Enterprises, especially multinational enterprises (MNEs), have recently been engaging in a wide range of voluntary, company-level or multi-stakeholder initiatives that address the social and environmental impact of their operations. These are broadly labelled “corporate social responsibility” (CSR) practices.

For the ILO, such practices can enhance respect for rights at work and provide an important complement to government regulation of the workplace. Accordingly, the ILO has been promoting the principles laid down in the Tripartite Declaration of Principles concerning Multinational Enterprises and Social Policy (“MNE Declaration”) as a means of encouraging the positive contribution that MNEs can make to economic and social progress. An important component of the ILO’s work is building the capacity of governments, social partners and enterprises to advocate and apply such principles.  

The Centre itself offers training opportunities for ILO constituents, company staff, social auditors and other international and national stakeholders. Relevant themes include:

• promoting labour standards through corporate social responsibility
• labour principles in global supply chains
• CSR and public policy

Our courses focus on the labour aspects of CSR. By sharing relevant concepts and good practice, they aim to ensure that the relevant international labour standards and the orientations of the MNE Declaration are properly understood and reflected in CSR practice at enterprise level and in global supply chains.

Some of our training modules look at public engagement with CSR and how public policy can encourage enterprises to promote decent work, including through viable public-private partnerships.

We are also involved in the promotion of responsible and sustainable business practices through business education, in the framework of the ILO-Business Schools Initiative, which brings together leading educational institutions and academics working in the fields of sustainability and corporate responsibility.

We take an interdisciplinary approach to training in this area, pooling expertise from different units of the ILO and other relevant bodies.