Douglas Kativu (African Institute for Corporate Citizenship, South Africa) explains how companies have a larger role to play in building sustainable communities by looking both at the supply chain and at women in the workplace within an organization.

The African Institute of Corporate Citizenship believes that business has a critical role to play, as a partner in development, in building sustainable communities. The AICC promotes corporate accountability and transparency in Africa. The AICC is pleased to be part of the GRI as an organizational stakeholder and has been represented in the GRI Stakeholder Council over the years.

With regards to reporting, it is not about reporting per se but about the value reporting can bring to the communities. When you look at gender, one has to understand the development challenges that women face on the continent. Primarily, access to education, shelter, water, health facilities, food security. And these are more pertinent to women than men as women have to look after the children etc. Traditionally women have been denied (the same level of) opportunities as men to advance themselves.

Thus companies have a bigger role to play in addressing some of these disparities between women and men. And we have to look at how companies are promoting/generating economic opportunities for women? We believe that people (and especially women) are not looking for donations. But they are looking for opportunities to advance themselves. They are looking for opportunities to take themselves out of poverty. One way of doing this is looking at the supply chain: what support mechanisms/opportunities are being given to women-owned enterprises along the supply chain? Not only in terms of access to markets, but also in terms of what support mechanisms are being availed to women-owned enterprises by bigger business? We are looking at mentorship programs, managerial and technical exchanges in order to strengthen the women-owned enterprises.

Also looking at the workplace, what opportunities are accorded to women at the workplace? It is not only a question of numbers, but a question of what value women can bring to the organization. The last thing that women would want is for people within the organization to have a perception that women are in certain positions only because they are women. As opposed to just numbers, we welcome career development opportunities for women to advance within the organization. Companies should also look at the supply side, the educational side. What role do companies have to increase (the supply pool) of qualified women who can easily take-up some of the positions that have traditionally been accorded to men or are perceived to be male-dominated?