Business Learning

Current Participants

ABN AMRO | BHP Billiton | The Coca-Cola Company | De Beers | Equinor | Ferrero | Fujitsu | H&M | HEINEKEN | Hitachi | Inditex | NEXT | PepsiCo | Procter & Gamble | Sime Darby | Total | Unilever | UPM | Wells Fargo

Senior Advisor, David Kovick, leading a session at our 2018 Business Learning workshop in Boston

 

A unique opportunity for companies that are truly committed to human rights

 

Shift’s Business Learning Program is carefully crafted to support companies that are serious about walking the talk to respect human rights.

Rather than doing the work for them, we help businesses build the internal capacity they need to successfully fulfill their responsibility to respect human rights.

We do so because we believe that true commitment to human rights means being willing to do the heavy lifting to transform processes, structures and mindsets. It requires stepping out of the office, and engaging with those who are affected the most. And it means going beyond cosmetic changes, and off-the-shelf fixes, to put in place coherent, in-depth strategies, and sustainable, collaborative solutions.

That is why we’ve designed a unique approach that focuses on supporting companies as they work to identify their most pressing human rights issues, prioritize those where people may be most at risk, and put in place enduring solutions to prevent and mitigate harm, as well as to provide meaningful remedy where needed.

 

 Anna Triponel leading a table discussion at one of our BLP workshops

 

We are purposely selective about who we work with

 

We like to think of our Business Learning Program as a two-way street. On the one hand, we support companies as they build the capacity and systems that they need. On the other, each engagement that we have is an opportunity to expand our own knowledge and understanding of how the UNGPs are put into action.

That is why, as a mission-driven, nonprofit organization, we take pride in choosing to work with those companies that we can learn most from and with which we can have the greatest impact. So, we are not looking for companies with a ‘clean slate’. Some come to us as leaders in the field, seeking to do better in a specific area of their human rights work; others are a few steps behind, and some have only recently acknowledged that they need help.

Regardless of what stage they are at, we base our decision to admit companies into our Business Learning Program on four criteria: 

    
Learn more about our board-approved criteria

 

If they make the commitment, companies are in for a frank, nuts-and-bolts, roll-up-your-sleeves journey

 

Companies that become participants of the Business Learning Program, enjoy:

• Tailored strategic advice, coaching and capacity-building support on agreed priorities for implementing the UN Guiding Principles.
  
  
• Participation in a unique, cross-industry network, where companies can safely engage in discussions and shared learning on the challenges they face when implementing the corporate responsibility to respect.
  
  
• Access to a series of peer-learning opportunities, including our two flagship business learning workshops every year: one in the Spring, co-hosted with the Corporate Responsibility Initiative at the Harvard Kennedy School, and one in the Fall, in London, UK.
  
  

Is your company up for the challenge?

 

If you believe your company meets all four criteria, and it is ready to take the next step to embed respect for human rights in how business gets done, we’d love to hear from you.

 Participants discuss effective stakeholder engagement at the 2018 Business Learning workshop