At its up-coming regional meeting
in Nay Pyi Daw, the World Economic Forum will consider how to inspire
inclusive transformation in Myanmar. The first session on this topic
will ask the question “how can businesses balance shareholder and
stakeholder interests to partner in Myanmar’s growth agenda?”
Shareholders and stakeholders may not always have the same views or
priorities regarding the appropriate role of business in Myanmar.
Companies will need to take account of these varying interests so that,
together, they contribute to Myanmar’s growth. To do this, companies
will first need to take the time to understand the stakeholder’s
viewpoint.
Shift – a non-profit
created to promote the implementation of the UN Guiding Principles on
Business and Human Rights (and of which both John Ruggie and I are Board
members) – have just contributed to this area. Its new publication, “Conducting Meaningful Stakeholder Consultation in Myanmar”,
provides an overview of the views and expectations of civil society
stakeholders in Myanmar with regard to the role of business.
Shift’s on-the-ground research highlights that Burmese stakeholders
have a very clear vision of the important role companies can play in
Myanmar. They would like business to provide labor opportunities and
build their skills as workers, which in time will enable them to compete
with their neighbors in surrounding ASEAN countries. They hope that
this increased access to jobs will in turn enable them to move out of
poverty and into the middle class. Some stakeholders see the role of
business extending to assist Myanmar on its path of inclusive
transformation. They note that since companies will now have a stake in
Myanmar’s economy, they should also play a role in strengthening the
ongoing democratic process.
At a minimum, stakeholders interviewed by Shift viewed companies as
playing a crucial role in respecting and promoting international
standards of responsible business conduct, which were deemed to go above
and beyond current legal requirements. This included, for instance,
taking care not to spur additional land grabbing, perpetuate low labor
standards and contribute to environmental degradation. This also
included taking the time to understand the complexities of the situation
on the ground, in particular in the ethnic states where most of
Myanmar’s natural resources are located, and tailor business operations
accordingly. Particularly when operating in challenging contexts such
as these, stakeholder consultation can provide critical input into a
company’s broader risk management processes, enabling the company to
identify – and prevent or mitigate – human rights risks to affected
individuals and communities that it would be unlikely to pick up on its
own.
Burmese stakeholders also had strong views of how they expected
companies to engage, which included proceeding with genuine, meaningful
consultation at the grassroots level. Their recommendations included
(i) educating all potentially affected communities about the company’s
planned operations – before the business project is agreed upon – in a
public education phase, (ii) engaging with communities in an early
public dialogue to describe the proposed business activities and gather
feedback, and (iii) integrating the feedback received into the terms of
the business activities. As the Guiding Principles make clear,
meaningful consultation with affected stakeholders as part of human
rights due diligence is particularly important during the process of
assessing actual and potential impacts and in tracking the company’s
performance.
These recommendations are described in full in Shift’s report Conducting Meaningful Stakeholder Consultation in Myanmar.
This report will also be discussed at the World Economic Forum workshop
on business and human rights as part of the Investors’ Summit in Nay
Pyi Daw on June 5, 2013. By integrating affected stakeholder views into
their decision-making and actions, companies will be better able to
effectively manage their human rights impacts, which can in turn assist
the Government of Myanmar in pursuing a growth agenda founded on respect
for human rights.
source: WEF
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