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Annual Report 2010 / 2011

… male and female, He created them


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EED’s gender strategy follows a two-pronged approach: integration of gender analysis and measures into all its programs and procedures and targeted funding of projects committed to improving the lives of women. The annual report before you takes a look at this latter aspect of our gender strategy.
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New Release

Encounter beyond routine


Documentation on an International Consultation, 17th-23rd January 2010
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The right to future

Nine examples of community based empowerment processes.
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Network

EED is a member of theLogo ACT Alliance


CSR – Neither Magic Formula nor Charity


(Bonn, 10/03/2010) The quality of CSR in tourism needs to be debated.Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in the form of voluntary CSR activities has been taken up by the mainstream tourism industry. More and more tourism enterprises pro-actively showcase their social commitment. Though this may be a welcome development, there is a need to debate the quality of voluntary measures.

"Whether they are part of the cruise tourism boom or the fate of the porters on Mount Kilimanjaro – the social and environmental problems in tourism can not be addressed cosmetically. Environmental protection and labour rights must not be at the discretion of individual companies“, says Heinz Fuchs, director of Tourism Watch, a special desk of the German Church Development Service (EED). CSR is not a form of charity, it is meant to promote sustainable tourism development. CSR activities are therefore part of a company's core business. They have to be anchored in the company's mission and at the management level, and have to be communicated in a transparent manner. Only in this way will CSR be more than a sales message.

"Companies using CSR as a fig leaf put the credibility of the entire tourism sector at stake. CSR will have a value added for sustainable development in tourism and thanks to tourism only if companies do not lag behind legal minimum standards, but actively push for such standards", says Heinz Fuchs.

A positive example for CSR in the travel and tourism industry is the Code of Conduct for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation in Travel and Tourism. The companies involved in this initiative conduct training programmes for their employees in their home countries and abroad. They raise awareness among their customers and encourage them not to look the other way, as they usually would. These companies' commitment goes beyond legal requirements. "If the code's implementation can also be effectively monitored in the near future, the code will be binding and transparent enough to serve as a credible CSR tool", says Heinz Fuchs.

At the event "Fair Play, also in Tourism!" on Friday, 12th March, 2010, 1 – 2.45 pm, in hall 4.1 we will also present CSR initiatives.

The booklet "Magic Formula CSR: Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) – Between Voluntary Commitments and Binding Regulation" is available at the ITB from the EED Tourism Watch stall (no. 204) in hall 4.1.

Tourism Watch is a special desk of the German Church Development Service (EED), working together with international partners for sustainable and socially responsible tourism . We publish the "TourismWatch" quarterly.

EED Tourism Watch is a founding member of TourCert, the organisation that issues the label "CSR-certified".
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