creating exchange possibilities among the people involved in the are historical or cultural. Another lesson in favor of diversity was the existence of cases with institutional,
subject and those who were not necessarily working on it. AVINA took the role of generator of inspiration political and media-related costs of joining forces with very different organizations, which in turn gave rise
opportunities, catalyst of new personal and collective processes and a guarantor of the links created upon to debates that AVINA considered very productive.
itself. Being part of AVINA’s link platform allowed members approach each other taking for granted that
they were pushing the good in common. Obviously, this not always resulted in productive projects and 2.2 Focus on financing
long-lasting relationships, but in broad terms, it helped establish a community of people that, regardless of
the field they worked on, were interested in what is today called sustainability, concept which includes CSR. The amount of financing that the AVINA Foundation contributed to the CSR development in Latin America
was not all that significant when compared with other donor organizations. The significance of financing
“You cannot create most things along, in the company’s bubble. This need for cooperation and network, lay, instead, in designing a strategic, low-cost, high-impact capitalization investment. AVINA’s strategy
as you approach AVINA, you confirm it. And AVINA knows which the most significant players are. It helps showed positive results in CSR promotion but still aroused controversy in some aspects as usual with
you see who is going to be your main counterpart or co-creator in what you are planning to do.” (Regional financing of this subject.
executive of CSR with a large company)
“AVINA is a strategic partner that allowed us to gain access to other civil society players in our country.”
Results of AVINA’s approach to financing for CSR
(Executive with a CSR organization)
“AVINA created a dialogue opportunity where it is possible to listen to very many different opinions.” • Start-up and development of processes that initially other donors were not interested in.
(Member of a CSR organization) • Creation and strengthening of organizations.
“AVINA has been key to granting a whole new dynamic to the process not only at a national level, but also • Contribution to the generation of milestones in CSR development.
at an international one. AVINA is an institution specialized in creating links: a very interesting proposal. • Diversification of financing sources of CSR promoters.
AVINA helps connect experiences, institutions, not only countrywide, but also internationally. AVINA is • Leverage of funds for CSR promotion.
a marvelous network though which flows knowledge and that provides to it a very interesting role not • Horizontalization of the link between donors and those receiving financing.
assumed by other institutions, thus, it fills a very important void in the Latin American region.” (Executive
with a business foundation) Source: Systematization of interviews with experts

Two external experts of AVINA and its contacts platform —one specialized in trends and the other in CSR In AVINA’s invetment strategy, financing was only “AVINA’s purpose was to help us define our
dissemination— point out as a distinctive characteristic of AVINA: “The way it combined leadership and one of the organization’s ways of contributing to sustainability and it should not have to be based
contacts is very unusual. AVINA has always been related to dynamics related to change and on this basis it CSR development, together with a series of services just on a source of funds, but also it had to be
approached CSR. They are not the only ones, but they are definitely unusual. AVINA had an important role in like those mentioned before (debate, platform of diverse, offering consulting services, tools and
connecting points, whether it did it consciously or not”. “They had streamlined the process of bringing people links) in addition to others like cooperation in different sources of funds.” (Panama)
who were behind the same strategy together and making them join forces. Identifying leaderships was a very administration and accounting, relationships with “When a person was recognized as an AVINA
valuable job, even more so than financing. They got personally and professionally involved and in identifying the media and planning. Who received financing partner, he/she was better welcomed by the
these leaderships”. generally was also part of AVINA’s platform of company, be given access to financial resources.”
links, making use of it and contributing to it, (Costa Rica)
To sum up the various opinions in common, the cooperation fostered by AVINA “helped business people and worked with the organization on the ways to “AVINA was the first organization to support us
draw guidelines, approach organizations, co-produce strategies, join forces and launch initiatives with a optimize projects. in a survey on how our small- and medium-sized
higher impact and scope”. To this, other views particularly to do with cooperation should be added, like company was positioned in CSR. Based on this
“It favored the social network strengthening”, “It contributed a practical touch”, “Bringing different opinions An analysis of AVINA’s records of CSR planning survey, we gained financing for other initiatives.”
together broadened the scope of possibilities”, “In achieving cooperation they became true facilitators”, “It is and initiatives allows us to see the organization’s (Bolivia)
an organization specialized in linking people, it is an interesting proposal because it makes knowledge flows”. contribution to the movement in the continent “They used to make financing more flexible as well
from the point of view of one of its contributions: as meetings, alliances... They were a faster catalyst
From AVINA Foundation’s experience in generating social capital some important lessons were drawn. To the economic investment12. of change than other more bureaucratic initiatives,
bring people together, it is important to give parties enough time to get to know one another so that a some more devoted to planning of their own
link is consolidated and deepened to achieve good outcomes. In this sense, between companies and other projects and concrete outcomes.” (Guatemala)
type of organizations seeking to carry out innovative practices, it was detected the need of having enough
time for approaches, for example, in recycling and inclusive markets, both in terms of the companies’ 12  Source: Sistematization of initiatives provided by AVINA based on its database. By initiatives, we understand both medium-term
institutional time and the urgency of the most vulnerable players. It also requires time the process of projects and certain punctual strategic actions (for example, the visit of an ally to an event to generate cooperations not achieved in a
cooperation among organizations to generate or strengthen networks. specific initiative), between 1999 and 2009. Long-term projects are not included, like those AVINA called in the years included in the
survey “Strategic Initiatives” (for example, those with SEKN and Fundes) nor the job done on the private sector in the context of what by
Another lesson was precisely to work in networks assuming the diversity. The intra-sector, inter-sector, the end of the decade defined as “Opportunities of Continent-wide Signficance” (for example, Inclusive Markets, Recycling, the Great
local, national or regional networks: deep exchange is necessary for the integration to be clear, a close American Chaco and Access to Water).

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AVINA’s financing in CSR development in Latin America, 1999-2009 • The economic investment was greater between 1999 and 2004 than between 2005 and 2009,
with 2000, 2002 and 2003, the years with the highest amounts of investment. However, it
Number of initiatives supported 267 was the second half of the decade that shows the highest number of actions and initiatives,
Number of organizations supported 160 particularly in 2007 and 2008. That is, in the first half of the 2000’s, a higher amount was
invested, but in a lower number of actions and initiatives, while in the second half, actions and
Investment in dollars (USD) 7.843.216
initiatives diversified while investement was lowered. This trend is mentioned by some of the
Period spanned 1999-2009 people interviewed for this survey when they refer to a stage of expansion with a huge flow of
funds followed by a stage where certain subjects were prioritized, with low funds. In the 2004
Countries that received financing Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Colombia,
Annual Report, the strategy of diminishing economic investment and increasing other types of
Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras,
added value in the alliances is explained.
Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay

These are, then, the main conclusions drawn when closely analyzing the 267 initiatives in which AVINA
contributed with a total economic investment of USD 7.843.216, partnering with 160 organizations between
1999 and 2009 in Latin America:

• The beginning of CSR investments made from the different countries in the region was gradual;
this is the result of the opportunities that emerged and the leaders that the organization
identified. In 1999, investments were started from Brazil; in 2000, from Chile, Ecuador, Paraguay
and Peru; in 2001, from Argentina; in 2002, from Costa Rica; in 2003, from Bolivia, Panama
and Uruguay; in 2005, from Guatemala; in 2006, from Colombia; in 2008, from El Salvador,
Honduras and Nicaragua.
• AVINA created long-standing bonds when it made their investments with a medium- and long-
term view, with continuity and regular renewal. This is clear in countries with the most years
in CSR investment, like Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Argentina, Bolivia, Uruguay, Peru, Costa Rica,
where investment shows absolute continuity or just one- or two-year interruptions.
• The countries that received the most investment are Brazil, Peru, Chile, Argentina and Costa
Rica, while Argentina, Brazil, Peru, Uruguay and Chile are the countries with the most initiatives.
The size of the investments by country is due to different variables, such as the importance
each representative attached to the CSR subject, the opportunities that emerged, the size of • From the perspective of the fields where AVINA’s allies receiving an investment operated,
the country, the dollar-local currency relation. we can conclude that AVINA partnered with people and organizations from different fields.
The highest amounts were channeled into allies of civil society organizations in general and
business associations13. Regarding the number of actions and initiatives, the importance of
these two areas is maintained, but in a reversed order, having performed the highest number
of actions and initiatives with business associations.

13  Business groups are organizations made up by business leaders or companies whose purpose is to develop public good processes.

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IN SEARCH OF SUSTAINABILITY. The road of CSR in Latin America and AVINA Foundation’s contribution PART II. AVINA FOUNDATION’S CONTRIBUTION

2.3 Contribution on the basis of the pillars of the CSR movement These are the different development strategies carried out by AVINA within each pillar of evolution,
citing examples by way of illustration14. While a high percentage of the actions and initiatives implied the
From the perspective of the pillars of evolution of CSR considered in this survey (Organizations and combination of two or three pillars, here the organization was based on each of the three pillars to facilitate
Networks, Concepts, Tools), AVINA contributed with initiatives corresponding the three pillars of evolution, the comparison with the general evolution of the subject presented in the first part of this survey.
both separately and combined. In the first half of the decade under study, investments related more to
the institutional strengthening and concept and tools development, while in the second half, with stronger 2.3.1 Organizations and Networks
institutions and already-existing products, the focus was on synergy and networks. As the following graph
shows, by the type of strategies adopted by AVINA, the highest economic investment (over 40%) was In the pillar of Organizations and Networks, AVINA’s main strategies were related to: formation, strengthening,
made in the combination of pillars since the initiatives that were supported by AVINA generally focused cooperation of organizations and networks of CSR grouping companies; and strategies of start-ups, launching,
on creating or strengthening organizations and networks and, along with this, seeking the development structuring, financing, evolution and territorial expansion of organizations or areas of organizations.
and establishment of CSR concepts and/or designing and developing application instruments. This is why
the Organizations and Networks pillar appears with low economic investment; in the initiatives exclusively Among the organizations and networks created with AVINA’s support are: in Argentina, Instituto Argentino
devoted to this pillar —without considering Concepts or Tools—, the focus was not so strong. de RSE (IARSE), Valos (in the province of Mendoza), Movimiento hacia la RSE (MoveRSE, in the city of
Rosario), Nuevos Aires (in Buenos Aires); in Bolivia, Corporación Boliviana de Responsabilidad Social
Regarding the number of initiatives, the pillar of Concepts has a signficance proportionally similar to the Empresarial (COBORSE) and Fundación Amigos de la Responsabilidad Social Empresarial (AmigaRSE); in
economic investment made in the combination of the pillars as almost half of the initiatives belong to Brazil, the Red Ação Empresarial pela Cidadania (AEC); in Costa Rica, the Consejo Consultivo Nacional de
this pillar. This agrees with the perception of the people interviewed that AVINA worked harder on the Responsabilidad Social (CCNRS); in Central America, the regional network IntegraRSE.
conceptualization than in the implementation of CSR.
As examples of support to local organizations can be mentioned: in Argentina, Consejo Empresario de Entre
Ríos (CEER), Asociación de Jóvenes Empresarios de Córdoba (AJE) and Foro Empresarial de la Patagonia;
in Brazil, Comissão de Cidadania Empresarial del Centro da Industria do Estado do Amazonas (CIEAM), for
the development of CSR in the industrial center of Manaus. Among the national organizations with AVINA’s
support are: Instituto Ethos de Empresas e Responsabilidade Social, Grupo de Institutos Fundações e
Empresas (GIFE), Rede Cidadã, Brazil; Grupo de Fundaciones y Empresas (GDF), Argentina; Asociación
Empresarial para el Desarrollo (AED), Costa Rica; Asociación de Empresarios Cristianos (ADEC), Paraguay;
Desarrollo de la Responsabilidad Social (DERES), Uruguay.

The investment in networks was AVINA’s differentiating factor. Among the local ones are the Empresarios

14  When initiatives are mentioned, the organization that carried it out is indicated, as well as the start year of AVINA’s economic
investment and the country where such investment was made.

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por la Educación, ExE, from Córdoba (Argentina). Among the national ones are the Movimiento Nacional Private Social Investment done by GIFE (Brazil), the International Symposium “Modern company and CSR”
de Empresas por la RSE (Argentina), the Red de RS in Peru; Internethos, Rede pela Responsabilidade organized by Perú 2021, “Companies and Communities: Commitment to the Environmental and Social
Social Empresarial (Brazil). And among the regional and territorial networks: Red para la Integración Sustainability” in Santa Catarina, Río Grande do Sul, Mato Grosso do Sul and Matto Grosso (Brazil), the
Centroamericana por la RSE, IntegraRSE, and Networks for the sustainable development of the border ConvertiRSE conferences, by the Central American network IntegraRSE.
between Brazil and Uruguay: players of civil society, business groups and journalists.
Historically, the greatest exchange has been from and towards Brazil: people attending the various editions
The coordination among CSR organizations and the boost to CSR groups, and specific networks also play of the Ethos conferences, for example, and experts from Brazil that imparted their knowledge to organizations
an important role among the initiatives. Some examples are: the Nexos-RSE Project for the strengthening of other countries. The edition 2008, in which the 10th anniversary of the Ethos conferences were celebrated,
and cooperation of CSR in Argentina (IARSE, 2003). Model of national coordination that seeks to integrate was attended by experts from Valos (Argentina); AmigaRSE (Bolivia); Consorcio Ecuatoriano para la RS
regional groups respecting their autonomy (Instituto Ação Empresarial pela Cidadania, Instituto AEC, Brazil, (CERES); ADEC y REDES, from Paraguay; Asociación Trabajo Voluntario and GestionaRSE (Peru); DERES and
2003). Strengthening of the CSR movement in Central America (Red IntegraRSE, 2008). Regional programs the Actitud Emprendedora magazine (Uruguay).
like Programa Latinoamericano de RSE, PLARSE (supported by the Instituto Ethos, Brazil, 2006).
Support to research, surveys production, polls and dissemination of CSR good practices cases were another
Private companies’ economic participation was sought in projects such as the Viva! program about values in AVINA’s methodology within the pillar of Concepts. They evaluated cases of coordination, like the experience
school young people in Lima (Visión Solidaria, Peru, 2004) or the Social Portal (Fundação Maurício Sirotsky of the Comité Nacional Pro-Defensa de la Fauna y Flora (CODEFF) and the companies in the Region of
Sobrinho, FMSS, Brazil, 2007), and organizations like Asociación para la Niñez y su Ambiente (ANIA, Peru, Biobio for the environment protection (Chile, 2005); the evaluation and systematization of initiatives by
2007), Instituto Akatu (Brazil, 2007), Agencia Global de Noticias (Paraguay, 2008). Articulação Nacional pela Cidadania Empresarial (Rede ACE, Brazil, 2007); business cases like a community
strengthening model in health issues by a business foundation (Fundación Alberto Hidalgo, FAH; Ecuador,
As to the strengthening and breath of the national scope, AVINA supported organizations like Junior 2000) that of Punta Islita and Fundación Amigos de la Isla del Coco (FAICO, Costa Rica, 2007). Also, CSR
Achievement (Brazil, 2004, and Ecuador, 2007) and the Asociación Trabajo Voluntario (Peru, 2008), and studies from the perspective of some groups were supported, like the study about SR from the point of
projects like the Rede de Geração de Trabalho e Renda, from Rede Cidadã (Brazil, 2005). view of the civil society (Fondo de las Américas, Chile, 2002), or from the point of view of consumers, of
standards and practices among headquarters from the Netherlands and subsidiaries in São Paulo (Instituto
To AVINA’s investment in CSR, we must add financing for long-term strategic allies, which complemented Brasileiro de Defensa do Consumidor, IDEC, Brazil, 2003).
the processes continent-wide, as are the cases of Social Enterprise Knowledge Network (SEKN) and Fundes15.
AVINA supported both nation-wide survey, like the IARSE CSR survey in Argentina and the survey of the CSR
2.3.2 Concepts state in Uruguay by DERES (both in 2008), and local ones, for example, the survey on characteristics, needs,
perception and action of the CSR of micro-entrepreneurs from the city of Castro (Guabún Consultores, Chile,
In the pillar of evolution of Concepts, we include CSR promotion strategies like events, publications, surveys 2005).
and dissemination of good practices, promotion of dialogue and participation (as detailed in point 2.1
“Focus on social capital”), support to research, awards and competitions, information through the media, Another AVINA’s methodology of CSR promotion was the support to awards and competitions about the
training (also detailed in the above-mentioned point since training was closely linked to coordination). subject, aimed at various groups like university students (National Award “Ethics and Corporate Social
Responsibility”, promoted by Valos in 2003 or the competition of academic works promoted by DERES
Some of the organizations in which the development of integral CSR promotion strategies was supported alogn with the Asociación Cristiana de Dirigentes de Empresa, ACDE, in Uruguay, 2007), companies (like
are Fundación Prohumana (Chile, 2000); ADEC (Paraguay, 2002); COBORSE (Bolivia, 2003); DERES (Uruguay, the national competition of cases of CSR, Peru, Amanco, 2003, and the competition for small- and medium-
2003); Red de Empresarios para el Desarrollo Sostenible (REDES, Paraguay, 2003); y AmigaRSE (Bolivia, 2006). sized companies with scarce resources “Weaving business connectivity with value”, Peru, 2004, Grupo
Intercambio), and the journalistic ones (“Premio Red Puentes al Periodismo de RSE”, Argentina, Fundación
Another strategy that turned out productive was that of financing trips to foster participation of Latin El Otro, 2004).
American CSR leaders at events, conferences, congresses, seminars, workshops and visits of exchange.
It was a way to foster the exchange of views and being enriched through the others’ experiences. In As to dissemination in the media, AVINA Foundation invested in training, monitoring of coverage, awareness-
2008, for example, AVINA contributed to the exchange between IARSE and Business in the Community rasing campaigns and coordination. In 2005, AVINA supported the local versions of the ANDI-Ethos project
(BITC), between business people from Chiloé (Chile) and from Valos (Mendoza, Argentina), and between “CSR and the media in Ibero America” (done with organizations from Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador,
organizations of the Programa Latinoamericano de RSE (PLARSE); participations (as panelists or public) España, Paraguay, Peru and Portugal) focused on the follow-up, classification, monitoring, analysis, exchange
in the 5th GIFE Congress about Private Social Investment (Brazil), at the meeting Empresas en Movimiento and dissemination of content and the discourse of media articles about CSR published in the media of
(Rosario, Argentina), at the Encuentro Empresarial de La Araucanía 2008 (Chile); visits of business people those countries. To install the CSR subject, the dissemination of good practices was supported through a
to industrial plants with effluent treatment in Concordia and Salto (DERES, Uruguay). TV program (Asociación de Bancos del Perú, ASBANC, Peru, 2005). AVINA also supported the creation of
media online specialized in CSR like the Mapeo de Promotores de RSE, www.mapeo-rse.info, elaborated
In turn, over time AVINA has supported different editions of events like the National Congress about by Mercedes Korin (Argentina, 2007), and the website www.emprendedor.tv, on which entrepreneurs and
CSR are connected (Uruguay, 2007). Other initiatives in the same line were: disseminate, through the
CSR supplement “Mano a Mano” from Siglo XXI, the good business practices of Guatemala’s production
15  This financing is not included in statistics about investments since they are considered to belong in a different line. sector, making known the cooperation efforts between the Asociación Guatemalteca del Empresariado

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IN SEARCH OF SUSTAINABILITY. The road of CSR in Latin America and AVINA Foundation’s contribution PART II. AVINA FOUNDATION’S CONTRIBUTION

Rural (AGER) and CentraRSE, in 2008, and the 2009 Seminar in Bolivia, “Promoting positive news, ethics, Within CSR investment, it is to be remarked the inclusion of innovative cases that were later emblematic like
transparency and governance”. the creation of a company that uses contaminated organic waste (Lican, Paraguay, 1999), the support to the
systematization of a model of a productive social company managed under SR principles (Flores del Sur,
As to CSR monitoring, AVINA was part of the dissemination of the first experience in the use of the Chile, 2004); the strengthening of as business cooperative strategic alliance for the preservation of coastal
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) guidelines by the civil society in Chile sea resources in Tárcoles (Cooperativa Autogestionaria de Servicios Profesionales para la Solidaridad
(Centro Ecocéanos, Chile, 2003) and the creation of the CSR Observatory (Centro de Comunicación Social, CoopeSolidar, Costa Rica, 2004) and the creation of a company that takes advantage of polluting
Audiovisual Sociedad, Chile, 2006). organic waste (Lican, Paraguay, 2006). As to the construction of productive chains, AVINA invested in,
for example a social, labor and economic integration system on the outskirts of Greater Mendoza (El
By way of example, in Annex D “AVINA’s contribution in publications” we number various documents in Arca, Argentina, 2006); the project Social Patterns: Inclusive Businesses (Tramando, Argentina, 2007); and
which the organization had some sort of participation, mostly through the support to initiatives within the supported micro and small entrepreneurs from Concepción and Puerto Montt, among others, by assembling
framework of which those documents were elaborated. clusters to supply large companies (Corporación Simón de Cirene, Chile, 2007); it collaborated with the
Manual and workshops of CSR and Social and Economic Inclusion (IARSE, Argentina, 2008); and helped
2.3.3 Tools boost productive chains between small and large producers of Poultry (Vivo Positivo, national coordinator
of associations and organizations of HIV/AIDS carriers, Chile, 2008).
Within the evolution pillar corresponding to Tools, AVINA’s intervention methodologies had to do with
the support for the development of instruments of self-regulation, certifications, indicators, guidelines and
3. AVINA’s influence on CSR’s evolution
indexes and implementation models, including the generation of innovative cases.

AVINA accompanied the process of promotion of Corporate Social Responsibility in Latin America generating
One of the bets was the development of sector self-regulation instruments. Some cases were: a SR clause
social capital so that companies and business people could make progress in their commitment to the
in The Mountain Institute business unions, Peru, 2000; the agreement “Contribution of Transparency in the
common good. It helped install the CSR concept on the continent, identified leaderships and facilitated
Private Sector”, by companies from the water sector (Poder Ciudadano, Argentina, 2006; Dialogue for the
trust links and the materialization of alliances for the promotion of CSR practices in the region. Thus, it
formation of the Business Pact Against Corruption, Instituto Ethos, Brazil, 2006).
integrated a set of organizations, from different latitudes and sizes, which by being part of it facilitated
the multiplication of experiences and which, gradually, allowed reaching a consensus on the need for
Another strategy of the organization was the support to the creation of certifications that encouraged CSR
sustainability.
like the Certificate of Tourist Sustainability (Centro Latinoamericano para la Competitividad y el Desarrollo
Sostenible, CLACDS, from INCAE, Costa Rica, 2000); the Training for the certificate “Selo Empresa Cidadã/
The conversation with 76 experts in CSR sought, among other objectives, to know their opinions about
AM” Amazonas, (Centro da Industria do Estado do Amazonas, CIEAM, Brazil, 2004); Towards a National
AVINA’s impact on the development of the CSR subject in Latin America. Here we present the conclusions
System of Log Certification (Agrupación de Ingenieros Forestales por el Bosque Nativo, AIFBN, Chile, 2005).
about this aspect, testimonies that clarify it and the results of a poll that quantifies the value given to
AVINA’s weight.
Another of the intervention methodologies for encouraging the use of tools was based on the support to
indicators, guidelines and indexes related to CSR. Such is the case of Guatemala’s private sector, with
According to the people interviewed, these were the most significant results of AVINA’s role in CSR
validity of indicators (CentraRSE, Guatemala, 2005); the collective construction of an indicator system by the
development in Latin America:
Red Centroamericana para la Promoción de la RSE (CentraRSE, Guatemala, 2007). In the same line, AVINA
encouraged participation in the process of elaboration of the SR ISO 26000 Guide (like with Fundación
Ambiente y Recursos Naturales, FARN, Argentina, in 2006); and collaborated with CSR Indicators and a Results of AVINA’s influence on CSR development
Manual for the First Steps for Cooperatives of Users (IARSE, Argentina, 2007); an Index of Transparency • It made a difference in CSR development in Latin America by helping generate social capital and
and SR at Public Services Companies (Red Interamericana de Fundaciones y Acciones Empresariales para knowledge.
el Desarrollo de Base, RedEAmérica, Colombia, 2007); CSR and the media: coordination of management of • It established inter-sector coordination models.
the sector supplement about the media by Global Reporting Initiative, GRI (Fundación Nuevo Periodismo • It helped create an atmosphere, a debate scenario for sustainability, a potential for its evolution
Iberoamericano, FNPI, Colombia, 2008); Strengthening of the integration model of CSR in Central America: that includes, but exceeds, CSR.
V Central American Conference of CSR and proposal of validation of regional indicators (Red IntegraRSE, • The community AVINA helped create is already independent of the organization. Those who promote
Central America, 2008). CSR, from different fields, connect with each other with trust, committing to mutual goals and work
guidelines.
Regarding CSR implementation models, AVINA supported the construction of models for fostering CSR • The international organizations resorting to AVINA to contact already established networks,
(IntegraRSE, Panama, 2003), or the CSR model at small- and medium-sized companies, of value chain for multiplying investments and projects.
large companies —Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)/ Fundemas project— jointly with CSR Central • There are already installed concepts that are enriched with new approaches.
American organizations, El Salvador, Fundemas, 2008, 2009; the Social report for small- and medium-sized • The dynamic of debate about CSR exceeds the original subject of each organization; the subject
companies (Acción RSE, Chile, 2003 and 2004), and the incorporation of CSR in small- and medium-sized evolves with a life of its own.
companies management (Fundes, Bolivia, 2007). Source: Systematization of interviews with expert

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These results have a continent-wide scope achieved through AVINA’s intervention in the different Latin
American countries, as shown these testimonies taken as example:

Testimonies on AVINA’s influence on CSR development

Focus, installation of the subject, knowledge production


• “The most important contribution is the argumentative one, the focus, the ideas.” (Chile)
• “The sense AVINA provided CSR with is very strong and it not only has to do with a strategic positioning,
but with a different paradigm from the past, when reality was seen in a bipolar manner.” (Costa Rica)
• “AVINA helped put the subject on the civil society agenda and in that of the private sector. It created the
opportunity of disseminating success cases. It fostered the leadership of certain experts that obtained
more visibility through AVINA’s network of contacts.” (Ecuador)
• “AVINA was one of the first organizations in Ecuador to introduce the idea that CSR is an integral subject
and that each of us is responsible for it.” (Ecuador)
• “In these ten years of CSR, AVINA has been very important for the production of knowledge of management.
The society produced new instruments of management (how to do the job with stakeholders, how to
compare the job done). A good number of these people were financed by AVINA.” (Brazil)
• “Without AVINA, CSR would not exist in Latin America because they contributed financial resources, For 44% of the people interviewed, AVINA’s importance in the overall CSR development in Latin America
commitment and knowledge”. (Bolivia) was high or very high. Twenty-six percent of the experts consider it medium and 6% low or nil. Almost 1
Personal links for sustainability out of 4 of the interviewees (24%) prefer the DK/DA option, which is usually based on the lack of enough
• “AVINA provided us with a peer network. I discussed a conceptual document —the basis of our information about the work of the organization in CSR to do a historical evaluation.
organization— with AVINA members. There is an agreement of mutual support. AVINA’s website is
unvaluable, I can see who to resort to in a given subject and he meets with me.” (Chile) When consulted about whether AVINA’s influence on CSR has grown or diminished in the past decade,
• “Undoubtedly, in the case of the media, AVINA played an essential role in having them think about joint the most common answer was that it maintained high and constant levels of approximately until 2007,
projects. This AVINA’s absolute and exclusive achievement, bring together different players and have and then it began to diminish. The reasons for this —in the cases in which the interviewees could identify
them work together. It is a spectacular added value of AVINA’s because they are neutral and what they them— were basically two: one attributed to the very dynamics the movement gained (the autonomy
really want is to promote the subject.” (Colombia) acquired by the movement itself led to AVINA not been indispensable) and the other attributed to AVINA
• “As AVINA has been a broker of alliances and contacts, with very good contacts in the civil society, I (strategic redesign issues and other investment opportunities).
believe it has also very much influenced civil society organizations: in their admitting that they may have
opposed more than companies; in some cases they realized that companies may be allies.” (Guatemala) Experts were asked to issue a value to AVINA’s influence on the different fields where CSR develops in
• “I’m really thankful to AVINA because we are doing what we are doing thanks to AVINA and not despite Latin America. The graph shows the average value attached to each field assigned by the experts that chose
AVINA. Past mistakes were the mistakes any organization may have made. Each dollar they invested in to answer the question. The experts thought that the field of CSR-specific organizations is where AVINA
us made absolute sense, it bore fruit. We are morally obliged to be thankful and bear fruit.” (Argentina) achieved the most influence (high), followed by CSR-specific networks, civil society organizations, business
Funds leverage associations, international agencies and academic institutions, which reach a medium level of influence.
• “For cooperation organisms that are starting to approach these subjects, AVINA is a framework and they Instead, they considered AVINA reached a low level in: consulting firms, companies, the media, and public
consider that they can make full use of much of AVINA’s achievements.” (Bolivia) agencies. It is worth highlighting that they did not think its influence had been nil in any of these fields.
• “There are multilateral and cooperation organizations that respect AVINA and want to work with it
because AVINA created a broad network and such network has value. The organism says ‘Through this
network, I interact’. This is AVINA’s greatest capital.” (Brazil)
• “From receiving finance I went on to finance; from my current position in the CSR management departement
of a company, I finance AVINA’s leaders. Whenever I identify them, I look them in the eye because AVINA
has that ability to detect: when I identify them, they have already 50% of the financing.” (Brazil)

Source: Interviews performed for this survey

The poll objective was that the people interviewed rated AVINA’s influence considering six options: Nil;
Low; Medium; High; Very high; I do not know/ I do not answer (DK/DA)16.

16  For more details, see Annex B “Methodology of the interviews and polls”. About the profile of those polled, see Annex A
“Interviewees”.

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IN SEARCH OF SUSTAINABILITY. The road of CSR in Latin America and AVINA Foundation’s contribution PART II. AVINA FOUNDATION’S CONTRIBUTION

Summing up, the types of answers were grouped into the following categories: general goals for a sustainability
scenario, general goals for CSR to have a greater impact and strategies for sustainability (involvement and
coordination, innovation, regulation, knowledge and dissemination and scales equilibrium).


General goals for a sustainability scenario
• Generate conscience changes, a cultural transformation.
• Contribute to the construction of a sustainable market by achieving an economy for the sustainable
development, with a significant investment by companies in social transformation.
• Work to do away with poverty; include the poor in the labor market and create more social-inclusion
mechanisms.
General goals for CSR to have a greater impact
• Link the concept of CSR with those of sustainable development and competitiveness.
• Assume the fact that CSR implies a long maturity process and keep supporting the movement.
• Work to establish CSR as a public policy.
• Take CSR from a conceptual plane to a practical one.
Experts were asked about AVINA’s level of influence on coordination —the organization’s central strategy—
in favor of the development of CSR in Latin America. Fifty-nine percent thought AVINA’s influence on Strategies for sustainability
coordination was high-very high, considering that the organization contributed to the generation of Involvement and coordination
possibility of meetings, contacts platform, promotion of alliances, and the support in network-making. • Achieve greater business involvement: for mutinationals to operate in Latin America with the same
standards as their home countries, and for small- and medium-sized companies that still require
support to be incorporated into the movement. Contribute to the coordination between large and
small companies.
• Offer more bridges between civil society organizations and business, linking companies, society and
the State, coordination among leaders.
• Add new social players, particulary the public sector. Additionally, consumer associations, workers’
organizations and the media.
• Work with already-existing spaces such as the Global Compact.
• Turn to and encourage public opinion so that it demands and further checks companies.
• Call different segments of society to take part in public policies.
Innovation
• Support the growth of innovative subjects such as inclusive business and responsible consumption.
• Become involved in “hard” implementation issues such as the financial sustainability index.
• Participate and lead spaces of decision in climate change and energy matrix.
• Encourage a long-term way of thinking in organizations and networks working in CSR.
Regulation
• Look into new control mechanisms for a sustainability scenario.
As a final question in the interviews done for this study, experts were asked about AVINA’s possible • Work in the generation and passage of laws that lead society to a sustainable concept. Research and
strategies in the next few years for companies to take on a transforming role: disseminate legislation models that might be applied in Latin America and function as regulators
and encouragement for CSR policies. >>
On the basis of what we have talked about CSR evolution in Latin America and AVINA Foundation’s contribution,
and taking into account the trend of the CSR movement in the region, what do you think should AVINA’s
strategy be in the next five years to efficiently help companies be part of the social transformation?

Even when we would have liked the interviewees’ sugestions to be fodder for AVINA’s future plan in its
influence on the private sector, the collective “brainstorm” herein transcribed shows the complexity of
reality and possibilities to transform it. This is the reason why such suggestions may turn out useful, over
and above AVINA, for the whole of the movement in favor of sustainability.

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IN SEARCH OF SUSTAINABILITY. The road of CSR in Latin America and AVINA Foundation’s contribution

Strategies for sustainability


Knowledge and dissemination
• Continue with the dissemination of successful experiences that might inspire others.
• Invest in knowledge: deepen and improve the academic and education supply creating CSR-
management capabilities, including consultants trained in this subject.
• Exchange professional practices between organisms and companies from different countries in Latin
America.
• “Make sustainability fashionable”: have people appropriate themselves of the sustainability issue
and the possibility of transforming reality.
PART III
Scale equilibrium
• Contribute to the consolidation of Latin America as a region without overlooking local projects in a IN SEARCH OF SUSTAINABILITY
continent context.
• Work local issues taking the global framework as a reference.
• Manage to make continent-wide movements inspire local projects, but without predetermining them
since the driving force for change in a territory should be the local players.
• Design impact evaluation systems for those measures aimed at a sustainable development.

Source: Sistematization of interviewes with experts

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1. How far we have reached today

1.1 CSR’s present scenario in Latin America

The road trodden by Corporate Social Responsibility started well before it was baptized as such, and gained
momentum worldwide as from the 1990’s, with greater development in Latin America in the past ten years.
Particularly at a conceptual level, it began to turn from philanthropy to social investment up to the point
of pursuing full-blown CSR, which included all its areas, and fostering presently an evolution within the
framework of the sustainability.

When reviewing the main emblematic facts making up what may be called movement towards sustainability,
within which it is included a full promotion of CSR (over and above the field and players involved), it is clear
that it is an ongoing process, growing heterogeneously on the continent, with the coexistence of different
ways of understanding CSR, from philanthropic and social-investment initiatives to isolated practices to
the whole management of the business. They all are part of a wide umbrella of responsible practices of
the private sector, key to achieving a worldwide sustainability although some specialized voices, like those
making up Aliança Capoava —Ashoka, AVINA Foundation, Grupo de Institutos Fundações e Empresas (GIFE)
and Instituto Ethos de Empresas e Responsabilidade Social—, show that this umbrella is becoming small
before the needs ahead in the next few decades.

In the past few years, the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility has been broadening towards that
of Sustainability to give an answer to a greater number of demands. There have been among the CSR
experts consulted for this survey those who explained CSR as a means, and sustainability as an end. The
relation between CSR and the movement towards sustainability is especially clear in the initiatives linking
the private sector to CSR-specific fields or to associated subjects. Thus, CSR has begun to be enriched
and complemented with questions such as inclusive business, fair trade, responsible consumption and
sustainable cities, among others.

Most of the experts interviewed ratify the existence of a movement around the subject, although they
attach different scopes to them. While some point out that as long as there are no significant changes,
e.g. governments becoming involved in changing the rules of the game, there will be no breakthrough
or massive changes, others claim that this is a very solid process, and others that both questions do not
cancel each other out, but complement each other. At present, among the most important incentives for
companies to adopt CSR, specialists highlight social pressure and the demands from international trade.

“It is a movement because it has its own dynamics of continual improvement”, expressed a businessman,
giving examples of the agricultural sector (as sugar refineries or coffee plantations), which were obliged to
improve their practices under the pressure of their main clients, the multinational companies. In the same
sense, an improved quality of life of some communities is an argument of other interviewees to speak of a
movement and they mention the situation of the in-bond assembly plants and the construction sector workers
(who through responsible practices improved their labor conditions, received training and better salaries).

As part of the social network the companies involved, at a micro and macro level, in the destiny of the
countries they operate in, cannot ignore the subjects inherent in their reality and become involved. The
Latin American reality is full of needs that a sector of companies important, albeit not massive, has begun
paying attention to:

• Social issues. Poverty, unemployment and inequity are the main social issues, in addition to
a lack of infrastructure that guarantees, among other rights, every Latin American’s access to

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running water, In the past decade, these issues have been gaining more visibility in the public about their places before poverty; they start to appreciate the importance of sustainable environmental
agenda and some encouraging and obvious signs from companies becoming involved, being management. There are renewed expectations about the roles each social player can play (companies, civil
inclusive businesses a case in point. society organizations, governments) in the search of the common good and it begins to emerge cases that
• Environment. Climate change usually affects emerging countries in a further degree since they show this can turn into a new way of doing politics, like the work on sustainable cities.
have fewer resources to prevent it, and rebuild when necessary. Both the loss of biodiversity
and pollution of natural resources imply high environmental and economic costs and a risk According to the typology presented in The Path to Corporate Responsibility by Simon Zadek —founder
for all the players in society (including companies); questions that require urgent attention, and ex-director of Accountability and nominated as “world leader of tomorrow” by the World Economic
investment and innovation. Forum—, the evolution of a subject in society goes through four stages: latent, when the subject concerns
• Equality. The need for integration becomes increasingly complex. On the one hand, the more- activists and non-governmental organizations but it has no hard evidence and the business community
established subjects (gender equality or the inclusion of minority groups, like disabled people) ignores it; emerging where there is some political and media awareness about the subject, there is an
start to enjoy regulations and laws, and in the private sector integration models start to appear. incipient research team and still with poor data, and business leaders try out approaches to deal with the
But these issues are added to others like population ageing and immigration as a consequence subject; in consolidation process, when there is an emerging body of business practices around the subject,
of natural catastrophes (environmetal refugees), which should be factored into public policies voluntary initiatives and standards with a sector-scope emerge and the idea of the need for legislation
and companies’ decision-taking. becomes stronger; institutionalized, where there is legislation and business norms already established and
• Health and education. Full access to health and education is still a pending issue in Latin the practices are part of a business excellence model.
America. Health care (subjects like obesity, AIDS, cancer, addictions) and education (with the
focus on guaranteeing the access to education, accompanying the process to prevent high Applied this to CSR in Latin America, this survey “There have been changes, but not so significant
drop-out rates, encouraging training, and narrowing the digital gap) are becoming two habitual has allowed showing a co-existence of the three as expected. There was an important change in the
subjects in matters of social investment in companies. latter stages, with a clear presence of the first two discourse of companies, but there is still a long way
• Governability. Social participation has significantly increased with the democratic process as (emerging and in consolidation process), and with ahead: turning theory into practice. Companies
a widespread form of government in Latin America. However, except in the case of punctual the difficulties inherent in the region for regulation, continue to be results-oriented, thinking of results
initiatives, there are governability-related issues that are still to be fully approached in order controls and implementation of legislation. This in the traditional way.”
to obtain efficient results for the common good, like the need for transparency and integrity in stage appears in the opinion of several of the “To companies CSR is an expense, not an
the relation between the public sector and the private sector. people interviewed. investment.”
• Demography and cities. In forty years the number of people on the planet will be, at least, 30% “The movement in the region started in a reactive
higher: some 9,000 million of inhabitants that, mostly, will live in cities. Most new inhabitants The poll Practices and Perspectives of Social way and gradually it is becoming proactive, this
will be born in emerging or developing countries. Such demographic situation, already perceived, Responsibility in Brazil 2008, by Instituto Ethos, represents a fundamental change.”
will bring about challenges for urban development, infrastructure and services, the environment Instituto Akatu and Instituto Brasileiro de Opinião
and social cohesion. Pública e Estatística (IBOPE) on a representative sample of the universe of companies in Brazil shows
that out of 56 practices considered basic, 20% of the companies implemented on average 35; 50% of the
The Timeline with CSR milestones shows that the evolution has been the result of a building up process. companies implemented on average 22 and 70% implemented just 13. Considering that these appreciations
That is, there is no turning point that generated a fundamental change, a before and an after, but it was refer to Brazil, one of the countries where CSR is most advanced, we can infer that the rest of Latin America
the progressive result of facts towards the very same target that shaped a process with breakthroughs, is, at least, a step behind.
plateaus, setbacks, and new breakthroughs. Similarly, although there are still scarce initiatives continent-
wise, the measures taken in each country or set of countries shape a Latin American movement that 1.2 About the fields where CSR is promoted
already has, at least, a common denominator: Corporate Social Responsibility. CSR, as a subject, with its
terminology and main concepts, is installed in the agendas, with business and social leaders fully aware Each country has organizations from different fields engaged in CSR. Among others, business associations,
of the need to implement determining measures to achieve sustainability. In the search of a higher impact, civil society organizations, academic institutions, the media. There are different cooperation opportunities
coordination, alliances and networks look fundamental. that are grouped according to different criteria like for example: by CSR areas (environment, labor practices),
by field of operation (private, academic, civil society and the media sectors) or multi-sector ones, with
When analyzing the evolution of CSR in its different pillars (Organizations and Networks, Concepts and Tools) different scopes (from communal to continent ones).
is clear that it has developed its own methodologies and it is generating social capital with the potential
to reach a significant transformation. From the different regional initiatives, there are concrete elements • Among companies, the interest in the subject has been put in practice, in its beginnings by
that reflect the subject growth, such as the higher number of CSR-related organizations and alliances, new those responsible for affiliates of transnational companies, with headquarters on this continent,
voluntary standards and an increasing adoption by companies of principles, submission of social balances joined by large national and small- and medium-sized companies. Among the latter, those
and the use of specific indicators, with a trend towards uniformity in measurement techniques. that are first joining the process are the ones that constitute part of the value chain of large
companies and export companies. It is increasing the number of professionals engaged in CSR
CSR promotion is channeled into national, regional organizations and networks that group players from who wish to be trained both to become external consultants for companies and to work at
different fields. There is a growing number of alliances, both inter-sector and intra-sector, in the search companies. The demand for training within the company is also increasing and the number of
for objectives such as sustainability, democracy, peace and respect for human rights. Companies debate companies that have a CSR department, especially among multinationals and large companies.
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• CSR organizations are usually the ones to set the course, promote agreed agendas and generate Now, over and above organizations, what is the citizens’ behavior like? They are increasingly informed
social capital around CSR. In the past decade, these organizations have developed a significant about their rights, largely due to the new information technologies, higher awareness as a result of the
supply of implementation tools for companies and training for their application. They have huge economic, environmental and social crises, the global denouncements against companies that do
received the support of international cooperation agencies, multilateral organisms and donor not respect human rights and the steps taken by civil society organizations. The fact that citizens are
organizations to emerge, become stronger and broaden the critical mass interested in the increasing their empowerment tends to be a factor that companies pay more attention to. The respect for
subject. They are mostly business associations that have significantly increased the number the environment, health care, and the aspiration of a better quality of life constitute some of the main
of members (businesses that adopt their principles and support their measures), based on demands from citizens.
the principle that “peers draw peers”. Some group companies as a whole or by business
sector or size. Presently, they function in networks and are in a privileged position to boost In their role of consumers, people express in polls “The public shows the change when supervising
changes in business behavior in favor of sustainability, sharing knowledge with their value their willingness to pay attention to CSR when processes more closely. While they don’t alter their
chain, promoting the common benefits of responsible practices and, even, incipiently, they are purchasing and punish irresponsible companies. purchases based on the price, they denounce more
getting involved in public policies. Among the challenges they face are the ability to finance This is not transferred to sales significantly, but and warn against irresponsible practices. People
themselves or be financed and enrich themselves with new approaches towards the role of optimist outlooks interpret that the aspiration may are beginning to take an interest in sustainable
companies in sustainability and the concept of CSR reaching out to new companies. be regarded as a first step towards a responsible products.”
consumption, which would represent a change in
• The academic institutions have generated graduate courses, university chairs and research on social behavior, a culture that is used to consume with pricing reputation criteria, not necessarily connected
the subject, and have started to form alliances to optimize their surveys and widen the scope with CSR. As a gradual process, the greater the information in circulation, the more importance companies
(from national to continent-wide). attach to a positive reputation linked to their CSR.

• Civil society organizations, especially the environmental and human rights organizations have 1.3. Development agendas: signs from initiatives with AVINA’s participation
taken —along with their traditional roles of monitoring companies and denouncing irresponsible
practices, and their approach to such companies to make their projects viable— a role of In many Latin American countries, and other regions, CSR organizations are going through a process of
supervision of business reports and technical support in the implementation of responsible reflection and strategic review of the role of the business sector as an essential player to face social,
practices by companies. Also, there are still many organizations that do not feel identified environmental and economic challenges, while it is kept the focus on promoting the application of CSR
with the CSR subject, especially in two decisive groups in a company: workers (grouped indicators and responsible practices in business management and their dissemination in sustainability
under unions) and consumers (consumer watchdogs). In turn, the influence of civil society reports. As to the business sector, a part shows interest in adopting clearer and obvious measures in favor
organizations in public policies and their drawing power is increasing. of sustainable development. For this to be possible, it is necessary a change in the way of carrying out
business so that it considers subjects such as ethics and transparency, the inclusion of more vulnerable
• The media, especially in their more innovative contributions (blogs, social networks, etc.), have sectors in the value chain and the adoption of productive practices that respect the environment.
been channels of social pressure demanding more responsibility by companies. Instead, in their
traditional formats, a CSR coverage is still taking place questioned for being superficial. On the The great need to boost solidarity processes among sectors, countries and regions, and inter-sector
other hand, new CSR-specific media, with a national or regional scope, are emerging. coordination like a democratic mechanism of approaching, agreeing and cooperating, make AVINA put the
focus on the transversalizastion of CSR in other national and continent-wide agendas and opportunities of
• Governments seem to be the least “People are requesting that the State better social transformation. This implies mobilizing the business sector in development agendas by promoting
involved in the subject; affecting regulate trade, the economy and businesses.” the conditions for new participation spaces and generating the sufficient sinergies so that this new role
the development they might reach of the business sector is translated into initiatives that unleash sustainable development process in Latin
considering the potential they have resulting from the scale and impact that public policies America and mean behavior changes in the private sector and society as a whole.
can achieve. Some of the people interviewed thought that demand has a “co-responsibility”
nature. The leadership of governments is key to responding to an increasing demand for public These development agendas center on finding solutions for specific subjects such as the high poverty and
policies, national and global, which contribute to a sustainable economy. While there are unemployment rates, governability and the state of law, the access to potable water, the management
incipient experiences —certain regulations, law proposals and fiscal incentives, some public of solid waste, citizens’ safety, the adaptation and mitigation of climate change effects, education and
organisms promoting the subject and participating in alliances—, so far governments have health as a public good, discrimination and social exclusion in their different forms, migrations and social
not been important leverage sources nor do they usually include CSR in their parameters, for movements, and the sustainable exploitation of natural resources.
example, for public purchases. The incorporation of CSR leaders into the public service, which
is beginning to happen in some countries, is regarded as a possible driving force for changes. Based on this approach, AVINA aimes to boost its work strategy and cooperation with the private sector,
complementing its initial view —primarily focused on CSR promotion— and seeking to detect, contribute
“People are becoming aware that if they participate, they can achieve changes. And companies recognize and participate in innovative scale initiatives or that might generate models with scale potential, like the
hat this impacts their businesses although not their level of sales.” following:
“Changes in social behavior are seen beyond CSR. In countries where companies used to pollute and
nobody said anything, gradually citizens started to know their rights and demand.”

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Sustainable Connections business leaders making up those chambers. With this thought in mind, AVINA provided the necessary
resources to build a social network that allowed this businessman to have the necessary contacts and links
With the purpose of promoting dialogue opportunities among sectors and commitments of companies to to have his agenda based on values and proposals that prioritized human dignity.
certain biomass, AVINA has participated —since 2008— in the initiative Sustainable Connections (www.
conexoessustentaveis.org.br), which seeks to put into motion the value chains of various business sectors Previously, AVINA had supported Etchegorry in the setting up of business institutions to go ahead with
though business pacts that protect the Amazon jungle and their populations. The project was born at the those values and proposals, first among young businessmen in Córdoba (AJE, the Association of Young
seminar “Sustainable conections: São Paulo-Amazonia”, organized by the Nossa São Paulo network and the Businessmen from Córdoba, in 2004) and then for companies that operate in that province (Gestión
Amazonia Sustainable Forum, with Instituto Ethos’s support, where business people met representatives Responsable, organization of companies for CSR, in 2007).
from the civil society and the public sector to debate the role of the city of São Paulo as a consumer of
Amazonian products. Measures against climate change

This process allowed offerting greater transparency and control over the main value chains linked to the Climate change entered the agenda of Chile’s business sector by late 2009, when it joined the OECD and
Brazilian Amazonia. Business agreements were reached in the wood, soybean sectors and incompanies committed to mitigating greenhouse gas emissions stated in the Copenhagen Conference. In turn, the
the livestock activity, environmental organizations investigated and denounced companies that threatened subject became stronger before the fear of the main export sectors of possible trade barriers that might
the Amazonia and state agencies started to recommend not buying products from illegal areas. A case in demand a reduction in the carbon trace.
point was the boycott to illegal beef decided by the three largest supermarket chains in Brazil (Pão de
Açúcar, Carrefour and Wal-Mart), which stopped buying beef from meatpacking plants in the State of Pará This situation led to a multi-sector dialogue process that allowed generating a series of proposals for public-
denounced by the Greenpeace NGO in June 2009. private decision-making in terms of mitigation of emissions. The process (www.cambioclimaticochile.org)
was encouraged by the Asociación de Empresas Eléctricas AG, Fundación Chile, the Department of Electric
This kind of initiatives has, among its positive aspects, the ability to multiply. In this case, there was also Engineer of Pontificia Universidad Católica, the Alberto Hurtado University, the Futuro Latinoamericano
the proposal from the government of including the steel-making sector and designing the first certification Foundation and the AVINA Foundation. Among other technical and political measures, a discussion table
of this type in the whole world. with experts from major economic sectors, civil society organizations and Chile’s Ministry of Energy and
Environment was organized. Studies on the mitigation costs at national and international levels were
GRI for the media analyzed; logical potential mitigation measures in Chile were analyzed and public policy tools with greater
social benefits and economically efficient were sought, 35 feasible measures to reduce greenhouse gases
In the face of the need to encourage and call media companies into sustainable development, in 2007 the were analyzed and management instruments and direct costs of these measures were identified.
Fundación Nuevo Periodismo Iberoamericano (FNPI), AVINA, the Jounalism Studies Program from Pontificia
Universidad Javeriana in Colombia and Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) reached an alliance so that a leading As part of this process, the Plataforma Escenarios Energéticos-Chile 2030 managed to influence public
representative media group in Latin America could adopt practices, evaluating and reporting models relative policies, with the Programa País Eficiencia Energética —depending on the National Board of Energy— being
to their interest groups. Within this framework, a GRI Media Sector Supplement is being elaborated that will created, which has an agenda of ten points to materialize Chile’s energy efficiency potential.
be a complement of the GRI guidelines in CSR. The sector indicators are being worked on by a group largely
made up of civil society organizations and companies from countries with varying degrees of development, Companies for sustainability
which focuses on reaching consensus. The ultimate approval of the indicators will be in the hands of GRI.
AVINA and the Unión Nicaragüense para la RSE (UniRSE) promoted the cooperation of Nicaragua’s private
So far, the core sustainability issues in the media industry have been identified; the first draft of the Media sector, which was set forth in the declaration of organizations and business unions —led by the Consejo
Sector Supplement has been elaborated; workshops and conferences in Latin America for the dissemination Superior de la Empresa Privada (COSEP) and Nicaragua’s American Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM)—
of the subject have been organized; and La otra cara de la libertad —a study done with Fundación Carolina that social responsibility is everyone’s commitment and for everyone and represents an opportunity for a
in which there is an analysis of CSR practices in the Latin American media— has been published. sustainable development in the country, which is in turn profitable, ethical and inclusive.

Institutionality construction That was the first step, in 2010, to encourage the business sector, fostering its participation in development
agendas so that, along with civil society organizations and the public sector, they take the necessary
With the conviction that sustainable development is achieved by creating the necessary institutionality decisions and practices to effectively face the problems affecting the country.
conditions to regulate market practices and strengthen democracy, and assuming that the companies
are key players in the construction of such institutionality, AVINA is accompanying businessman Emilio Presently, the widening of the business spectrum is being sought as well as the implementation of
Etchegorry as head of the Steel-making Industry Chamber of the province of Córdoba, Argentina, as member significant proposals both for the continent and for Nicaragua —like inclusive recycling, access to running
of the Board of the Asociación de Industriales Metalúrgicos de la República Argentina (ADIMRA). water though a community management, inclusive markets, and sustainable cities.

Chambers are organizations that group companies by industrial or commercial line and, therefore, they are Decentralized model of sustainable reconstruction
institutions through which it is possible to influence sector development. That such sector development
generates a value in common or acts against the life of the population depends on the quality of the On January 27th, 2010, a strong earthquake, reaching 8.8 on the Richter scale, and subsequently a tsunami,
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swept away 350 kilometers in Chile. It is estimated that the energy released came close to 100,000 atomic The proposal was collectively thought-of and built by AVINA, Danone and two organizations of scavengers,
bombs like that in Hiroshima in 1945. The hardest-hit areas were Valparaíso, Santiago, O’Higgins, Maule, El Álamo (Buenos Aires) and the Cooperativa de Recicladores de Mendoza (COREME). The agreement
Biobio and La Araucanía, where almost 80% of the population of Chile lives, some 13 million inhabitants. includes Danone’s commitment to produce a percentage of its bottles with recycled material and develop a
There were more than 2 million affected people, 500 dead, 500,000 lodgings razed, almost a million boys sustainable recovery system. Meanwhile, AVINA contributes the strategy and experience to go ahead with
and girls without being able to go to school since there were 2,750 closed, 35 hospitals out of use and innovative proposals that manage to coordinate the job of organized recyclers with that of independent
damage estimated for about 30 billion dollars. ones, one of the main challenges to progress in social inclusion.

With the support of the United Nations, a consortium made up by AVINA Foundation, Superación de la
Pobreza Foundation, Proyecto Propio and the Masisa and Onduline companies resulted in a process with
2. How far we can reach tomorrow
high generation of local social capital, with important participation of the communities and with a rol of the
private sector in the construction of public goods. A multisector consortium built 1,472 emergency lodgings, 2.1 The need for a new model
which over and above the resulting high quality housing, it implied full employment in various communities
and purchases in local hardware stores. Citizen reconstruction was also worked on, with three-sector In less than two decades, the higher coordination “What has been achieved at a micro level has not
consortia that participate and lead processes of strategic planning, net-worth reconstruction, undertakings among different social players —with the CSR been taken to scale. There are punctual projects
and others. AVINA took part contributing a decentralized model of calling and coordinating all sectors. subject as one of the most significant proposals— where it is clear the positive impact on the quality
has achieved a favorable scenario for debate on of life of a specific population. Now we have to
This experience allowed appreciating the advantage of a three-sector, decentralized model in which sustainability. This scenario can also constitute multiply it.”
citizens really participated, with contributions to local development, economic reactivation of the affected the ground for a change in paradigm regarded as “CSR reached out to a small share of companies, it
communities and renewed appreciation of local identity. essential for a construction that might progress is necessary to broaden the scope.”
without leveraging those who still need to take “I see punctual cases of improvement in quality of
Business promotion and inclusive markets the first steps in the subject. life, but I believe that the movement is still not in
the agendas, and this is what we need now.”
The promotion of inclusive businesses in Latin America has gained momentum in the past two years when The social situation and lack of public services “Quality of life has to do with companies, but above
CSR-promoting business organizations joined the subject. The initial support of the World Business Council characterizing the region show that, so far, nothing all, with the system. CSR has still not worked on
for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and its Latin American representatives joined the UNDP Division of significant has been achieved, except in some the change in the system. This is a pending issue to
the Private Sector, like responsible for the Global Compact, which created the Growing Inclusive Markets aspects highlighted by the specialists interviewed really achieve a social transformation.”
program. like encouraging (punctual initiatives in small “CSR is a process that is not tangible and implies a
communities). It is necessary take further steps so cultural and behavior change which makes it slow”.
These international organizations were then joined by local ones like IARSE in Argentina, Instituto Ethos that CSR develops its transforming potential. There “We are still stuck in the same paradigm.”
and the Ação Empresarial pela Cidadania (AEC) in Brazil; business unions like the Industrial Federation are new tools, but they don’t seem to be enough “The contribution is incipient, but still insufficient.”
from the State of Minas Gerais in Brazil and the ANDI in Colombia, and the Programa Latinoamericano de to generate such changes since it is complex to “It is a living movement that still has important
RSE (PLARSE), which promotes CSR actions in eight countries in the region. From an academic standpoint, alter values and the rules of the game, both social goals although it is necessary renewal and greater
at least twenty business schools on the continent adopted the subject of inclusive business and markets and business ones, and that it is a task that takes awareness.”
in their promotion institutions through the development of research and analysis of social impact. Among time.
others, member universities of the Social Enterprise Knowledge Network (SEKN), like Harvard Business
School (the United States); San Andrés university (Argentina); São Paulo university (Brazil); INCAE (Costa It is necessary to refocus CSR, continuing towards a broader process that includes a higher variety of players
Rica); Universidad de los Andes (Colombia); Catholic University of Chile; EGADE (Mexico); Universidad and that considers the signs that forecast the trends in the years to come. John Elkington, who coined
del Pacífico (Peru), IESA (Venezuela). Other which joined the project were Torcuato Di Tella university in the triple bottom line concept in 1994 about economic, social and environmental companies’ perfomance,
Argentina, the Getulio Vargas and Dom Cabral foundations in Brazil, the Catholic University in Uruguay; the nowadays explains in a document signed by his organization the significance of a “Phoenix economy”:
Universidad del Desarrollo and the Alberto Hurtado university in Chile, and Cornell and Stanford universities “A new economic order is rising from the ashes —and a new generation of innovators, entrepreneurs and
in the United States. investors is accelerating the changes essential for delivering scalable sustainable solutions to the world”17.

Alliance for sustainable recycling The path of change is marked by global agents like “We have always thought that we should not
inter-governmental organizations, transnational reinvent the wheel, but now it is necessary. Each of
AVINA and the business group Danone through its Ecosysteme Fund joined forces with the purpose of corporations and civil society, according to the us should be wondering how to do it capitalizing on
materialize a project that improves the qualitiy of life of recyclers in the Argentine cities of Mendoza and document from Global Scenario Group (GSG), The the past and creating new scenarios.”
Buenos Aires (as a first stage). The initiative seeks to structure an inclusive value chain for the recovery, great transition: the promise and lure of the times
processing and sale of PET (material plastic bottles are made from) to the industry for the local production
of recycled bottles.
17  Volans. The Phoenix Economy. 50 Pioneers in the Business of Social Innovation. Londres, 2009.

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IN SEARCH OF SUSTAINABILITY. The road of CSR in Latin America and AVINA Foundation’s contribution PART III. IN SEARCH OF SUSTAINABILITY

ahead18, and a global “less tangible fourth agent: the public’s awareness about the need for a change, and need for a new model, approaches we should give credit to begin to appear, considering that the previous
the dissemination of values prioritizing quality of life, human solidarity and environmental sustainability”. searches for solutions have not been effective. New possibilities should be explored. Green employments,
At an individual level, it is about the advance towards citizens aware of their responsibility in their different pointed out by the International Labour Organization (ILO), as a potential solution to unemployment:
roles they play: in their family, like users and consumers, like clients, like workers, like business people. people prepared for the new market labor whom incorporate sustainability parameters in a transversal
and integral fashion in all their decisions and measures. Innovation in technology, particularly in clean
When the evolution of CSR is understood as part “Governments, non-governmental organizations, energies, biotechnology and optimization of resources (from advanced water systems to the use of
of the search for sustainability is a gradual process labor groups, and business people working to waste), with applications in sectors ranging from agriculture to medicine. Sustainable architecture, looking
that in Latin America is less than 20 years old, the achieve new structures.” into constructions that improve the quality of life and the respect of the environment. Processes over
pending challenges cannot be considered a limiting “New laws changing society and not lagging “sustainable cities” showing a spectrum of opportunities in matters like: resources management, mobility
factor; on the contrary they represent opportunities, behind should be passed.” and infrastructure for cities like Bogotá, São Paulo and Mendoza.
fertile ground where we should sow with support
and incentive, mostly based on the experiences that are part of this movement and its potential contributions Implementation of objective mechanisms of awards and punishments. It is important to develop and
to transformation. Companies have the resources, the acquired tools and the knowledge to be active spread mechanisms of evaluation and awards to value and differentiate the responsible companies in
participants in this process. If this is not the case, an organized civil society, consumers and governments the market. Clear rules that encourage companies and consumers to demand responsible standards. To
should be out there to remind them. achieve it, it will be necessary, among other measures, to encourage independent monitoring and create
mechanisms of punishment such as sanctions for the lack of compliances with assumed commitments and
2.2 A feasible road irresponsible behavior. It is fundamental the State role through laws, regulations and public policies —
setting forth regulations based on the different types of companies—, as well as the role of the civil society
Here we number some aspects emerging as signs of trends for the decades to come in terms of sustainability, in controls related to the transparency and streamlining of the public sector activity and the private sector
its challenges, and the opportunities that might come up in the process. The detail, not exhaustive, was activity. The increase in the number of integrated reports, combining the finance aspect with the social and
put together based on the specialists’ opinions consulted for this survey, initiatives like those in point “1.3 environmental ones, shows higher interest in measuring and communicating the responsible management
Development agendas: signs that took place as from initiatives in which AVINA participated”, and the review done by companies, along with the external verification by committees made up by objective third parties.
of present documents specifically referring to the future of CSR and sustainability19: el Proyecto Ethos diez There area some sector developments; for example, that called “ethical banking”, which offers instruments
años20, by Instituto Ethos, which explains a strategy to approach the next challenges of the private sector, like sustainability indicators on stock exchanges (the ISE BOVESPA in Brazil, a pioneer in Latin America),
the Visión 205021 study by World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) —signed by 29 with growing importance in the decisions of the financial markets. Environmental management evaluation is
large international companies, most with major operations in Latin America—, and the Recommendations22 a subject gaining ground: first the carbon trace and, more recently, the water trace. Global Reporting Initiative
from the Latin America and Caribbean - European Union Forum on Corporate Social Responsibility organized (GRI) announced that its new generation of indicators will include a chapter dedicated to biodiversity. In
by the governments of Argentina, Germany and Spain and by the European Commission with a view to the countries like the Netherlands, Finland, Norway, France and Ireland are already applying adequate tax rates
Latin America - European Union Summit of Presidents and Heads of State that took place in Madrid in 2010. on industrial CO2 emission levels as an incentive for the development of clean renewable energies.

Consolidation of the region. Considering that Latin America is positioned as an emerging market with wide- Empowerment: social participation and a conscious attitude about consumption. Before the growing trend
ranging opportunities for the development of sustainability, a next step is to reach consensus on standards towards democratization and decentralization (with more horizontal structures and new technologies like
of reference that contemplate the region’s needs. The fact that most of the people interviewed have a local the Internet, and the organization networks that globalize the information), the voice of the civil society
view on the evolution of CSR and consider scarce the information spread on the continent —which matches starts to be heard more loudly, and to be taken into account by companies at the time of making decisions.
the shortage of literature with a Latin American focus on the subject— shows the need to consolidate This empowering of society requires investment in education for sustainability to boost social participation,
the region as a bloc to optimize and boost the efforts oriented to a sustainable market that supports the increase companies’ responsibility, and achieve a transformation of lifestyle, which includes the way of
growth of a green and inclusive economy, with a higher supply of products and services that stand out due consumption. A way of use and consumption that attaches value to responsible inclusive, fair and green
to their social responsibility and low environmental impact and an increase in investment in research and production. A way of consumption that is respectful of the environment and the whole society.
development.
Coordination, integration and global alliances. It is necessary to foster the ability to talk among the
Development of innovative and effective solutions. Before the complexity of the problems that shows the different players, both to find cooperation manners and solve conflicts. Some of the most renowned
specialists in CSR consulted refer to a structural change based on inter-sector cooperation and increasingly
18  Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI). The great transition: the promise and lure of the times ahead, Translation by the Economic global alliances. As the guidelines emerged from the Latin America and the Caribbean - European Union
Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), 2006. Forum pointed out when referring to the alliance among regions: “For CSR to become a driving force of
19  This information can be complemented with sources like the research done by ComunicaRSE, Las 10 claves de la sustentabilidad development, international trade agreements should include a cooperation process among the regions”.
para 2011, which deal with the multiplicity of initiatives and facts explaining these new trends. About this issue, the main question is how to get the players to be willing and prepared to form alliances
20  Itacarambi, Paulo. Proyecto Ethos 10 años. Instituto Ethos, São Paulo, 2009. with a true impact. This trend shows, in turn, the intervention of new players in public policies.
21  WBCSD. Vision 2050. The new agenda for business. 2010.
22  Latin America and the Caribbean Forum - European Union on Corporate Social Responsibility. Recommendations. Buenos Aires, Business behavior: from a reactive attitude to a proactive one. CSR progress and its transformations in
October 2009. the past decade are mostly attributed to headquarters’ guidelines for their affiliates, the demands from
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IN SEARCH OF SUSTAINABILITY. The road of CSR in Latin America and AVINA Foundation’s contribution A POINT OF VIEW

foreign trade and the international social pressure over certain issues. In other words, CSR practices
are considered a reactive answer of companies. The next step will be to bring about a proactive role in
A point of view
the private sector and, thus, boost its transformation power towards the sustainable development. This
Having taken part in the elaboration of this study was a privilege because of different reasons.
change will have as scenario a new agenda for business people in which questions like climate change,
Firstly, due to the possibility of dedicating a whole year to coming to know where we stand in the
resources limitations, and social problems will be considered opportunities to invest, grow and advance. In
subject of Corporate Social Responsibiity, with a Latin American perspective, looking back and
this scenario, companies will be able to implement creative, innovative and profitable solutions, strategic
alliances and a new link in their value chain. Several of the specialists consulted state that the people that
forwards, to better know the present and its potential. Secondly, due to the fact of having gone over
are joining the labor market or have not spent many years in it have greater conscience about the need to and analyzed CSR significant documentation, and listened to over seventy experts giving us their
build sustainability and a better education to achieve it. Among the signs observed, higher academic supply knowledge, their opinion and their experience, having had the chance of putting together elements
in areas like CSR, environment and social inclusion stand out. that add to the analysis, like the Timeline with the emblematic milestones and the classification of the
movement according to the categories of the pillars of evolution. Also, the fact of having estimated
A series of trends are conditioned by some questions that still have no clear-cut answer and it will depend the scope of the job of an organization like AVINA and its “way of doing”. And, ultimately, the
on how to solve them to determine the future scenario. One of the main debates today is how to finance chance of having been part of a consulting team made up of professionals with various specialties
investment that is essential for sustainable development, how to do the transition toward the use of clean and uniformity in their commitment, and having held a sincere and dynamic exchange with the team
technologies, the reduction in the carbon and water trace. Another point is how the incorporation of social of AVINA dedicated to this project.
and environmental variables will impact the supply, demand, consumption habits and products prices. In
this sense, it is said that public policies will not only be about creating new laws, but also about creating The people interviewed showed interest in participating in this research and were sincere, clear
agreed-on incentives and mechanisms helping to support investment and guarantee equal opportunities and willing to help in the course of the hour and a half that each interviewed lasted. The first group,
for any kind of companies. In this respect, the support that any value chain (which in Latin America means which took part in the trial stage or the instruments of consultation, was patient and generous,
most small- and medium-sized companies) to carry out this transformation should be considered. helping improve the questionnaire. And those who initially had less time for the interview, finally
postponed their own agendas to grant us more time. As a whole, the interviews were a chance to
There is widespread consensus on the need to take turnaround and implement a new way of operating to stop to reckon about a collective past from our own experience and opine on the acts of a particular
achieve sustainability. Over and above how the companies’ role in this path is defined, the planet’s needs organization like AVINA. Most experts remarked those particularities, identified hits and misses and
will impose priorities and this seems to be a determining factor in terms of the available time to carry considered AVINA’s job in Latin American CSR development very important.
out changes towards a dignified life for the whole planet. Seemingly, we are in a transitional period that,
well channeled, could bring us near to a fair, equitable, free, pacific and sustainable world for the whole The experts consulted were diverse. In terms of their relation with AVINA, were consulted: experts
humanity. supported by AVINA for many years, recent allies, ex AVINA’s members, present directors and
national responsible people of the organization, and specialists not related to AVINA. In terms of
their field of performance, were interviewed owners of business groups and small- and medium-
sized companies, executives of companies and executives of business associations, even directors
of civil society organizations, CSR-specific organizations, the media and academicians. In all, there
were 76 interviewees working in 17 countries. Regardless of their fields, and their relation with
AVINA, there was no significant difference among the different segments of interviewees.

This study sought to contribute to the building of a regional perspective. Both the interviewees and
the publications analyzed refer to a national view rather than to a Latin American one, which implies
a lack of regional thought and, particularly, a lack of a consolidation of what constitutes a region
as such. In the construction this survey is supposed to be, we have surely not included all the major
organizations or initiatives; likewise, probably there are organizations and initiatives that some
may think are not relevant. However, it is important to take into account that this is inevitable and
that this research did not expect to be an exhaustive survey, but map these CSR years in the region
in order to see trends, common denominators and signs of the progress made and the path ahead.

It is worth highlighting that, broadly speaking, the interviewees did not give clear-cut opinions
about whether there are concrete changes in business behavior or whether CSR is being able to
achieve a significant transformation that results in better quality of life. Probably, this is due to
the fact there are no definite answers in a process underway for relatively a few years now, which
evolves constantly and which may even mutate.

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IN SEARCH OF SUSTAINABILITY. The road of CSR in Latin America and AVINA Foundation’s contribution

The greatest challenges seem to be to massively establish responsible management and consolidate
the necessary changes so that CSR becomes a trend seeking to reach sustainability. Social capital
and knowledge the CSR movement brings about constitute fertile ground for deeper transformations.

Mercedes Korin
February 2011

ANNEXES

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IN SEARCH OF SUSTAINABILITY. The road of CSR in Latin America and AVINA Foundation’s contribution ANNEXES

A. Interviewees
As shown in the Methodology section, the choice of specialists to be consulted looked for diversity criteria in various aspects. This
is a list of the specialists and graphs of the representativeness obtained by country (determined partly by AVINA’s job in each of
them), by performance field and based on the relationship they have with AVINA.

Argentina
Alberto Willi Professor of Corporation, Society and Economics at IAE Business School, Austral University
Alejandro Langlois Institutional Director of ComunicaRSE
Carlos March Responsible for National Relations at AVINA in Argentina
Carmen Olaechea Ex Representative of AVINA Buenos Aires
Claudio Giomi Manager of CSR and Sustainability at Arcor
Fernando Barbera Regular Board Member at Valos / Founding member of Nuestra Mendoza
Gabriel Griffa Ex Director of Communications of Stephan Schmidheiny
Karina Stocovaz Manager of Sustainable Development of International Operations in Latin America and France at Natura
Luis Ulla Executive Director of Instituto Argentino de Responsabilidad Social Empresaria (IARSE)
Mariana Caminotti Ex Representative of AVINA Córdoba
Silvia D’Agostino Vice-president of Consejo Empresario de Entre Ríos (CEER)

Bolivia
Álvaro Bazán Executive Director of Corporación Boliviana de Responsabilidad Social Empresarial (COBORSE)
Andreas Noack Responsible for CSR at Instituto Boliviano de Comercio Exterior (IBCE) / Executive of Corporación Boliviana de
Responsabilidad Social Empresarial (COBORSE)
Eduardo Peinado General Manager of Coca Cola / Board Member of the Consejo Boliviano de Responsabilidad Social Empresarial
(COBORSE)
Gabriel Baracatt Director of Social Innovation of AVINA
Leslie Claros Executive Director at Fundación para el Desarrollo Sostenible (Fundes) / Board member of Corporación Boliviana de
Responsabilidad Social Empresarial (COBORSE)
Lourdes Chalup Member of the Foundation Amigos de la Responsabilidad Social Empresarial (AmigaRSE) / Technical Secretary of
the Consejo Boliviano de Negocios Inclusivos (COBONEI)
Maggi Talavera Director of Semanario Uno

Brazil
Francisco Azevedo Ex Regional Representative of AVINA in Brazil
Geraldinho Vieira Ex Regional Representative of AVINA in Brazil / Ex Director of Communications of AVINA
Helio Mattar President Director of Instituto Akatu
Jair Kievel Manager of Social Responsibility and Sustainability of the Instituto Lojas Renner
Maria de Lourdes Nunes Executive Director of Fundación O Boticário / Responsible of CR and Sustainability at Grupo Boticário
Oded Grajew President of Instituto Ethos de Empresas e Responsabilidade Social / Founder of the Movement Nossa São Paulo
Paulo Itacarambi Executive Vice-President at Instituto Ethos de Empresas e Responsabilidade Social
Sean McKaugan Executive Director at AVINA
Susana Leal Ex Director of Institutional Relations of Instituto Ação Empresarial pela Cidadania

Chile
Francisca Tondreau Submanger of CSR at MASISA Chile
Gilberto Ortiz Ex Coordinator of the Red Puentes Internacional
Guillermo Scallan Responsible for National Relations at AVINA in Chile
Hugo Vergara Director of BSD Chile / Ex General Manager of Forum Empresa
Marcos Delucchi Executive Director of Corporación Industrial para el Desarrollo Regional del Biobio (CIDERE Biobio)
Paola Berdichevsky Ex Representative of AVINA Chile
Rafael Quiroga General Manager of Acción RSE
Soledad Teixidó Executive President of Fundación Prohumana
Yanina Kowszyk Executive Director of Forum Empresa

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IN SEARCH OF SUSTAINABILITY. The road of CSR in Latin America and AVINA Foundation’s contribution ANNEXES

Ximena Abogabir President of Fundación Casa de la Paz Susana Ortiz Responsible for National Relations at AVINA in Paraguay
Yan Speranza Director of the Fundación Moisés Bertoni
Colombia
Bernardo Toro Responsible for National Relations at AVINA in Colombia / Special Advisor of AVINA’s President Peru
Diana Chávez Director of the Regional Center for Latin America and the Caribbean in support of the UN Global Compact (Centro Baltazar Caravedo Ex Representative de AVINA Peru
Regional para América Latina y el Caribe en apoyo del Pacto Mundial de Naciones Unidas) Bartolomé Ríos Ex Responsible for National Relations at AVINA in Peru
Emilia Ruiz Morante Executive Director of Fundación Corona / Founding member of Bogotá Cómo Vamos Carlos Armando Casis General Manager of Asociación Atocongo
María López Director of Sustainability at Publicaciones Semana Felipe Portocarrero Rector of Universidad del Pacífico (UP)
Roberto Gutiérrez Poveda Ex Coordinator of the Colombian center of the Social Enterprise Knowledge Network (SEKN) / Professor Henri Le Bienvenu General Manager of Perú 2021
of the Business Administration School of the Universidad de los Andes José de la Riva Executive Director of GestionaRSE

Costa Rica United States


Luis Javier Castro President of the Asociación Empresarial para el Desarrollo (AED) Aron Cramer President and Executive Director of Business for Social Responsibility (BSR)
Olga Sauma Director of Business Development of Asociación Empresarial para el Desarrollo (AED) Estrella Peinado Vara Specialist of the Inter-American Development Bank/Multilateral Investment Fund (IDB/MIF)
Rafael Luna Scallan Responsible for National Relations at AVINA in Costa Rica Terry Nelidov Responsible for the DR-CAFTA Responsible Competitiveness Project, in Business for Social Responsibility (BSR)

Ecuador Uruguay
Camilo Pinzón Coordinator of Ecuador’s Production Ministry Carmen Correa Responsible of National Relations of AVINA in Uruguay
Jorge Roca Member of the boards of Cuenca’s Chamber of Industry, the Cotopaxi company and Fundación Esquel Eduardo Shaw Executive Director of Desarrollo de la Responsabilidad Social (DERES)
Juan Cordero Manager of Incubadora de Empresas del Austro del Ecuador (Innpulsar) / Professor of the Economics and Business Enrique Piedra Cueva Ex Representative of AVINA Montevideo
Administration School of the Universidad de Cuenca Rubén Casavalle Member of the Board of Asociación Cristiana de Dirigentes de Empresa (ACDE)
Ramiro Alvear Executive Director of Consorcio Ecuatoriano para la Responsabilidad Social (CERES)

El Salvador
Roberto Murray President of Fundación Empresarial para la Acción Social (Fundemas) / President of Agrícola Industrial Salvadoreña
(AGRISAL)
Rhina Reyes Executive Director of Fundación Empresarial para la Acción Social (Fundemas)

England
Simon Zadek Ex Executive Director for Accountability

Guatemala
Guillermo Monroy Executive Director of Centro para la Acción de la Responsabilidad Social Empresarial in Guatemala (CentraRSE)

Honduras
Roberto Leiva Executive Director for Consejo Empresarial Hondureño para el Desarrollo Sostenible (CEHDES) and Fundación
Hondureña de Responsabilidad Social Empresarial (FundahRSE)

Nicaragua
Matthias Dietrich Executive Director for Unión Nicaragüense para la Responsabilidad Social Empresarial (UniRSE)

Panama
Andreas Eggenberg Board Member of AVINA
Marcela Álvarez Calderón de Pardini Founder of IntegraRSE
Teresa Moll de Alba de Alfaro Executive Director for SumaRSE

Paraguay
Beltrán Macchi Board Member of Paraguay’s Chamber of Commerce and Services and of the Ethical-Commercial Pact Council/
Executive Director of Banco Visión
Diana Escobar Executive Director of Red de Empresarios para el Desarrollo Sostenible (REDES) / Production Director of Tecnoprint
Ricardo Carrizosa President of Asociación de Empresarios Cristianos (ADEC) / Sales Manager of DIESA

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IN SEARCH OF SUSTAINABILITY. The road of CSR in Latin America and AVINA Foundation’s contribution ANNEXES

B. Interview and poll methodology


For the interviews, a guiding questionnaire divided into two sections with open and semi-structured questions was used. The
second section additionally had a brief poll.

Subjects of the guiding questionnaire

First section: CSR evolution in Latin America

• Turning points and stages of the CSR movement


• Emblematic organizations, networks and initiatives
• CSR conceptualization process
• Companies’ incentives and behavior changes
• Social incentives and behavior changes
• Effective contribution of CSR to an improved quality of life of people

Second Section: Relation between AVINA and CSR

• AVINA’s CSR objectives and strategies


• AVINA’s contribution to CSR development
• Main hits and misses
• Qualitative and quantitative importance (poll) of the AVINA’s influence on CSR in Latin America
• Suggestions for successfully making people part of the social transformation

The poll attached in the second section was used so that the specialists would answer basically two questions about AVINA’s
influence. Both were filled in according to a scale from 1 to 5 (1-Nil, 2-Low, 3-Medium, 4-High, 5-Very High) and the option Does
not Know or Does not Answer (DK/DA).

Poll

Rating on AVINA’s, direct and indirect, influence on CSR in Latin America

Nil Low Medium High Very High DK/DA


1 2 3 4 5
What was AVINA’s influence, direct or
indirect, on CSR development in Latin
America?

>>

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IN SEARCH OF SUSTAINABILITY. The road of CSR in Latin America and AVINA Foundation’s contribution ANNEXES

Poll C. Timeline detail: CSR in Latin America, the 2000s


Rating on AVINA’s influence on the CSR movement by areas References
• Organizations and Networks

FIELDS Nil Low Medium High Very High DK/DA


• Concepts
(In alphabetical order) 1 2 3 4 5 • Tools

1. Business associations abc Organizations, Networks and Milestones AVINA contributed with

2. Consulting firms
YEAR 2000
3. Companies
4. Academic institutions • Creation of Acción RSE in Chile.

5. The media • The Consejo Nacional de Producción Limpia, is created in Chile; public-private organism that seeks to boost cooperation
between both sectors. Other centers getting settled in Latin America are Centro de Eficiencia Tecnológica in Peru, in 2002,
6. International or multilateral and Centro de Producción más Limpia Uruguay, in 2005.
organisms
• Fundación Empresarial para la Acción Social (Fundemas) is created in El Salvador.
7. Public organisms
• IntegraRSE is created in Panama.
8. Civil society organizations
• The Latin American Corporate Governance Roundtable is set up with the purpose of facilitating the public-private dialogue
(transparency, workers, consumers and exchanging experiences of good practices. Created by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
environment, etc.) (OECD), the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and key regional members from the public and private
sectors.
9. CSR specific organizations
10. CSR specific networks • The magazine Exame is created in Brazil, which included from its beginning the Guia de boa cidadania corporativa (since 2007,
it is called Guia Sustentabilidade).
11. Others (Specify)
• The Universidad del Pacífico (UP), in Peru, starts the project “Consolidation of the SR perspective and sustainable development
at Peru’s Universities”, with the purpose of raising awareness and consolidating SR perspective and sustainable development
among university students.

• Instituto Ethos launches the CSR indicators, created for Brazil. Later they were translated and adapted for other Latin
American countries.

• The UN Global Compact for companies is launched. That very year, the Latin American companies Fibria Celulose and Natura,
from Brazil, are the first in the region to join this program.

• First Latin American company (Natura, Brazil) that publishes a report based on the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines,
initiative created in 1997 thanks to the drawing power of the Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economies and the
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

• The Centro Latinoamericano para la Competitividad y el Desarrollo Sostenible (CLACDS), from the Instituto Centroamericano
de Administración de Empresas (INCAE), creates the Certificate of Tourist Sustainability in Costa Rica.
YEAR 2001

• Creation of Social Enterprise Knowledge Network (SEKN), in an alliance between a group of business schools from Ibero
America, the Harvard Business School (HBS) and the AVINA Foundation.

• Creation of the Vincular center of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaiso (PUCV) in Chile.

• Creation of the Alianza por la Responsabilidad Social Empresarial in Mexico (AliaRSE).

• The first World Social Forum takes place in Brazil. Oded Grajew, founder of Instituto Ethos, and Chico Whitaker worked on the
idea and submitted it to Bernard Cassen, director of Le Monde Diplomatique, taking shape along with institutions.

• In Mexico is launched the competition for the award Empresa Socialmente Responsable (ESR) (socially responsible company),
which is granted by the Alianza por la Responsabilidad Social Empresarial (AliaRSE) and the Centro Mexicano para la
Filantropía (CEMEFI). Since 2008, CEMEFI together with Forum Empresa, grants the award “Empresa Ejemplar por su RS en
América Latina” (exemplary socially responsible company in Latin America).

• The Corporate Governance program from Confederación Colombiana de Cámaras de Comercio (Confecámaras), in alliance with
Centro Internacional para la Empresa Privada (CIPE), starts to develop activities to consolidate and effectively incorporate
Good Governance principles in companies listed on the Stock Exchange. >>

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IN SEARCH OF SUSTAINABILITY. The road of CSR in Latin America and AVINA Foundation’s contribution ANNEXES

YEAR 2002 YEAR 2003

• Creation of Red Puentes. Conceived by the World Social Forum in 2002 it is an alliance of NGOs for the promotion of CSR • The World Bank supports the development of the Pilot Program of Certification of Companies in Gender Equality, a seal for
made up of institutions from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, El Salvador, Mexico, Peru, Uruguay, Spain and the Netherlands. companies that guarantees the equality of opportunities between men and women. The first country to implement it was
Mexico, where it was called Model of Gender Equality. Then adaptations were made in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Costa
• Creation of the Red Interamericana de Fundaciones y Acciones Empresariales para el Desarrollo de Base (RedEAmérica).
Rica among other countries.
• Creation of the ProÉtica center, at the Universidad Católica de Córdoba (UCC), in Argentina.

• Creation of Instituto Argentino de Responsabilidad Social Empresaria (IARSE). • The Akatu Conscious Consumption Indicators are created in Brazil. The indicators are instruments of self-evaluation,
measurement and monitoring of individuals, companies and institutions to spot what is the degree of conscious consumption.
• Creation of Valos, a CSR business organization in Mendoza, Argentina. They also allow planning measures to improve the behavior that show conscious attitudes or consumption.

• Creation of Aliança Capoava, made up by Ashoka Emprendedores Sociales, AVINA, Grupo de Institutos, Fundações e Empresas
• The industrial, business and consumer-protection good practices agreement is signed. The signatories are Colombia’s
(GIFE) and Instituto Ethos, with the purpose of stimulate debate, the construction of models and alliances among leaders, organizations ANDI, ACOPI and FENALCO, unions of companies supplying massive consumption goods and services,
social organizations and the business sector, in search of a greater impact measures for sustainable development in Brazil supermarket and large-store representatives. In this agreement business people commit to social responsibility, and fair and

• Creation of Consorcio Ecuatoriano para la Responsabilidad Social (CERES). equitable trade.

• Creation, in Paraguay, of the 1st local network of the Global Compact in Latin America. Between 2002 and 2007 local networks • Panama’s Ethical Business Pact is signed by representatives of private-sector unions, among them the Asociación Panameña
of the Global Compact emerged in other countries in the region: Brazil (2003), Panama (2003), Peru (2003), Argentina (2004), de Ejecutivos de Empresa (APEDE), called by Global Compact Network and with the support of the Department of Commerce
Colombia (2004), Mexico (2005), Bolivia (2006), the Dominican Republic (2006), Chile (2007). of the United States, who commit to developing a joint initiative of business ethics.

• The CSR Central American Conferences begin, later to be called ConvertiRSE, organized by business institutions making up YEAR 2004
the Red Centroamericana de RSE. They take place in El Salvador (Fundemas, 2002), Guatemala (CentraRSE, 2004), Honduras
• Creation of the CSR Inter-American Network.
(FundahRSE, 2005), Nicaragua (UniRSE, 2006), Costa Rica (AED, 2008) y Panama (SumaRSE, 2010).
• Creation of the Corporación Boliviana de RSE (COBORSE).
• The Inter-American Conferences begin, organized by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).
• Creation of Uniethos, by Instituto Ethos in Brazil, aimed at offering companies training and orientation through their leaders
• Launch of the Latin America Business Environment Learning Leadership Program (LA-BELL), of World Resource Institute (WRI), so that they incorporate sustainability and social responsibility in their strategic management.
in the XXXVII Assembly of the Latin American Council of Administration Schools (Consejo Latinoamericano de Escuelas de
Administración, CLADEA), made up by three secretaries based at the Universidad del Pacífico (UP), the Instituto Brasileiro • Creation of ConectaRSE, in Puerto Rico.

de Educação em Negocios Sustentáveis (IBENS), and the Instituto de Estudios para la Sustentabilidad Corporativa (IESC). • The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) publishes the Corporate Social Responsibility in Latin
America: a business view.
• The site ComunicaRSE is launched in Argentina, first medium specialized in CSR in Spanish, for the whole region.

• Instituto Ethos publishes the revised version of GRI for Brazil. • It is first granted the Red Puentes al Periodismo de Responsabilidad Social Empresaria award, created to boost CSR
dissemination and acknowledge the excellence of works published in the print media in Latin America, and journalists’
• Within the framework of Corporate Social Responsibility Program carried out by the Asociación de Empresarios Cristianos commitment with this subject.
(ADEC), at Centro de Información y Recursos para el Desarrollo (CIRD), the AVINA Foundation and the United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP), ADEC elaborates the Guía de primeros pasos hacia la RSE (First-steps guide towards CSR), • First IDB-MIF project for small-/medium-sized companies in Latin America organized by Forum Empresa with methodology
developed by Fundes and executed by Acción RSE in Chile, Perú 2021 in Peru, Instituto Ethos in Brazil and Fundemas in El
published in 2003.
Salvador. And then, there were similar experiences as in Colombia (Confecámaras), Paraguay (ADEC), Mexico (Universidad
YEAR 2003 Anáhuac), Uruguay (DERES) and Argentina (AMIA). In 2009 it is published the Guía de aprendizaje sobre la implementación de

• Creation of the Red Centroamericana para la Promoción de la RSE, which in 2010 came to be called Integración Centroamericana RSE en pymes with the purpose of systematize the acquired knowledge.
por la RSE (IntegraRSE).
• It is published the standard NBR 16001, by Associação Brasileira de Normas Técnicas (ABNT), involved in CSR management,

• Creation of the Consejo Empresarial para el Desarrollo Sostenible (CEDES), in Bolivia. which becomes one framework in standard-making in the region.

• In Brazil it is created the network Red Ação Empresarial pela Cidadania (AEC), and its executive secretariat Núcleo de • First Latin American bank (Unibanco, from Brazil) that adopts the Equator Principles. A year later after the first bank adoption
Articulação Nacional (NAN). Made up by five CSR-promoting institutions created by scholarship-holders from the Leadership at an international level.
in Philanthropy in the Americas Program, from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. Between 2004 and 2005 such network expanded
to 13 nuclei, mostly made up by Business Councils in the associations of industries of Brazilian States.
• Creation of the CentraRSE CSR Indicators, in Guatemala.

• Venezuela passes the Social Responsibility Law for Radio and Televison (called Ley Resorte or Spring Law), aiming at
• Creation of the Consejo Empresarial para el Desarrollo Sustentable in Ecuador (CEMDES). regulating the responsibility media of social communication.
• Creation of Centro para la Acción de la Responsabilidad Social Empresarial (CentraRSE) in Guatemala. YEAR 2005
• Creation of the Fundación Hondureña de RSE (FundahRSE).
• Fundación Carolina launches its CSR program (in which it includes Latin America).
• Creation of the Red de Empresarios para el Desarrollo Sostenible (REDES), in Paraguay.
• Creation of the Centro Nacional de Responsabilidad Social Empresarial y Capital Social (CENARSECS), in Argentina.
• Launch of the first Responsible Competitiveness Index (RCI), produced by the Accountability organization. The launch was
• Creation of the Fundación Amigos de la Responsabilidad Social Empresarial (AmigaRSE) in Bolivia, aiming at generating
repeated in 2005 and 2007. In every case Latin America was included. synergies among different sectors.
• A “Registry of Companies in Chile publicly recognized in social and environmental issues” is completed, organized by AVINA
• Creation of Unión Nicaragüense para la RSE (UniRSE).
aiming at identifying national and multinational companies present in Chile with good environmental and social practices.
Criteria such as environment and social management certifications, awards granted and the signing of pacts or agreements • It is organized a Meeting of CSR-promoting organizations in Latin America and the Caribbean, related to the Kellogg
Foundation, in Argentina. >>
supporting responsible principles were evaluated.

• Fundación Casa de la Paz, in Chile, suggests the concept of sustainable coexistence, which refers to a participative,
dynamic and voluntary process seeking to generate relations based on trust bonds and cooperation among the community,
companies, and the government, linked to a sense of identity and tending to a development in common. >>

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IN SEARCH OF SUSTAINABILITY. The road of CSR in Latin America and AVINA Foundation’s contribution ANNEXES

YEAR 2005 • The Red Latinoamericana por Ciudades Justas y Sostenibles is set within the framwork of the 10th Anniversary of the “Bogotá
Cómo Vamos” initiative, promoted by AVINA Foundation and a result of the alliance between the publishing house El Tiempo,
• It is presented the survey “Corporate Social Responsibility in small-/medium-sized companies in Latin America”, which seeks
Corona Foundation and the Chamber of Commerce of Bogotá, in order to follow up on the changes in the quality of life of the
to deepen the knowledge of the development and implementation of concept of CSR in the private sector in Latin America,
city. In 2007, the movement “Nossa São Paulo” is launched and, in 2009, “Nuestra Mendoza”, both movements promoted
and more specifically in the small-/medium-sized companies. Based on a survey done in 2004, it was developed by the
by the business sector and civil society organizations.
Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), in collaboration with Ikei and various national partners (Fundes for Chile and the
universities of AUSJAL for Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela). The institution that did it • The Movimiento Nacional de Empresas por la RSE en Argentina is created. Since 2010, Red Nacional de RSE, made up
for Peru was the Universidad del Pacífico (UP). by MoveRSE (Rosario), Valos (Mendoza), Pacto San Juan (San Juan), CEER (Entre Ríos), Nuevos Aires (Buenos Aires), Foro
Patagonia, Minka (Jujuy), Marcos Juárez (Córdoba), Gestión Responsable (Córdoba), in alliance with IARSE.
• It is presented the survey Situation of CSR in Latin America: Towards sustainable development, by Red Interamericana de RSE.

• An analysis of CSR press coverage in the media in Ibero America begins to be done. The CSR and the Media in Ibero America • The Mapeo de Promotores de RSE (Mapping of CSR Promoters), created and led by Mercedes Korin is launched. A virtual
tool of research, systematization, analysis and dissemination of information on organizations that work along with companies
project is carried out by Instituto Ethos, ANDI and AVINA, in alliance with local organizations from Argentina, Bolivia, Chile,
to increase responsible management culture. It was first developed for Argentina, since 2009 it expanded to Latin America.
Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal and Spain.

• Launch of the Ethos Indicators in Spanish, adapted and translated by IARSE (Argentina). Then, other Latin American • The National Award to Quality granted by ChileCalidad, a committee of the state-run agency with support to companies
Corporación de Fomento de la Producción (CORFO), updates its criteria of choice and decides to include CSR in their
organizations adapt it to their contexts: Perú 2021 (2006, Peru), ADEC (2009, Paraguay) and COBORSE (2009, Bolivia).
parameters.
• The first Sector-wide Anti-corruption Agreement is signed, which is presented as a region-wide initiative. It begins in Colombia
by the Transparency International organization. • The first world GRI Focal Point is created and set up in Brazil. Based at the Instituto Ethos, it helps coordinate the GRI
network and its activities in South America. It is the first experience of a GRI Focal Point worldwide and among its goals are
• The first ISO 26000 international meeting takes place in Brazil. to strengthen and expand the GRI network.
• Creation of the Corporate Sustainability Index (Índice de Sustentabilidad Empresarial, ISE) in Brazil by the São Paulo Stock
• Publication of the “Indicators of Social Responsibility for users’ cooperatives. Tools of self-evaluation and planning”, created
Exchange (BOVESPA). by the Instituto Argentino de Responsabilidad Social Empresaria (IARSE), based on the Ethos/IARSE 2004-2005 Indicators,
• The Centro de Estudios para el Desarrollo de la Mujer (CEDEM), in Chile, starts to develop the initiative: “Citizenship, gender and those developed by the RSE.COOP Program, in Cataluña, Spain, within the framework of the Iniciativa Comunitaria Equal.
and CSR: Towards a sustainable development of the agricultural sector in the Maule region”. YEAR 2008
• The Mexican NMX-SAST-004-IMNC-2004 standard comes into force. This Mexican official standard was issued by the Secretariat
• Creation of the network based on Principles of Responsible Investment, in Brazil, called PRI Brazil Network.
of Economy and elaborated, passed and published by the Instituto Mexicano de Normalización y Certificación (IMNC). This
standard is voluntary and considered the base for CSR development in Mexico. • Creation of Consejo Consultivo Nacional de Responsabilidad Social of Costa Rica (CCNRS).

• Business Ethical Pact from Paraguay (Pacto Ético Comercial de Paraguay, PEC) is signed, promoted by the Cámara de • La otra cara de la libertad, first CSR Latin American survey in media companies is published. Created by the Fundación Nuevo
Periodismo Iberoamericano (FNPI), along with AVINA Foundation, the Fundación Carolina and the Journalism Studies Program
Anunciantes del Paraguay (CAP) (Advertisers Chamber) and the Cámara de Comercio Paraguayo Americana, AMCHAM, (the
at the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Colombia.
Paraguayan-American Chamber of Commerce), sponsored by the Department of Commerce of the United States.
YEAR 2006 • The First Mercosur CSR Forum takes place: Concrete actions and region integration, organized by Internationale Weiterbildung
und Entwicklung gGmbH (InWEnt), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and
• Creation of Uruguay’s Media Observatory, which includes among its issues to audit CSR.
coordinated by the Centro de Formación para la Integración Regional (CEFIR), in Argentina. In 2009, the Second Mercosur
• The IV Summit of the European Union - Latin America and the Caribbean (EU-LAC). The Heads of State met in Vienna stated Forum of Corporate Social Responsibility takes place in Asunción, Paraguay.
the importance of fostering CSR worldwide.
• The elaboration of the GRI Media Supplement starts, which is complementary of the GRI G3 guidelines. Created for the
• GRI translates the Sustainability Reporting Guidelines (G3) into Spanish. Thus, the access to guidelines for Latin American media sector as a sustainability framework for the elaboration of transparency reports and evaluation of its performance.
companies is facilitated and their use in Latin America is promoted. This supplement is created by Fundación Nuevo Periodismo Iberoamericano (FNPI), AVINA Foundation, Journalism Studies
Program de la Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Colombia and Global Reporting Initiative (GRI).
• The CSR Latin American Program (Programa Latinoamericano de RSE, PLARSE) is created. This initiative seeks to coordinate,
in the region, activities to further knowledge, implement CSR management, create contacts with the media and broaden • The IndicaRSE Indicators (by CentraRSE, Guatemala) are validated for Central America by Red IntegraRSE.
practices to reduce poverty and inequality, promoted by Instituto Ethos, with the support of AVINA, ICCO and Forum Empresa.
Since 2008 ADEC from Paraguay, COBORSE from Bolivia, CERES from Ecuador, Perú 2021, UniRSE from Nicaragua, CECODES
• In the City of Buenos Aires, Argentina, Law Nº 2594 is passed, which sets forth the legal framework of the Balance of Social
and Environmental Responsibility (Balance de Responsabilidad Social Ambiental, BRSA), of a voluntary nature and of public
from Colombia and IARSE from Argentina have been part of it.
access to sustainable reports for companies with over 300 employees, with revenues higher than those stated for small-/
• Argentina’s Ministry of Labor, Employment and Social Security launches the Program of Corporate Social Responsibility, medium-sized companies.
based on which the Corporate Social Responsibility and Decent Work Network was developed, which seeks to develop labor
culture and social dialogue and gathers over 100 business institutions, chambers, companies, universities, international
• GRI starts to elaborate its first National Annex in Brazil. The national annexes are developed to be used together with the
Sustainability Reporting Guidelines and aim at helping place the GRI reports in a national context.
agencies, cooperation agencies and union representatives.
• The first CSR Standard in launched in Colombia: the GTC 180 Social Responsibility, created by the Caja de Compensación
• The Business Pact for Integrity and against Corruption (Ethos, Uniethos, PATRI, UNDP, UNODC and the Comité Brasilero del
Familiar de Antioquia (COMFAMA) and the Instituto Colombiano de Normas Técnicas y Certificación (ICONTEC).
Pacto Mundial) is launched in Brazil.
YEAR 2009
• The Good Corporate Governance Program is created in Ecuador, under the auspices of the Quito Stock Exchange and the
Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), funded by MIF. Its purpose is to promote practices of corporate governance among • Creation of the Regional Center for Latin America and the Caribbean, supporting the UN Global Compact. This center, based
Ecuador’s companies. in Bogotá, Colombia, arises from the private sector, being an independent organization of the local networks seeking to
generate innovative ideas and tools to strengthen Social Responsibility in Latin America and the Caribbean, within the
YEAR 2007
principles of the Global Compact and the Millennium Development Goals.
• Creation of the Red Iberoamericana de Universidades por la RSE (Red UniRSE). >>
• Creation of the Center IdeaRSE para la Responsabilidad y Sustentabilidad de la Empresa, in Mexico.

• Creation of SumaRSE, in Panama, as a result of the integration of the Panama Global Compact Network and IntegraRSE. >>

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IN SEARCH OF SUSTAINABILITY. The road of CSR in Latin America and AVINA Foundation’s contribution ANNEXES

YEAR 2009 D. AVINA’s contribution in publications


• The Red Centroamericana para la Promoción de la RSE (IntegraRSE) starts the creation of the survey on the present state
of CSR in Central America. In the survey, the performance analysis of the Central American companies, CSR expansion by
CSR publications analyzed throughout the survey23, written by AVINA or where AVINA’s support and that of
country (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama), new challenges and opportunities for the
other organizations is mentioned. In each subject, the publications are mentioned in chronological order.
region will be included.

• The Gallup survey on the CSR impact on Latin American companies is made known.
Cases
• The Forum Empresa survey on CSR in Latin America: El estado de la Responsabilidad Social Empresarial bajo la mirada de Paladino, Marcelo; Milberg, Amalia; Sánchez Oriondo, Florencia. Emprendedores sociales & empresarios responsables, Argentina,
ejecutivos de empresas de Latinoamérica 2009 (The state of Corporate Social Responsibility in opinion of company executives in 2006. Support: ASHOKA, IAE Business School, Austral University and AVINA Foundation.
Latin America) is made known. The survey included 15 countries in Latin America, was done between June and July 2009 with
Fundación AVINA. Empresarios exitosos en sus aportes a la transformación social, Argentina, 2008.
interviews with executives from 529 companies in the region.
Fundes. Situación de la Responsabilidad Social Empresarial de la Pyme en Bolivia. Estudio exploratorio de 20 Pymes bolivianas, Serie
• In Buenos Aires takes place the Forum of the European Union - Latin America and the Caribbean (EU-LAC): “Corporate Social Documentos de Trabajo Nro. 1, 2009.
Responsibility (CSR) and multi-sector alliances: contributions to competitiveness, innovation and sustainable development”,
requested by the Ministry of Labor, Employment and Social Security, Argentina and the Federal Ministry of Economic
Consumers
Cooperation and Development (Bundesministerium für Wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung; BMZ), Germany and
Instituto Akatu. Descobrindo o consumidor consciente, Pesquisas Nro. 3, Brazil.
organized by the German cooperation institution Internationale Weiterbildung und Entwicklung gGmbH (InWEnt).
Instituto Akatu. Responsabilidade social empresarial: um retrato da realidade brasileira, Pesquisa Nro. 4, Brazil.
• Launch of the first edition of the Ibero American Program of Training for Trainers in CSR, in virtual format, aimed at
Instituto Akatu. Consumidores conscientes: o que pensam e como agem, Pesquisa Nro. 5, Brazil, 2005.
contributing to the training of a critical mass of Latin American trainers in the CSR subject. The Program is organized by Red
Instituto Akatu. Responsabilidade social empresarial: o que o consumidor consciente espera das empresas, Pesquisa Nro. 6, Brazil,
UniRSE supported by the Regional Department of the UNDP for Latin America and the Caribbean, the AECID from Spain and
2005.
the Spain-UNDP Fund “Towards an integrated and inclusive development in Latin America and the Caribbean”.
Instituto Akatu y Faber-Castell. Como e por que os brasileiros praticam o consumo consciente?, Pesquisa Nro. 7, Brazil, 2007.
• An agreement among 20 large companies from Brazil is signed to stimulate the reduction of their carbon gasses emissions.
This agreement was disseminated through the Carta aberta ao Brasil sobre mudanças climáticas (Open letter to Brazil
about climate change), aimed at the government and the Brazilian society, which had the support of the Fórum Amazônia
Implementation Tools
Sustentável and the Instituto Ethos, among others. DERES. Manual para la preparación e implementación del balance social en Uruguay, Uruguay, 2003.
Proyecto Responsabilidad Social Empresarial (ADEC, CIRD, Fundación AVINA, UNDP). Guía de primeros pasos hacia la RSE, Paraguay,
2003.
Fundación Emprender. Modelos empresariales de gestión sostenible, Bolivia, 2005.
IARSE and Instituto Ethos. Manual de primeros pasos en RSE, Argentina, 2005.
DERES. Manual para elaborar códigos de ética empresarial, Uruguay, 2009.

Indicators
Instituto Ethos. Indicadores Ethos de Responsabilidade Social Empresarial. Apresentação da Versão 2000. Instrumento de avaliação
e planejamento para empresas que buscam excelencia e sustentabilidade em seus negócios, Brazil, 2000.
Instituto Ethos. Indicadores Ethos de Responsabilidade Social Empresarial 2002, Brazil, 2002.
Instituto Ethos. Indicadores Ethos de Responsabilidad Social Empresarial 2003, Brazil, 2003.
Instituto Ethos. Indicadores Ethos de Responsabilidad Social Empresarial 2004, Brazil, 2004.
Instituto Ethos. Ferramentas de Gestão Responsabilidade Social Empresarial 2004, Brazil, 2004.
Instituto Ethos. Indicadores Ethos de Responsabilidad Social Empresarial 2005, Brazil, 2005.
IARSE and Instituto Ethos. Indicadores de Responsabilidad Social Empresaria 2004/2005. Guía de autoaplicación. Incluye correlación
con los Principios del Pacto Global, Argentina, 2005.
Instituto Ethos, REDES and Fundación Emprender. Conceptos básicos e indicadores de Responsabilidad Social Empresarial, Bolivia,
2006.
IARSE and Instituto Ethos. Indicadores de Responsabilidad Social Empresaria 2007/2008. Guía de autoaplicación, Argentina, 2007.
IARSE. Indicadores de Responsabilidad Social para cooperativas de usuarios/asociados, Argentina, 2007.
Red Centroamericana para la Promoción de la RSE (CentraRSE, Fundemas, FundahRSE, UniRSE and AED). IndicaRSE. Sistema de
Indicadores de RSE para la región Centroamericana, Guatemala, 2008.
IARSE, Instituto Ethos and PLARSE. Indicadores de Responsabilidad Social Empresaria PLARSE-IARSE. Versión 1.0. Guía de
autoaplicación, Argentina, 2009.
Asociación de Empresarios Crisitanos (ADEC). Indicadores de Responsabilidad Social Empresarial. Versión 1.0. Guía de autoaplicación,
Paraguay, 2009.
COBORSE. Indicadores Ethos-COBORSE de Responsabilidad Social Empresarial. Manual de autoaplicación, Bolivia, 2009.

23  Non-exhaustive annalysis.

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IN SEARCH OF SUSTAINABILITY. The road of CSR in Latin America and AVINA Foundation’s contribution

Inclusive businesses
IARSE and Centro de Comunicación, Investigación y Documentación Europa-América Latina (CIDEAL). Responsabilidad Social
Empresaria e inclusión económica y social. Cómo las empresas pueden crear alternativas de inclusión económica y social para los
emprendimientos productivos de base social, Argentina, 2008.
Fundación AVINA. Reciclaje sustentable y solidario, Brazil, 2008.
San Martín Baldwin, Francisco; Otoya, Alberto; Chuquimango, Mario and Siapo, William. Territorios y empresas en red. Negocios,
riqueza y bienestar inclusivos, MinkaPerú and Fundación AVINA, Peru, 2008.
IARSE and Fundación AVINA. Negocios Inclusivos. Casos de buenas prácticas nacionales, Argentina, 2009.

The Media
Instituto Ethos, Rede Ethos de Jornalistas and ANDI. Empresas y prensa: Pauta de Responsabilidad. Un análisis de la cobertura
periodística sobre RSE, Brazil, 2006.
RECORD DOCUMENTS
Fundación Emprender and Fundación AVINA. Vencer prejuicios para superar desencuentros. Medios y Responsabilidad Social
Empresarial en Bolivia, Bolivia, 2007.
Global Infancia, REDES and Fundación AVINA. Responsabilidad Social Empresarial en la prensa paraguaya. Un análisis de la cobertura
periodística sobre la RSE, Paraguay, 2007.
Instituto Ethos. RSE na mídia: Pauta e gestão da sustentabilidade, Brazil, 2007.
Wachay and Fundación AVINA. La Responsabilidad Social Empresaria en la prensa argentina. Análisis de la cobertura periodística
sobre la RSE, 2005-2006, Argentina, 2007.
FNPI. La otra cara de la libertad. La responsabilidad social empresarial en medios de comunicación de América Latina, in alliance with
AVINA and Programa de Estudios de Periodismo of the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Colombia, 2008.

Civil society organizations


ECODES for Fundación AVINA. Las organizaciones de la sociedad civil y la Responsabilidad Social Corporativa. Algunos casos
destacables, Spain.
Fundación AVINA Brazil. Reflexões da Prática. Como articular parcerias entre organizações da sociedade civil e o empresariado, Brazil.

Public policies
Borregaard, Nicola and Katz, Ricardo. Opciones para la Matriz Energética Eléctrica. Insumos para la discusión. Fundación Futuro
Latinoamericano with the collaboration of AVINA Foundation.
Figueroa, Mónica and Berdichevsky, Paola. Catastro de Empresas en Chile con Reconocimiento Público en Temas Sociales y
Ambientales, Fundación AVINA, Chile, 2003.
ECODES, requested by Fundación AVINA. Responsabilidad Social Corporativa y políticas públicas. Informe 2004, Spain.

CSR organizations reporting


Articulação Nacional pela Cidadania Empresarial. Cidadania Empresarial no Brasil - análise da atuação dos núcleos da Rede Ace -
March 2007 to November de 2008, Brazil.
Núcleo de Articulação Nacional, Federação das Indústrias do Estado de Minas Gerais. Nan Núcleo de Articulação Nacional. Ação
Empresarial pela Cidadania, Brazil.
Fundación AVINA, AmigaRSE and COBORSE. Encuentro latinoamericano itinerante de instituciones promotoras de la RSE. Visiones,
realidades y desafíos. Santa Cruz - Bolivia, 2008, Bolivia, 2009.

RSE as a whole
Fundación AVINA, COBORSE and Fundación Emprender. El Tejedor Magazine Nº. 2 y Nº. 6, Bolivia, 2004/2005.
Instituto Ethos, REDES and Fundación Emprender. Sostenibilidad en mercados emergentes, Bolivia, 2006.
IntegraRSE. Visión: Estado actual de la RSE en Centroamérica (in process of elaboration).
Confederação Nacional da Indústria. Responsabilidade Social Empresarial, Brazil, 2006.
Korin, Mercedes. Mapeo de Promotores de RSE, www.mapeo-rse.info, 1st edition, 2007; updated version, 2010.

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IN SEARCH OF SUSTAINABILITY. The road of CSR in Latin America and AVINA Foundation’s contribution RECORD DOCUMENTS

Record documents
In addition to the list of the following documents and Internet sites, other organizations’ websites promoting
CSR in Latin America have also been reviewed.

Acción RSE
www.accionrse.cl
Acción Empresarial. El ABC de la Responsabilidad Social Empresarial en Chile y en el Mundo. Santiago de Chile, 2003.

Accountability
www.accountability.org
MacGillivray, Alex; Sabapathy, John and Zadek, Simon. Responsible Competitiveness Index 2003. Aligning corporate
responsibility and the competitiveness of nations. Accountability & The Copenhagen Centre, 2003.
Zadek, Simon; Raynard, Peter and Oliveira, Cristiano. Responsible Competitiveness. Reshaping Global Markets through
Responsible Business Practices. Accountability in alliance with Fundação Dom Cabral (FDC), 2005.
MacGillivray, Alex; Begley, Paul and Zadek, Simon. The State of Responsible Competitiveness 2007. Making sustainable
development count in global markets. Accountability in alliance with Fundação Dom Cabral, London, 2007.

Asociación de Empresarios Cristianos (ADEC)


www.adec.org.py

Asociación Nacional de Empresarios de Colombia (ANDI)


www.andi.com.co
ANDI. Encuesta sobre Responsabilidad Social Empresarial RSE 2008-09. 2009.

AVINA Foundation
www.avina.net
www.vivatrust.com
AVINA. The AVINA Group. Annual Report 1999.
AVINA. Annual Report 2000.
AVINA. Annual Report 2001.
AVINA. Annual Report 2002.
AVINA. Annual Report 2003.
AVINA. Annual Report 2004.
AVINA. Annual Report 2005. Liderazgos para el desarrollo sostenible en América Latina.
AVINA. Annual Report 2006. Liderazgos para el desarrollo sostenible en América Latina.
AVINA. Annual Report 2007. Liderazgos para el desarrollo sostenible en América Latina.
AVINA. AVINA 1997-2000. Poniéndonos en marcha. Los primeros aprendizajes. In alliance with VIVA Trust, 2007.
AVINA. Annual Report 2008. Liderazgos para el desarrollo sostenible en América Latina.
AVINA. 2009 Annual Report. Liderazgos para el desarrollo sostenible en América Latina.
Fundación Emprender and Fundación AVINA. Vencer prejuicios para superar desencuentros. Medios y Responsabilidad Social
Empresarial en Bolivia. Bolivia, 2007.
Global Infancia, REDES and Fundación AVINA. Responsabilidad Social Empresarial en la prensa paraguaya. Un análisis de la cobertura
periodística sobre la RSE. Paraguay, 2007.
Wachay and Fundación AVINA. La Responsabilidad Social Empresaria en la prensa argentina. Análisis de la cobertura periodística
sobre la RSE, 2005-2006. Argentina, 2007.

BM&FBovespa
www.bmfbovespa.com.br

Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP)


www.cdproject.net

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IN SEARCH OF SUSTAINABILITY. The road of CSR in Latin America and AVINA Foundation’s contribution RECORD DOCUMENTS

Centro para la Acción de la Responsabilidad Social Empresarial en Guatemala (CentraRSE) Fundación Ecología y Desarrollo (ECODES)
www.centrarse.org www.ecodes.org
See IDB/MIF
Certificación para la Sostenibilidad Turística en Costa Rica
www.turismo-sostenible.co.cr Fundación Empresarial para la Acción Social (Fundemas)
www.fundemas.org
ComunicaRSE Fundemas. Memoria de Sostenibilidad 2009. 10 años Fundemas Por + competitividad responsable.
www.comunicarseweb.com.ar
ComunicaRSE. Las 10 claves de la sustentabilidad para 2011. December 2010. Fundación Hondureña de Responsabilidad Social Empresarial (FundahRSE)
www.fundahrse.org
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Alonso, Victoria. Avances en la discusión sobre la ISO 26000 en América Latina: antecedentes para apoyar el proceso ISO en la región.
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Fundación Casa de la Paz Instituto Ethos. Indicadores Ethos de Responsabilidad Social Empresarial 2004. São Paulo, Brazil, 2004.
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Vives, Antonio and Heinecke, Amy (publishers). The Americas Conference on Corporate Social Responsibility: “Alliances for www.plarse.org
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Red Argentina de RSE (RARSE)
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ISO. Draft Minutes of the fifth meeting of ISO/TMB/WG Social Responsibility. November 5-9, 2007, Vienna, Annex B: Attendance list.
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Organization of American States (OAS)


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Vincular
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ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS
W.K. Kellogg Foundation
www.wkkf.org
OF ORGANIZATIONS
World Bank
www.worldbank.org

World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD)


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WBCSD. El caso empresarial para el desarrollo sostenible. Lograr la diferencia en la Cumbre Mundial de Johannesburgo de 2002 y en
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See Stephan Schmidheiny

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March, Carlos. Dignidad para todos. Editorial Grupo Temas, 2009.
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University of Castilla - La Mancha.
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Nacional. Ação Empresarial pela Cidadania. Brazil.
Sabogal Aguilar, Javier. “Aproximación y cuestionamientos al concepto responsabilidad social empresarial”. Revista Facultad
Ciencias Económicas, Universidad Militar Nueva Granada, Vol. XVI, June, 2008.
Vives, Antonio and Peinado, Estrella (compilers). La Responsabilidad Social de la Empresa en América Latina. MIF/IDB, being printed,
2011.
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Zadek, Simon. “The Path to Corporate Responsibility”. Harvard Business Review, December, 2004.

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Acronyms and abbreviations of organizations


ABNT Associação Brasileira de Normas Técnicas
Abrinq Associação Brasileira dos Fabricantes de Brinquedos
ACDE (Argentina) Asociación Cristiana de Dirigentes de Empresa
ACDE (Uruguay) Asociación Cristiana de Dirigentes de Empresa
ACHS Asociación Chilena de Seguridad
ACIR Asociación Comercial e Industrial de Rivera
ACMD Associação Comunidade de Mãos Dadas
ACOPI Asociación Colombiana de Pequeños Industriales
ADEC Asociación de Empresarios Cristianos
ADIMRA Asociación de Industriales Metalúrgicos de la República Argentina
AEC Ação Empresarial pela Cidadania
AECID Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional para el Desarrollo
AED Asociación Empresarial para el Desarrollo
AGER Asociación Guatemalteca del Empresariado Rural
AGRISAL Agrícola Industrial Salvadoreña
AIFBN Agrupación de Ingenieros Forestales por el Bosque Nativo
AJE Asociación de Jóvenes Empresarios
AliaRSE Alianza por la RSE
AMCHAM (Nicaragua) Cámara de Comercio Americana de Nicaragua
AMCHAM (Paraguay) Cámara de Comercio Paraguayo Americana
AMIA Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina
AmigaRSE Fundación Amigos de la Responsabilidad Social Empresarial
ANDI (Brasil) Agência de Notícias de los Derechos de la Infância
ANDI (Colombia) Asociación Nacional de Empresarios de Colombia
ANIA Asociación para la Niñez y su Ambiente
APEDE Asociación Panameña de Ejecutivos de Empresa
ASBANC Asociación de Bancos del Perú
ASPEC Asociación Peruana de Consumidores y Usuarios
AUSJAL Asociación de Universidades Confiadas a la Compañía de Jesús en América Latina
BCSD Business Council for Sustainable Development
BITC Business in the Community
BM&F Bolsa de Mercadorias e Futuros
BMZ Bundesministerium für Wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung
BOVESPA Bolsa de Valores de São Pablo
BSR Business for Social Responsibility
CADAL Centro para la Apertura y el Desarrollo de América Latina
CAP Cámara de Anunciantes del Paraguay
CCC-CA Confederación de Cooperativas del Caribe y Centroamérica
CCNRS Consejo Consultivo Nacional de Responsabilidad Social
CCRE Centro Colombiano de Responsabilidad Empresarial
CECODES Consejo Empresarial Colombiano para el Desarrollo Sostenible
CEDAL Centro de Asesoría Laboral
CDP Carbon Disclosure Project
CEBDS Conselho Empresarial Brasileiro para o Desenvolvimento Sustentável
CEDEM Centro de Estudios para el Desarrollo de la Mujer
CEDES Consejo Empresarial para el Desarrollo Sostenible
CEER Consejo Empresario de Entre Ríos
CEFIR Centro de Formación para la Integración Regional
CEGIN Centro Ginecológico Integral
CEHDES Consejo Empresarial Hondureño para el Desarrollo Sostenible
CEMDES Consejo Empresarial para el Desarrollo Sustentable del Ecuador

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CEMEFI Centro Mexicano para la Filantropía ICCO Organización Intereclesiástica para la Cooperación al Desarrollo
CENARSECS Centro Nacional de RSE y Capital Social ICONTEC Instituto Colombiano de Normas Técnicas y Certificación
CentraRSE Centro para la Acción de la RSE en Guatemala IDB Inter-American Development Bank
CERES Consorcio Ecuatoriano para la Responsabilidad Social IDEC Instituto Brasileiro de Defensa do Consumidor
CFEMEA Centro Feminista de Estudos e Assessoria IESA Instituto Universitario de Estudios Superiores en Administración
CIDATT Centro de Investigación y Asesoría del Transporte Terrestre IESC Instituto de Estudios para la Sustentabilidad Corporativa
CIDERE Biobio Corporación Industrial para el Desarrollo Regional del Biobio IFAM Instituto de Fomento y Asesoría Municipal
CIEAM Centro da Industria do Estado do Amazonas IFC International Finance Corporation
CIPE Centro Internacional para la Empresa Privada ILO International Labour Organization
CIRD Centro de Información y Recursos para el Desarrollo IMNC Instituto Mexicano de Normalización y Certificación
CJC Cámara Junior de Colombia INCAE Instituto Centroamericano de Administración de Empresas
CLACDS Centro Latinoamericano para la Competitividad y el Desarrollo Sostenible Innpulsar Incubadora de Empresas del Austro del Ecuador
CLADEA Consejo Latinoamericano de Escuelas de Administración Instituto AEC Instituto Ação Empresarial pela Cidadania
COBONEI Consejo Boliviano de Negocios Inclusivos INTECO Instituto de Normas Técnicas de Costa Rica
COBORSE Corporación Boliviana de RSE InWEnt Internationale Weiterbildung und Entwicklung gGmbH
CODEFF Comité Nacional Pro-Defensa de la Fauna y Flora IPN Instituto Politécnico Nacional
CODENI Coordinadora por los Derechos del Niño ISO International Organization for Standardization
COMFAMA Caja de Compensación Familiar de Antioquia MIF Multilateral Investment Fund
Confecámaras Confederación Colombiana de Cámaras de Comercio MoveRSE Movimiento hacia la RSE
CONFIEP Confederación Nacional de Instituciones Empresariales Privadas OECD Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
CoopeSolidar Cooperativa Autogestionaria de Servicios Profesionales para la Solidaridad Social PNBE Pensamento Nacional das Bases Empresariais
COREME Cooperativa de Recicladores de Mendoza PUCP Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú
CORFO Corporación de Fomento de la Producción PUCV Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaiso
COSEP Consejo Superior de la Empresa Privada RARSE Red Argentina de RSE
DERES Desarrollo de la Responsabilidad Social Red IntegraRSE Red para la Integración Centroamericana por la RSE
ECLAC Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean Red UniRSE Red Iberoamericana de Universidades por la RSE
ECODES Fundación Ecología y Desarrollo Rede ACE Articulação Nacional pela Cidadania Empresarial
EGADE Escuela de Graduados en Administración y Dirección de Empresas del Instituto Tecnológico de Monterrey RedEAmérica Red Interamericana de Fundaciones y Acciones Empresariales para el Desarrollo de Base
ExE Empresarios por la Educación de Córdoba REDES Red de Empresarios para el Desarrollo Sostenible
FAH Fundación Alberto Hidalgo SAI Social Accountability International
FAICO Fundación Amigos de la Isla del Coco Sebrae Serviço Brasileiro de Apoio às Micro e Pequenas Empresas
FARN Fundación Ambiente y Recursos Naturales SEI Stockholm Environment Institute
FENALCO Federación Nacional de Comerciantes SEKN Social Enterprise Knowledge Network
FGV-EAESP Escola de Administração de Empresas de São Paulo da Fundação Getúlio Vargas SENAI Serviço Nacional de Aprendizagem Industrial
FIEMG Federação das Indústrias do Estado de Minas Gerais SICA Sistema de Integración Centroamericana
FMSS Fundação Maurício Sirotsky Sobrinho TI Transparency International
FNPI Fundación Nuevo Periodismo Iberoamericano UCC Universidad Católica de Córdoba
FSC Forest Stewardship Council UNDP United Nations Development Programme
FundahRSE Fundación Hondureña de RSE UNEP United Nations Environment Programme
Fundemas Fundación Empresarial para la Acción Social UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
Fundes Fundación para el Desarrollo Sostenible UNODC United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
GDF Grupo de Fundaciones y Empresas UniRSE Unión Nicaragüense para la RSE
GIFE Grupo de Institutos Fundações e Empresas UP Universidad del Pacífico
GRI Global Reporting Initiative WBCSD World Business Council for Sustainable Development
GSG Global Scenario Group WRI World Resource Institute
GTZ Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit
HBS Harvard Business School
IAF Inter-American Foundation
IARSE Instituto Argentino de RSE
IBASE Instituto Brasileiro de Análises Sociais e Econômicas
IBCE Instituto Boliviano de Comercio Exterior
IBENS Instituto Brasileiro de Educação em Negocios Sustentáveis
IBOPE Instituto Brasileiro de Opinião Pública e Estatística

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