27th December, Dubai: The Arabia CSR Network - with its vast experience of working with organizations to improve their CSR systems - has been certified by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) headquarters in Netherlands to provide trainings to organizations that wish to use the GRI framework for their sustainability reporting requirements.

With this certification, the Arabia CSR Network is currently the only, certified body that will be able to offer its training services to organizations and individuals in all Arabic speaking Middle East countries. The Arabia CSR Network is very well placed to provide these trainings to build the capacity of organizations and businesses in the region, mainly because the ACSR Network is a regionally rooted organization that has access to in depth CSR information of hundreds of companies in the region. This valuable source of information has also helped the Network build a strong research base for CSR in the Arab world. Moreover, one of the ACSR Network's most important products - the Arabia CSR Awards - is supported by the UN Global Compact.

The Arabia CSR Network conducted its 2nd training session at the Tamani Hotel in Dubai from the 25th to 27th of December with 12 participants from across the GCC. The previous training was conducted in September.

There are many organizations that can benefit from GRI training, such as those related to the Environmental Health and Safety sector, Oil and Gas, Chemicals and Petrochemicals, Environmental Compliance, Transportation, Accounting, Human Resources, Supply Chain, Banking, Hospitality; Service sector organizations; relevant Government departments; Non-Government organizations; and many more. However, the GRI is not limited to generating a report, it focuses on facilitating the process in which companies are actively measuring and managing their sustainability practices so that they are strongly ingrained in each activity and department of the organization.

Lena Elsheikh Omer Mahgoub, Communications and Corporate Responsibility Manager, Sayga Investment Company Ltd, Sudan said, "I found the training very rewarding -the content and presentation was very rich. Moreover the vast experiences and knowledge that each of the participants brought to the table was very valuable and beneficial.

Mr. Hashim Hassan Hashim, Manager, Corporate Engineering & HSE Dept from Petrochemical Industries Co., Kuwait was of the opinion that "by far, this training is the best way to bridge companies to corporate sustainability based on GRI."

Over the years, GRI has emerged as the leading reporting framework designed specifically for companies that wish to report on the sustainability strategies and initiatives. Complementing the traditional business practice of developing financial reports, GRI addresses non-financial aspects of economic, environmental, and social performance of organizations. By providing training on how to utilize GRI reporting guidelines - which serve as the worlds most widely used sustainability reporting framework - the Arabia CSR Network will play a very valuable role in raising the quality and efficacy of CSR, sustainability, transparency and business ethics in the Arab world.

In addition to creating a transparent and effective sustainability report according to GRI standards, there are many more benefits to a company that uses the GRI framework; for e.g. the GRI reporting mechanism helps organizations establish measurable sustainability goals consistent with international best practices. Moreover, it assists an organization to collect meaningful data that can assist future goal-setting.

Over the coming years, it will become imperative for all companies to measure and disclose their contributions/impact to sustainable development. As a result, GRI will become an essential component of any integrated strategy to sustainable business. For more information on GRI certified training sessions in the Middle East, please call the Arabia CSR Network at +971-4-3448622, e-mail us at admin@arabiacsrnetwork.com, or visit the website on www.arabiacsrnetwork.com/GRI

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About the Arabia CSR Network
The Arabia CSR Network grew out of the EEG CSR Network, which has been actively advancing CSR in the UAE and Gulf region since 2004. The Arabia CSR Network was officially launched in October 2009 as an independent network, and offers its members a multi-stakeholder platform to network, learn and share their experiences and knowledge in matters of Corporate Social Responsibility with each other. For more information, please visit www.arabiacsrnetwork.com

About the Global Reporting Initiative
The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is a large network of thousands of individual representatives from businesses, NGOs, experts, governmental agencies, etc in more than 40 countries. Its mission is to develop and disseminate reporting guidelines to assist organizations and their stakeholders in articulating and understanding contributions of the reporting organizations to sustainable development. Business, social and environmental advocates, labour, the financial community, the UN, and other stakeholders worldwide collaboratively developed the Guidelines. For more information, please visit http://www.globalreporting.org

© Press Release 2011