At UNICEF India, we see engaging with companies, business and the private sector as essential to achieving results for children. UNICEF recognises the potential in engaging with the private sector in more strategic ways, as going beyond financial contributions. UNICEF strongly believes in the power of partnerships and collaborative efforts. It has a rich history of working with the corporate sector to identify, design and implement alliances that leverage their strengths on behalf of the world's children.
As part of recent policy developments in India, CSR is no longer voluntary. The government has put in place a policy framework that makes both public sector enterprises as well as private companies responsible and accountable for strategic community contributions. In August 2012, UNICEF India launched the Children's Rights and Business principles, together with key stakeholders, including the government of India. The launch of the Principles in India provided a unique opportunity and framework for businesses to assess and work on the impact they have on the lives of children, in the backdrop of the mandatory CSR policy initiatives of the government.
Moving beyond "a do-no harm" approach, companies can proactively help to not only advocate for and promote children's rights, but also to facilitate children as stakeholders within business. In both understanding context and assessing impacts, stakeholder consultations can be invaluable to understand children's specific concerns and perspectives. Building on this, UNICEF engages with a number of companies to help them address their potential and actual child rights impacts, and their role as champions for child's rights.
Kuoni - a global travel-related service provider - has been working on human rights issues such as child protection and fair working conditions for many years. Building on the CRBP framework and with the support of UNICEF, it undertook a human rights impact assessment as a pilot project in one of their destination countries, Kenya, in 2012.
Kuoni has now developed a Human Rights Impact Assessment toolkit it has implemented in India this year. Considering children as a distinct group of stakeholders to be consulted, they held focus groups and interviews with children from two districts in India. Throughout these consultations, children were asked how they saw business affecting their daily lives, that of the family and community. The questions ranged from whether the children came across tourists in their daily lives to any fears they might have for their safety. Each question probed into the variety of issues that affect children, offering insights into aspects of this industry that might otherwise remain unknown. By consulting these key stakeholders, Kuoni is leading the way in understanding adverse impacts and being able to maximise the positive effects of tourist travel.
By listening to the voices of children, a company can build a platform that enhances the value of their core business. The legacy that a company creates from integrating young perspectives goes far beyond day to day business and touches upon the very foundations of the societies that they operate within. Today's children are critical stakeholders for companies – each one holds the key to supporting a business that seeks to be a force for long term, sustainable growth within this inter-connected world.
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