Nisha Onta, Knowledge Management Coordinator, and Sunitha Bisan, WOCAN Core Associate, presented the W+ Standard at the NGO marketplace during the CSR Asia Summit on 7-8 October in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The Summit focused on sustainable business strategies which bring value to businesses, communities and society. 429 delegates from across 28 countries attended the Summit representing businesses, governments and civil societies.
Women’s economic empowerment was one of the key topics discussed at the Summit. During the leadership panel session Gill McLaren from Coca-Cola Company shared their sustainability goal for 2020 which focuses on women, well-being and water. Gill emphasized that Coca Cola Company focuses on ‘hand up’ approach to women’s economic empowerment rather than ‘hand down’.
In another separate session on women’s economic empowerment, Amita Chaudhury from Unilever discussed how they are in the forefront of engaging in the SDG development process and have initiated various awareness raising programs. Georgie Passalaris from Diageo showcased their Plan W initiatives which aim to empower 2 million women in 17 countries in Asia-Pacific by 2017. In the same session Tim Bishop from Care, discussed the need for effective partnership between private sector and NGOs to meet the sustainability goals.
Some of the other key topics discussed at the Summit included shared value, employee engagement, inclusive business, deforestation, certification schemes, disaster preparedness, and supply chain practices and challenges.