The International Organisation for Standardization (ISO) has through her national member body, the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), commenced the adoption process of an international standard on Social Responsibility, ISO 26000 in Nigeria.
Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) and her Knowledge Partner, ThistlePraxis Consulting (TPC) announced the commencement of the ISO 26000 Guidance Standard on Social responsibility, Nigeria Adoption Process in a statement signed by the Director General of Standards Organisation of Nigeria, Dr. Joseph Odumodu, MFR. Both organisations will partner on implementing the Nigeria Adoption process, scheduled to commence in May 2012. This process will feature three (3) technical meetings over a period of six (6) months.
Corporate organisations have been invited to express interests in participating in the exercise as Technical Partners. As technical partners, organisations will benefit from global recognition as industry leaders and pioneer institutions in promoting Social Responsibility standards in Nigeria. SON and TPC have also promised special recognition and further technical support to participating organisations after the successful completion of this exercise.
ISO 26000 is an International Standard (by the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) elaborated to guide organisations on Social Responsibility. It is a consensus guidance document that provides support or a reference for all kinds of organisations in both private and public sectors both in developed and developing countries, as well as those who may be referred to as ‘being in transition’.
In July 2010, at the 9th Plenary meeting of the ISO Working Group on Social Responsibility (ISO/WG/SR) held in Copenhagen, 450 participating experts and 210 observers from 99 ISO member countries which included Nigeria and 42 liaison organisations deliberated and ratified the Final draft standard. Six main stakeholder groups were represented: industry; government; labour; consumers: nongovernmental organizations; service, support, research and others, as well as a geographical and gender-based balance of participants.
This exercise is open to all organisations strictly on the basis of ‘Expression of Interest’ as these entities will be required to play leadership roles in representing and advocating for provisions of the guide for their respective industries or sectors. Organisations who participate will be provided a copy of the guide for use in developing Sustainability Reports whilst ThistlePraxis Consulting, as Knowledge Partners will provide support in this regard.
When adopted, Nigeria will join many other African countries such as Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Egypt, Kenya, Mauritius, Morocco, South Africa, Senegal, Malawi, Uganda, Zimbabwe and Ghana who have adopted the standard.
In order to drum up support and achieve the New Media Strategy required to drive the process, a blog: http://www.iso26000nigeria.blogspot.com has been created to properly communicate the process for local and foreign observers. Interested individuals are encouraged to visit for comments, suggestions and input, accordingly.
CONTACT:
SON Office: 52, Lome Crescent, Zone 7, Wuse Abuja;
TPC Office: 81b, Lafiaji Way, Dolphin Estate, Ikoyi, Lagos.
Email: [email protected]
Telephone: +23412131776, +23412131404, +2348136611906, +2348037148070
