AccountAbility AA1000 Standards Series Successfully Launched in Poland

(3BL Media / theCSRfeed) Warsaw, Poland - June 22, 2011 - On June 16, 2011 the Polish translation of AA1000 series was launched in Warsaw, Poland. The standards were officially announced during a conference on stakeholder  engagement and dialogue. CSRinfo, AccountAbility’s Polish partner, organized the event in collaboration with Grupa TP. The conference was held under the auspices of the  Ministry of Economy. Kurt Ramin, new Director and Global Head of Standards at AccountAbility, was CSRinfo’s special guest.

The conference took place in the Press Centre of the Polish Press Agency and was attended by over 70 people who represented mainly business organisations but also non-governmental organisations, public administration and universities. The speakers were Liliana Anam from CSRinfo, Kurt Ramin from AccountAbility and Monika Kulik from Grupa TP.    During the conference Liliana Anam from CSRinfo presented the general situation of stakeholder dialogue processes carried out by Polish business organisations and summed up the results of CSRinfo’s market research on stakeholder dialogue within several major business organisations in Poland. The research had been carried out by CSRinfo prior to the conference.   The audience could also learn about the future development directions of AccountAbility’s AA1000 standards first hand from Kurt Ramin, who was the keynote speaker.    The last speaker was Monika Kulik from Grupa TP, the largest Polish telecommunications firm, who is CSRinfo’s strategic partner in the “AA1000 in Poland” project. Grupa TP is currently undergoing stakeholder dialogue process using the AA1000 series and in a very interesting case study Monika Kulik gave the audience a glimpse of their stakeholder engagement and dialogue strategies executed in compliance with the AA1000 series.   The last presentation was followed by a Q and A session. It took over half an hour since there were many questions which focused on topics such as challenges and benefits of stakeholder engagement and dialogue, organisational difficulties and reporting issues.   The event was the first of a kind in Poland and the feedback gather after the event was very good. The conference proved to be very popular among Polish CSR experts and practitioners. As a bonus, CSRinfo together with AccountAbility and Grupa TP prepared a special conference publication “AA1000 Standards. Social responsibility tool. A guide for business”. In the publication the reader will find practical advice on using the AA1000 standards as well as other material of interest. The contributors are AccountAbility, CSRinfo, and Grupa TP. The publication is the first one to promote stakeholder dialogue according to the AA1000 series in Poland. Not only it shows the benefits of using the AA1000 standards but it also gives it a local context which will help Polish organisations to make the most of this valuable tool. The publication was part of the conference material and will be further distributed in among all interested parties.    As anywhere else, the AA1000 standards in Poland are available free of charge. They will help organizations to develop their transparency and responsibility. Kurt Ramin from AccountAbility said: AccountAbility are appreciating the efforts and are looking forward to push the standards ahead in Poland. Poland is one of the lead countries in Europe doing it. This effort will make Poland  prepared for a European wide discussion and implementation of CSR issues and AA standards.   Stakeholder engagement is a key practice within the corporate social responsibility. The AA1000 Standards are very helpful. In my opinion this know-how should be available to Polish companies. I hope that it will contribute to the popularization of the stakeholder engagement practice, said Liliana Anam, CSRinfo Manager. One should also remember  that transparent and trust-based stakeholder engagement contributes to the creation of social capital which is still “work in progress” in Poland, she added.   The translation and promotion of the AA1000 series is yet another educational project carried out successfully by CSRinfo in Poland. CSRinfo is one of the first Polish companies specialised entirely in corporate sustainability and responsibility. The main lines of business are consulting and education. The company owns the leading Polish portal on CSR: www.CSRinfo.org and dedicated services such as www.AA1000.pl. According to the latest research Portal CSRinfo.org is the portal of preference for the majority of people looking for information on corporate social responsibility and sustainable development.    As of today, the Polish version of the AA1000 standards and other conference material will be available for download from the Accountability website and on www.AA1000.pl    For more information please contact: Ewa Szul-Skjoeldkrona ewa.szul-skjoeldkrona@csrinfo.org +48 795 196 739