Inter-American Agency for Cooperation and Development
Young Americas Business Trust
The World Bank Institute Announces Course on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Sustainable Competitiveness: "An Introduction to CSR: a Web-Based Course"
What is CSR all about?...Is CSR just a fad?....Who creates CSR standards?...How can business benefit from CSR?
Over the past decade, a growing number of countries, companies, and international organizations have recognized the benefits of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policies and practices. Within the World Bank Group, CSR is being addressed in several areas. For example, the World Bank Institute (WBI) has been providing dissemination of knowledge and information on CSR issues; Private Sector Advisory Services is promoting CSR practices to our client countries; environmental and social sectors of the Bank are appealing to various stakeholders for better CSR practice; and the International Finance Corporation increasingly assesses companies' social and environmental impact in their investment decision-making.
One component of the World Bank Institute's CSR and Sustainable Competitiveness program (
www.csrwbi.org) is a new web-based course, designed to introduce CSR in both theory and practice, and help participants acquire a basic knowledge of how CSR can provide a foundation for achieving sustainable development. The course has already had over 6,000 participants from all around the world and from all sections of society, including business leaders, government officials, representatives of multilateral organizations, civil society and youth.
Participation in the course is intended to provide a platform for follow up events such as video-conferences and workshops that emphasize the local context, seek to capture and disseminate best practices, and develop action plans. Starting in the fall of 2003, World Bank President James Wolfensohn has agreed to launch a series of global video-conferences on corporate social responsibility issues that will link groups of participants from all over the world.
The course focuses on introducing the key elements of the policy and business environment that support CSR and how these elements function as an integrated system. For more information on course contents, please refer to the attached flyer. The course is currently offered in English and is free of charge. All course materials are available online, and the course takes about 6-8 hours to complete, which can be taken according to each participant's own pace and schedule.
A new course offering specifically for participants from the Americas has been planned for August 1 - 28, 2003. To take the course simply click the link below for the relevant learning catalog course entry:
Apply for World Bank Institute Course on Corporate Social Responsibility.
After you register online, you will receive the information you will need to begin accessing the course within a few days.
For further information: email: Michael Jarvis at the World Bank Institute
Visit www.csrwbi.org or click here for the flyer (MS Word .doc) on the Web-based CSR course.