Corporate Social Responsibility

In the course of FY05, the Bank intensified its work on the Corporate Social Responsibility.  In 2005, the Development Communication Division, in collaboration with ECA Central Europe and the Baltic States Country Unit, and financial assistance from the European Commission, initiated the project “Enabling a Better Environment for CSR in Central and East European Countries”.  The objective of the project is to establish and support new dialogue within CEE countries on the value and means of promoting CSR practices. As part of the project, the Bank commissioned country-specific surveys and organized a series of brainstorming meetings and seminars in Bratislava, Vilnius, Tallinn, Budapest and Warsaw (attended by over 800 participants, including representatives of the government, CSOs and private sector). These consultations led to preparatory work on a number of comprehensive CSR strategies in the region, to be further developed in 2006.