Arabia CSR Awards Launching its 3rd Cycle

The third cycle of the Arabia CSR Awards was launched with a press conference yesterday in the Movenpick Hotel, Dubai. The assembled media listened to a panel of speakers consisting of Habiba Al Marashi, President Arabia CSR Network, and representatives of last year’s Award winners.
The Arabia CSR Awards are supported by the UN Global Compact, giving winners international recognition for their CSR best practices.
Mrs. Al Marashi briefly recounted the last cycle of the Awards, in which 60 companies with operations in the GCC, the Levant and Northern Africa took part and submitted their best practices. After thorough review and discussion by the international judging panel, winners in three categories were honored with the Arabia CSR Award 2010.
Winners of the Arabia CSR Awards 2009 were: Jumeirah Emirates Towers in the category large companies, Abraaj Capital in the category medium companies and Global Village in the category small companies.
Mrs. Al Marashi remarked that: “It was especially encouraging to see an impressive number of public sector organizations participating in the Awards cycle and achieving good results, and I hope that this trend continues in this third cycle.”
Whereas 2009 was a difficult year for CSR, with many companies downsizing their CSR departments and shelving their long term CSR strategies, 2010 is set to be the year of consolidation and deepening of CSR strategies and policies for those organizations that have realized the added value of CSR for their business. Consolidation and deepening of CSR strategies and policies within organizations, has been the mandate of the Arabia CSR Network since its inception in 2009. Through workshops, seminars and the Awards cycles, the network brings together leaders in CSR from across the Arab world, and offers them access to experts, networking opportunities, and the opportunity to showcase their CSR best practices.
Ms. Karia, Vice President, Abraaj Capital, remarked that: “The Arabia CSR Awards represent a real service by the Arabia CSR Network, which helps organizations cast a critical look at their own CSR practices.” She called on organizations across the Arab world to participate in this year’s cycle.
Organizations submitting their applications to the third cycle of the Arabia CSR Awards will have to fill in a questionnaire, and will have to provide the judging panel with extensive background materials as evidence of their policies and practices. In addition, participants are asked to draft a synopsis of their most noteworthy CSR initiative of no more than 2 pages. Participants are furthermore requested to submit a three minute video clip of their organization.
Taking the feedback of participants, judges and the advisory panel into consideration, the questionnaire and guidelines of this third cycle have been re-worked and improved and the submission process has been streamlined and simplified.
Mrs. Al Marashi reiterated that: “The Arabia CSR Awards do not single out specific projects or initiatives, but rather look at the overall CSR policies and strategies, and the extent to which these are incorporated into an organization’s core business, when selecting the winners of the Awards.” This means that participants will have to take a critical look at various departments in their organizations and submit data from their finance, compliance and human resources departments among others.
The Arabia CSR Awards also set out to practice what they preach, and have taken measures to “Green” this third cycle. Whereas previous cycles called for hard copies of submitted materials, participants are now able to complete the entire submission process online and in soft copy. In addition, the judging process for the Awards will take place entirely online, in an effort to minimize the Carbon Footprint of the Arabia CSR Awards 2010.
In order to guide participants through the application process, the Arabia CSR Network will host a free, informal Awards workshop on 15 June 2010, in which participants can ask questions and will be walked through the application process by the head of the judging panel. All participants are encouraged to attend this workshop and will be notified of further details upon their registration.
The launch marked the opening of the submission period for the Awards, which runs from 13 May 2010 until 27 August 2010. Winners will be honored at an awarding ceremony, which is to be held on the 26th of October 2010.
Organizations interested in participation, may visit www.arabiacsrawards.com for further information and to download the registration form, the questionnaire and guidelines.
Arabia CSR Network staff will be on hand to answer questions and guide participants throughout the application process.