Peer review on corporate social responsibility in the South of France

On 27 and 28 June 2019, the Policy Learning Platform organised a peer review on the topic of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. The region hosted the two day event in which the involvement of companies in CSR was one of the main questions. Take a look at the summary report. 

Peers from across Europe

Alongside Venelina Varbova and Ruslan Zhechkov, experts in Environment and resource efficiency, brilliant peers were invited and participated to the peer review:

• Iida Holck, coordinator SYMBI Interreg Europe project, Lathi University of Applied Sciences, Hame Region (Finland)
• Mette Hoj, manager CESME Interreg Europe project, Northern Denmark Region (Denmark)
• Carolina Giraldo Nohra, RETRACE project, Politecnico di Torino (Italy)
• Sofia-Natalia Boemi, external associate BIOREGIO porject, Region Development Fund of Central Macedonia (Greece)

Besides discussions on the scaling of involvement of companies in CSR without a significant increase of budget, the peers and experts were consulted on the following questions: 

• Benchmarking of Sud Region policy tools against tools used in other European regions;
• Communication tools and strategies;
• Approaches to evaluating CSR policy impact;
• Integrating CSR in the ESIF funding. 

Actions to be taken 

The summary report outlines clear actions that can be taken, why they should be taken and who should be ones taking the action. You will find actions on the following topics:

• How to improve CSR governance
• Use to use ESIF funds for CSR and circular economy
• Which support tools are out there for CSR
• Creating a communication strategy
• Setting up CSR impact evaluation
• How to use CSR-related labels and brands

Why the peer review is such a useful tool 

The PACA region mentioned: 'The engagement of several European peers has provided valuable inputs that can effectively feed our reflections on the evolution of regional CSR policy. The exchanges on the practices of other European territories were on the one hand a source of inspiration and on the other hand allowed us to take a real time to take a step back and think about our own system and mechanisms.' Find all the information on the policy, recommendations and outcome in the summary report. 

Are you interested in a peer review? 

Are you interested in a peer review to take a closer look at a specific policy of your region? Our call is now open permanently. Find more information, the terms of reference and other success stories here. 

Image credit: Photo by Pixabay from Pexels