Registration has opened for what promises to be the most comprehensive programme in Corporate Social Responsibility ever offered in the jewellery industry. Presented and prepared by a team of United Nations-sanctioned CSR experts from the University of Geneva, University of St. Michael’s College in the University of Toronto, and MHC International, the programme will comprise the first Executive CSR Course offered by the World Jewellery Confederation Education Foundation (WJCEF).
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The course will take place in Antwerp, Belgium, from June 19 to June 22, and is being hosted by HRD Antwerp. CIBJO has set up a scholarship fund that will cover a large portion of the tuition fee for each participant.
The Executive CSR Course is designed to elevate the role played by companies involved in the international jewellery and gemstone sector so that, through their own business practices, they become actively involved in the fulfilment of the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals, which form a blueprint agreed to by the international community to tackle the world’s most pressing development challenges.
“We’re talking about the establishment of a culture and tradition by which our industry returns economic benefits to all sectors of the supply chain, including those in developing nations. This is proactive CSR and I propose that it should set us apart from other luxury product industries. CSR should be recognised as an integral part of our industry’s DNA. It should define us as a community, and be a characteristic by which consumers recognise us,” said CIBJO President Gaetano Cavalieri.
Over the four day of the Executive CSR Course in Antwerp, participants will study the principal models and strategies for Corporate Social Investment, their application in an industry dominated by smaller and medium-sized enterprises, the impact of CSR on supply chains and a variety of practical case studies. The third day of the course will comprise a special overview of Corporate Social Responsibility presented by experts from the CSR Certificate programme at the University of St. Michaels’s College in the University of Toronto. U. of T. graduates have described this programme as “transformational.”
Among the instructors presenting the course in Antwerp will be Dr. François Loriot, president of AIFOMD (International association of MDG/CSR trainers) and formerly the United Nations Chief Legal Advisor; Dr. Mimi Marroco, professor and Director CSR Certificate program at University of St. Michael’s College in the University of Toronto; Dr. Michael Hopkins, a professor at Middlesex University Business School in London and the University of Geneva in Switzerland; Ron Knowles, a professor at the University of Toronto’s CSR training program and the principal at Western Management Consultant in Canada; Ann Kemp, the co-developer of the content for ExperienceCSR at ExperiencePoint, a technology firm that developed the software used for CSR simulation; and Ivor Hopkins, vice president of MHC International and a CSR expert and marketing specialist. Also instructing will be Dr. Hanifa Mezoui, the former head of the NGO section at ECOSOC, who played an instrumental role in the establishment of WJCEF and who currently president of the UN-ONG-IRENE association and the AICESIS representative at the United Nations.
Members of the industry who are interested in participating in WJCEF’s first Executive CSR Course in Antwerp, June 19-22, 2010, should contact the CIBJO Secretariat at [email protected].
WJCEF was established by CIBJO in December 2008 with the purpose of instilling the principle of Corporate Social Responsibility in the international jewellery industry and trade. At the 2010 CIBJO Congress in Munich, it was decided to develop a two-track educational programme, with the higher-level track comprised of Executive Courses developed and presented by a team of CSR experts appointed by the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), of which CIBJO is the international jewellery sector’s only member. A second track, which will involve the provision of CSR courses at nominal costs to a broader cross section the industry through national associations, is currently being developed.
