About the Bench Marks Foundation of Southern Africa
for Corporate Social Responsibility (BeFSA-CSR)
Mission Statement
The Bench Marks Foundation of Southern Africa is committed to providing
leadership and advocacy on issues regarding benchmarking of good corporate
governance, ethical and socially responsible investment as well as linking
people and institutions committed to these ideals.
The Bench Marks Foundation is a section 21 registered company not for gain and is constituted by five Christian organisations: the South African Council of Churches, Ecumenical Service for Socio-Economic Transformation, Christian Development Trust Foundation, Industrial Mission of South Africa and the Justice and Peace Department of the South African Catholic Bishops Conference.
The Bench Marks Foundation is open to all faiths. In time the Bench Marks Foundation intends to become more representative of society, business and labour and other faith based organisations.
Our guiding principles are set out in the Bench Marks document. Our starting point is the recognition that society is made up of diverse interest groups, and that all life is interdependent, and to sustain the earth, we need to see the linkages between production, resources, environment and our eco-system, people and communities.
The focus of the Bench Marks Foundation is two-fold:
- To promote a climate of ethical and sustainable investment choices in the church and religious communities, and
- To monitor corporations and encourage a climate of positive corporate social responsibility.
Why are we interested in Corporate Social Responsibility?
There is a big need for moral and ethical decision making in the world of
big business. The Bench Marks Foundation aims to guide business in ethical
decision making to the benefit of all stakeholders, including employees, customers
and society at large.
Multinationals in South Africa and South African companies doing business in neighbouring countries have a tendency to confuse Corporate Social Responsibility with philanthropy and/or hands-out to communities of their locations. Most companies do this at the expense of sustainable community development, which does not empower the local people.
We believe that if the company is doing business in Southern Africa, it needs to use the Bench Marks Principles to measure itself otherwise it is unlikely to sustain its business or contribute to sustainable communities.
Together with our global partners we believe that investments and business ventures are acceptable if they contribute towards sustainable development that empowers local communities by promoting:
- The quality of life and enhancing the environment
- Productive employment on a broad scale
- Meeting basic fundamental human needs
- Gender sensitivity particularly at leadership level
- Care for those infected with and affected by HIV/Aids
- Pollution free production.
External agencies such as the Bench Marks Foundation of Southern Africa should monitor and measure management and investors to act socially responsible in the interest of society and the environment.
International partners
- Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (USA)
- Kairos Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives Taskforce on Churches and Corporate Responsibility (Canada)
- Ecumenical Council for Corporate Responsibility (UK)
- Christian Centre for Socially Responsible Investment (Australia)
- Friends of the Earth (Colombia)
- Hong Kong Christian Industrial Committee
South African partners
- South African Council of Churches
- Christian Development Trust Foundation
- Industrial Mission of South Africa
- Ecumenical Service for Socio-Economic Transformation
- Southern African Catholic Bishops Conference, Justice & Peace Department
Sponsors of the Bench Marks Foundation
- Christian Aid
- NIZA
- EED - Germany
- AMA/CMC
- Missio Austria
- Diakonia-Sweden
- Bread for ALL
Contact details
Physical Address
62 Khotso House
8th Floor, Suit 803
Marshall Street
Marshalltown
Postal Address
PO Box 62538
Marshalltown 2107
South Africa
Tel/Fax: +27 11 832-1750
Tel: +27 11 832-1743/2
E-mail: admin-benchmarks at mail dot ngo dot za
History of the project
After the Rio World Summit 1 in 1992, when the UN Centre on Transnational
Corporations (UNCTAD) failed to implement an international code of conduct,
a taskforce of religious bodies from the UK, USA, and Canada formed a partnership
to an analytical frame work which could be applied to organizations across
the full range of socially responsible expectations.
The framework is called 'Principles for Global Corporate Responsibility: Bench Marks For Measuring Business Performance', known as Bench Marks.
In April 1999, 53 delegates from 22 countries endorsed the framework and formed an International Secretariat. The Secretariat was initially based in the United Kingdom, but at the Bench Marks 3 meeting of the Steering Committee held in Pretoria, South Africa in October 2002, it was agreed that the Secretariat be based in a south country. South Africa now hosts the International Secretariat.
In 2000 a group of Southern African delegates along with a representative of five Christian organizations formed a steering committee to launch the South Africa initiative. In March 2001, the Bench Marks Foundation was launched under the chairmanship of Bishop Jo Seoka, and inaugurated over by Archbishop Desmond Tutu.