Washington, DC. July 9, 2003.—
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, provided a grant to help implement a program that will encourage volunteer action and corporate social responsibility among members of the Federation of Industries of the State of Minas Gerais (FIEMG).
The grant provided by IFC, of up to US$30,000, will be implemented in a pilot program that will involve 50 companies and 150 volunteers from a specific region of Minas Gerais, reaching 20 municipalities, home to nearly 500,000 inhabitants. If successful, it will be later expanded and replicated in the remaining 10 regions of Minas Gerais, reaching a total of 500 companies and 1500 volunteers, and potentially benefiting 5 million people.
The project, sponsored by FIEMG –through the Corporate Citizenship Council and the
Voluntários das Gerais
, a key local volunteer action group- will encourage social initiatives and will provide instruments for direct articulation of companies, civil society and local communities.
“This project follows IFC’s recent partnerships with Instituto Terra and Poema in Brazil, which, in addition to fit with our mission of promoting sustainable development, introduce new schemes of IFC’s collaboration with the private sector and the communities where they operate’, said Bernard Pasquier, IFC’s Director for Latin America and the Caribbean. “We hope this project will encourage other Brazilian institutions and companies to incorporate social responsibility in their strategic objectives.”
Using the know-how of corporate volunteer action program management and the methodology developed by the
Voluntários das Gerais
, this project will train a pool of instructors and company employees capable of promoting the engagement of companies in social programs. The desired change is to incorporate corporate social responsibility at all levels of the companies, management and employees.
FIEMG represents 130 corporate unions from the industrial sector of Minas Gerais, and operates through 11 regional branches distributed all over the state, and includes 19,509 companies in its membership. FIEMG’s multiplying capacity with its efficient network of channels will be critical to providing instruments and tools for direct articulation between businesses and communities.
IFC's mission (www.ifc.org) is to promote sustainable private sector investment in developing countries, helping to reduce poverty and improve people's lives. IFC finances private sector investments in the developing world, mobilizes capital in the international financial markets, helps clients improve social and environmental sustainability, and provides technical assistance and advice to governments and businesses. From its founding in 1956, IFC has committed more than $34 billion of its own funds and arranged $21 billion in syndications for 2,825 companies in 140 developing countries. IFC's committed portfolio at the end of FY02 was $15.1 billion with an additional $6.5 billion held for participants in loan syndications.
