(New York, 20 October
2013) – Oxfam International and the United Nations
Global Compact today announced a collaboration to urge Global Compact companies
to work in conjunction with civil society organizations to undertake a poverty
footprint assessment. Oxfam and the UN Global Compact will jointly promote the
assessment tool to help companies evaluate their impact on poverty through
their operations and policies. The poverty footprint methodology was developed
and tested by Oxfam International over the past decade.
“Marking
International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, Oxfam is excited to enter
into this partnership today with the UN Global Compact and other
collaborators,” said Raymond C. Offenheiser, president of Oxfam America.
“Oxfam has spent more than a decade developing the poverty footprint tool, and
we see the Global Compact as an ideal partner to help get this tool into the
hands of companies who are committed to improving their social impacts.”
With poverty eradication playing a central
role in the UN’s post-2015 development agenda and the recent UN Global Compact Leaders Summit,
the partners will use the methodology to increase transparency on corporate
social impacts and encourage follow-up projects that improve circumstances and
opportunities for people living in poverty. The project will be led by the UN Global
Compact and overseen by a steering group, including Oxfam. The methodology has already been employed in
three collaborations involving Unilever, The Coca-Cola Company/SABMiller, and
IPL, the largest importer of produce in the United Kingdom.
The poverty footprint methodology is used
in partnership between a corporation and civil society
organization to examine a company’s impact on poverty. Five key factors
are considered essential to help individuals and communities overcome
poverty: livelihoods; health and
well-being; diversity and gender equality; empowerment; and security and
stability. The methodology includes a
step by step process, as well as dozens of indicators, with a strong focus on
stakeholder engagement and transparency.
“We are delighted to work with Oxfam and
others to enhance access to the poverty footprint tool for a much broader
audience around the world,” said Georg Kell, UN Global Compact Executive
Director. “This innovative tool fosters both greater corporate accountability
and positive impact, and in doing so holds great promise for scaling up the
business contribution to the post-2015 development agenda.“
Recommendations that have surfaced in
poverty footprint studies include:
business training for women along the value chain; increasing access to
credit for individuals and small business owners; integrating living wages into
purchasing contracts; and increasing buying power for small producers.
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Oxfam is an international
confederation of 17 organizations networked together in more than 90 countries,
as part of a global movement for change, to build a future free from the
injustice of poverty. We work directly with communities and we seek to
influence the powerful to ensure that poor people can improve their lives and
livelihoods and have a say in decisions that affect them. For more information on Oxfam International,
go to: www.oxfam.org. For information on the
poverty footprint methodology, go to: http://www.oxfam.org/en/
Launched
in 2000, the United Nations Global Compact is both a policy platform and a
practical framework for companies that are committed to sustainability and
responsible business practices. As a multi-stakeholder leadership initiative,
it seeks to align business operations and strategies with ten universally
accepted principles in the areas of human rights, labour, environment and
anti-corruption, and to catalyze actions in support of broader UN goals. With
8,000 corporate signatories in 145 countries, it is the world’s largest
voluntary corporate sustainability initiative. www.unglobalcompact.org