New Oliver Wyman Report Addresses
How Region is Ripe for Real, Lasting Change and Need for Non Profit and Private
Sector to Drive New Initiatives
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates--(BUSINESS
WIRE/ ME NewsWire)-- Oliver Wyman’s new report on social impact initiatives
in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has revealed that the region’s private
and non-profit sectors remain far from where they need to be in order to be
effective partners to governments in driving sustainability.
Oliver Wyman surveyed more than 60
business leaders in the region to study the role that private and non-profit
sectors across the GCC are playing when it comes to social and environmental
sustainability in the region.
The research looked to explore the
role governments, international organizations and support networks can play in supporting
and driving the growth of this critical new area of focus in the GCC.
The report shows 86 percent of those
surveyed strongly agree that immediate action is required to tackle the
region’s challenges, particularly when it comes to youth unemployment, CO2
emissions and water depletion.
“The findings presented in the
report suggest that the region is ripe for real, lasting change,” said Greg
Rung, an Oliver Wyman Partner in the Middle East and the author of the report.
“Awareness about these issues has
been growing over the past decade, and the current situation has created a
growing sense of urgency and crisis. The journey to effective social and
environmental impact is long and too many organizations have yet to take
meaningful steps in the right direction.”
Not enough being done
Whilst still evolving in the region,
the survey showed that a large majority (68 percent) of organizations feel
sustainability is a top priority for their senior leadership. Less than a third
of survey respondents (30 percent) believe corporations, foundations and NGOs
are currently doing enough to address the issues, and less than half (41
percent) have reassessed the focus and scale of their sustainability programmes
in the past two years.
Less than a third (27 percent) have
increased their dedicated budgets for sustainability, and as a result, only 40
percent feel that current budgets are sufficient.
“The overwhelming consensus regarding the
urgency of the region’s social and environmental
challenges is concerning, but it also signals an opportunity for meaningful
change,” said Mr. Rung.
Crisis and opportunity
To address the issues facing the
GCC, the report outlines how ‘regional pioneers’ will be crucial, and how
private sector leaders need to show that sustainability can contribute to
growth and add a competitive advantage.
Integrating sustainability into an
organization’s DNA is also a multi-year process that requires significant
change management, the report says, adding that sustainability must be directly
linked to the business model for long-term growth and profitability.
Training and empowering staff across
the organization and incentivizing ‘sustainability managers’ also needs to be
part of an organization’s strategy, and measurement should also be a top
priority, leveraging international reporting guidelines and external support
actors.
The report also provides examples of
organizations which are showing the way as regional pioneers.
Building partnerships
Collaboration between governments
and the private and non-profit sectors also needs to improve, according to the
report.
“Despite the launch of important
governmental reform initiatives in the past two years, it has become
increasingly apparent that governments cannot be expected to tackle the
region’s social and environmental challenges alone,” said Mr. Rung.
The report titled ‘The Social Impact
Imperative – The role of private and non- profit sectors in the GCC,’ can be
viewed here.