Europe’s most spectacular architectural edifices have been built in tens or even hundreds of years. The European Union, a political, economic and social construction, has in fact taken more than a century to come into existence and it continues to undergo a process of expansion and harmonization. Even though short term individual efforts may not lead to sustainability, each individual act can make a difference. The initiative to create a social network made of corporations, NGOs and other social partners in order to promote corporate social responsibility is set up on these premises. We expect a long-term road leading to a positive change in the Romanian community, a road that we wish to cover together with the most powerful actors in the field of corporate social responsibility, actors such as companies, NGOs and other stakeholders. What we believe will bring us together is a strong civic sense and the wish to belong to a responsible, coherent, civilized society.
Rodica Lupu, JCI Romania 2009 President, Project Manager

The Stake

Junior Chamber International (JCI) Romania, along with its partners, The Ministry of Education, Research, Youth and Sport and the Institute for Social Policies launched the project “We act responsibly! – The CSR Social Network”, co-financed by the European Social Fund through the Sectoral Operational Programme Human Resources Development 2007-2013. The project is designed to promote social dialogue and to answer the challenges which organizations may encounter when implementing CSR initiatives. The project will roll out for three years, at national level, covering all eight Romanian development regions. The public at large, as well as interested companies and organizations, will benefit from the support of eight regional information and assistance centers, which will operate in Bucharest, Iasi, Cluj, Sibiu, Timisoara, Constanta, Craiova and Ploiesti.

The Vision

The project “We act responsibly! – The CSR Social Network” is an open invitation to meditation, dialogue and action towards the Society and the idea of Citizen. We cannot operate with the concept of Citizen in the proper sense without considering such attributes as participation, mutual help, problem solving, integration and social action. The Network aims at valuing these attributes by facilitating the know-how transfer from the strongest CSR actors to organizations and individuals who are interested in corporate social responsibility but do not have the necessary resources for implementing such initiatives.

The Objective

The project aims to develop a national network of information multipliers and disseminators of expertise in order to promote the concept of corporate social responsibility, while also supporting initiatives in this field. Furthermore, the project aims at developing a methodology for the initiation, implementation and reporting of CSR initiatives, with an emphasis on education, in order to stimulate major players and to improve the cooperation between various civil society key actors, together with the social partners’ capacity development.

The Action Trigger

The driving force of the system we intend to build consists of a pool of 30 companies and NGOs representative for the field of CSR, with sustainable activities and significant implication regarding their results in the local community. Therefore, the project will engage, along with the experts from the local organizations of JCI Romania, the CSR officers of the most responsible corporations in Romania, the representatives of NGOs and public institutions which promote a sustainable development, as well as the opinion leaders from the CSR field (journalists, bloggers, public figures).

The Mission

The objective undertaken by the partners in this project is that the CSR Social Network counts more than 50 partners. However, the implementation team hopes to reach a target of more than 80 companies and NGOs which will join forces to sustainably and continuously promote a responsible approach of the business field, as well as the citizens, not only through the involvement in social project, but as well through a positive, constructive and conscious attitude towards the community in general.

JCI Romania, the lead partner in the project, will maintain the tools created in the project with its own resources and will continue to provide the Network partners with the all the facilities developed, in order to ensure the continuity of this intervention and to further stimulate relevant actions by organizations, including the support of legislative initiatives.