The United Nations Global Compact, the world's largest voluntary corporate citizenship initiative, today launched its first-ever report on its country-level activities in nearly 90 nations.
The "Local Network Report" provides an overview of the activities of Global Compact Local Networks (GCLNs), which further the progress of companies engaged in the Compact and help them implement its principles.
For example, the study highlighted a series of lunch meetings in Trinidad and Tobago to provide a forum for business leaders to meet regularly to discuss corporate citizenship.
Meanwhile, in Bulgaria, a directory profiling 70 national and international companies which are part of the GCLN has been created to provide the public with information on these organizations' activities.
In the past two years alone, the number of GCLNs has doubled and now there are initiatives emerging or already in existence in nearly 90 countries. Recent launches have occurred in the Republic of Korea, Cote d'Ivoire, Viet Nam, the Dominican Republic, Turkey and the United States, among others.
The Global Compact was launched in 2000 with 47 companies, and as of this month, has grown to more than 5,000 participants - among them trade unions, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and some 3,600 businesses - in over 100 countries. They have all pledged to observe 10 universal principles pertaining to human rights, labour rights, the environment and combating corruption.