Maria Sillanpaa, a corporate responsibility and sustainability expert, will conduct a training course in Dubai to help firms struggling to define corporate responsibility and sustainability programmes that add real value to their business.

Sillanpaa is the founding director of Sustainability Advisory Group, a leading international alliance of sustainability strategists and specialists.

The course will be held from February 26 to 28 in partnership with IIR Middle East.

Sillanpaa will address “The Why, The What and The How” of  “Creating Value Through Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability Management” during the session.

“The course is aimed at bringing clarity and focusing on how best to build a corporate programme that adds value to the bottom line as well as enjoys wide stakeholder acceptance," explained Sillanpaa.

"The first day will look at the concept, drivers and strategy; second day will be devoted to practical guidelines to designing and implementing value-adding corporate programs; effective reporting and communicating based on international best practice, coupled with lessons in building effective engagement with stakeholders will be the content on the third day,” the expert added.

According to her, the hands-on and highly interactive course will approach the topic both from strategic and practical perspectives.

“Our CR survey of 2010 showed that almost 90 per cent of senior corporate executives in the region think that CR and sustainability are key in building and maintaining a strong corporate reputation, and 86 percent believe that that they are vital in fostering business innovation," Sillanpaa stated.

"However, at the practical level, we find that there is a knowledge and skills gap that prevents regional businesses from converting their readiness and aspirations on CSR and sustainability into solid value-adding strategies and programmes,” she added.

Sillanpaa, who has previously held pivotal roles at The Body Shop International, KPMG and AccountAbility, has made significant contributions to a number of international sustainability initiatives, including AA1000 Series of Standards and Global Reporting Initiative.

Her publications include The Stakeholder Corporation – A Blueprint for Maximizing Stakeholder Value.-TradeArabia News Service