In May 2001, DERES was publicly launched with
its main objective: “to promote the CSR concepts and practices in
Uruguay, working mainly with the business sector as well as with the civil
society and academic sector”.
Mission
To develop the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility
into the management system of corporations and business organizations
in Uruguay.
Vision
To create a network of businesses, academic entities
and social actors related to the social responsibility issues in order
to create:
- A clear and precise concept in Uruguay of business’ new
role, based on the experience and principles of the social and business
practices;
- A deep conscience in the business sector, as well in other
actors involved, of these new roles;
To create tools in order to facilitate the implementation
of CSR into the business management.
Organization
DERES members are private and public businesses
and corporations as well as universities that operate in Uruguay.
DERES has a Board formed by a minimum of 16 members that lays
out the main policies of the organization.
An Executive Committee formed by DERES’ President and
8 more members has the responsibility of carrying out the Boards
decisions.
Members
Our members are multinational and local business and corporations
that operate in Uruguay. To see a list of our current members,
click here.
Working Groups
A various number of WG are open for participation of any employee
belonging to a DERES member company.
The WG propose different activities and initiatives that respond
to the needs of companies in issues related to CSR.
Activities
In order to accomplish its Mission, DERES undertakes a whole
series of actions and activities in order to facilitate the
knowledge and awareness of CSR in Uruguay.
Some of these activities include:
DERES offers a series of open conferences
in which an invited speaker gives a lecture on a specific CSR
topic. These speakers are mainly from abroad and are accompanied
by a local business executive who gives the local point of
view in order to show that CSR can well be practiced in the
Uruguayan context.
- DERES Press Column on CSR – “Business
Leaders Opinion”
Through an agreement with the newspaper “El Observador”,
business executives and directors belonging to DERES company
members, have the chance to write a column in which they can
express their concern on CSR and the relationship that exists
between CSR and the business case. These columns ca be read
in our website.
We publish toolkits that help understand what the CSR issue
is about, facilitating business executives to implement business
practices in their companies.
We have at the moment published 3 of these toolkits:
- CSR First Steps
- Guide for implementing the Social Balance Sheet in Uruguay
- Guide for a CSR Self Assessment.
These toolkits can be downloaded (only available in Spanish)
from our website at no cost. For downloading, click here
DERES publishes the only CSR Magazine in Uruguay distributed
every 3 months amongst the most important business opinion
leaders. DERES Magazines covers the most important CSR events,
activities and news that take place in Uruguay as well as abroad.
With a series of interviews and case studies, DERES Magazine
is an excellent instrument to be informed of the CSR status
in Uruguay.
In our website, we collect a great number of CSR actions and
programs undertaken by local companies or Uruguayan based multinationals.
In this CSR Case Bank, one can see what the different companies
are doing in various areas such as community development, environment
protection, responsible marketing, responsible labor practices,
etc. The idea of this “bank” is to show the business
community and society as a whole what is being done locally
regarding CSR practices.
- CSR and the Academic Sector
Convinced that the “future decision makers” should
get involved in CSR during their early years, DERES continuously
offers lectures to graduate and post graduate university students.
DERES also promotes contests for the presentation of “CSR
Papers” for university students and professors. DERES
and the ISO 26000 Standard.
DERES is a member of the Uruguayan
Mirror Committee on the ISO 26000 standard on “Social
Responsibility” having participated in the international
ISO meetings of Salvador (Brazil) and Sydney (Australia).
As
a means for creating awareness and preparation for the Standard,
DERES and the Catholic University of Uruguay in coordination
with UNIT (ISO Standard Body Member in Uruguay) offer a training
course on the implementation of CSR practices.
CSR Network – International ties
DERES is member/partner of the following
international entities:
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