The International Organisation for Standardization (ISO) has through her
national member body, the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), commenced
the adoption process of an international standard on Social Responsibility, ISO
26000 in Nigeria .
Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) and her Knowledge
Partner, ThistlePraxis Consulting (TPC) announced the commencement of the ISO
26000 Guidance Standard on Social responsibility, Nigeria Adoption Process in a
statement signed by the Director General of Standards Organisation of Nigeria,
Dr. Joseph Odumodu, MFR. Both organisations will partner on implementing the
Nigeria Adoption process, scheduled to commence in May 2012. This process will
feature three (3) technical meetings over a period of six (6) months.
Corporate organisations have been invited to express
interests in participating in the exercise as Technical Partners. As technical
partners, organisations will benefit from global recognition as industry
leaders and pioneer institutions in promoting Social Responsibility standards
in Nigeria .
SON and TPC have also promised special recognition and further technical
support to participating organisations after the successful completion of this
exercise.
ISO 26000 is an International Standard (by the International
Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) elaborated to guide organisations on
Social Responsibility. It is a consensus guidance document that provides
support or a reference for all kinds of organisations in both private and
public sectors both in developed and developing countries, as well as those who
may be referred to as ‘being in transition’.
In July 2010, at the 9th Plenary meeting of the ISO Working
Group on Social Responsibility (ISO/WG/SR) held in Copenhagen, 450
participating experts and 210 observers from 99 ISO member countries which
included Nigeria and 42 liaison organisations deliberated and ratified the
Final draft standard. Six main stakeholder groups were represented: industry;
government; labour; consumers: nongovernmental organizations; service, support,
research and others, as well as a geographical and gender-based balance of
participants.
This exercise is open to all organisations strictly on the
basis of ‘Expression of Interest’ as these entities will be required to play
leadership roles in representing and advocating for provisions of the guide for
their respective industries or sectors. Organisations who participate will be
provided a copy of the guide for use in developing Sustainability Reports
whilst ThistlePraxis Consulting, as Knowledge Partners will provide support in
this regard.
When adopted, Nigeria
will join many other African countries such as Cameroon ,
Cote d’Ivoire , Egypt , Kenya ,
Mauritius , Morocco , South
Africa , Senegal ,
Malawi , Uganda , Zimbabwe
and Ghana
who have adopted the standard.
In order to drum up support and achieve the New Media
Strategy required to drive the process, a blog: http://iso26000nigeria.blogspot.com/ has
been created to properly communicate the process for local and foreign
observers. Interested individuals are encouraged to visit for comments,
suggestions and input, accordingly.
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