UNCTAD-ISAR Workshop
Regional partnerships as a blueprint for maximising impact
on strengthening national sustainability reporting practice and infrastructure
Monday, 31 October 2022
15:00-18:00 (CET)
The objective of the workshop is to share the experience of the African and Latin American Partnerships for the promotion of sustainability reporting with a view to identify best practices and lessons learned in building Partnerships and maximizing the benefits of its members.
The 11th Tranche Development Account Project implemented by UNCTAD from 2018 to 2022 aimed at enabling policy frameworks for enterprise sustainability and SDG reporting in Africa and Latin America as well as at strengthening the capacities of Governments to measure and monitor the private sector contribution to the SDGs. In particular, the Project also envisaged regional collaboration and experience sharing of lessons learned and best practices from beneficiary countries through the organization of regional workshops and the establishment of two regional partnerships, in Latin America and Africa. The partnerships have been developed to guarantee long-lasting support to African and Latin American countries beyond the project’s completion, to provide a communication channel among peers for sharing experience and good practices and to enable countries to learn from each other. The partnerships also intend to support members in their efforts to develop national strategies and policies for establishing or strengthening national infrastructure for high-quality sustainability reporting and enabling the measurement of the private sector contribution to the SDGs.
The Partnerships brought together main stakeholders in the field of sustainability reporting in the region, including government entities, regulators, national financial reporting standard setters, professional accounting and auditing organizations, stock exchanges and academia. They provided countries a means to share tools, experience, and best practices, as well as to discuss the latest trends and knowledge on sustainability reporting, facilitating consistency and harmonization throughout the regions.
Since their launch, the partnerships have continued to grow and gathered 50 members and 6 observers from 25 countries in Africa and 28 members and 3 observers from 14 countries in Latin America. In the case of the Latin American Partnership, Mexico is the first Chair represented by the Mexican Council for Financial Reporting Standards (CINIF) with the support of the National Banking and Securities Commission of Mexico (CNBV), and the Mexican Institute of Public Accountants (IMCP). The African Partnership is chaired by the Ministry of Finance of Cameroon, while the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC) of South Africa as well as the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Kenya (ICPAK) were elected as Vice-Chairs.
To foster the dialogue among countries, the partnerships hold 3 annual meetings. These meetings are organized in the format of capacity building activities and virtual panel discussions. The regional groups, with the support of UNCTAD, implemented electronic platforms to serve as a complementary space for the exchange of useful resources and materials related to sustainability reporting, with a forum that fosters dialogue and best practice sharing among Partnerships members.
The experience of the Latin American and African partnerships is a result of cooperation among multi-level stakeholders that can be scaled up and replicated in other regions to advance sustainability reporting practices. In this regard, the workshop will promote the exchange of partnership experience on how to establish efficient cooperation platforms to maximize the impact of the member states’ collective effort towards strengthening sustainability reporting practices and infrastructure at the national level.
Tentative Agenda
Opening remarks and introduction to the discussions
Richard Bolwijn, OIC, Enterprise Branch, DIAE, UNCTAD
Elsa Beatriz García Bojorges, Chair ISAR 38 and Chair of the Latin American Regional Partnership 2022, Mexico
Panel Discussion
Moderator: Richard Bolwijn, OIC, Enterprise Branch, DIAE, UNCTAD
Lessons learned from existing Partnerships in Africa and Latin America:
- What are the key steps to create a partnership?
- What should the cooperation framework of the Partnership contain?
- What is the best way to promote and increase the partnership membership?
- What are the lessons learned in building the Partnership programme of work?
- What would you recommend in order to promote exchange of good practices and lessons learned in the Partnership?
Jutheau Toussé, Chair, African Regional Partnership, Cameroon
Juan Pablo Morataya, Executive Director, CentraRSE/ Chair, Latin American Regional Partnership 2023, Guatemala
Discussants:
Maria-Ria Nonayana-Mokabane, Vice-Chair, African Regional Partnership, South Africa
Jelena Misita, Chair of the IFAC PAO Development & Advisory Group
Hernan Casinelli, FACPCE, Argentina
Iheanyi O. Anyahara, Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria
Flavia Fernandez, Professional Body of Accountants, Administrators and Economists of Uruguay
Donald Mangenje, Public Accountants and Auditors Board, Zimbabwe (PAAB)
Marcelo Echagüe Pastore, Director of institutional relations at the securities commission of Paraguay
Cliff Nyandoro, Vice-Chair, African Regional Partnership, Kenya
Looking ahead maximizing benefits from Partnerships:
- What would you recommend to further strengthening the existing Partnerships?
- What is the best way to maximize efficient collaboration in the context of the Partnerships?
- What would you recommend in order to promote the creation of Partnerships in new regions?
- How can the Partnerships better support members in strengthening human capacity in sustainability reporting?
- One of the objectives of the Partnerships is to support members in implementing ISSB standards, what is recommended for this process to be as efficient as possible?
Mardi McBrien, Director of Strategic Affairs , IFRS Foundation
Olga Bernatskaia, Vice President, Eurasian Institute of Certified Public Accountants (EICPA-ICPA)
Lebogang Senne, Technical Director of the Pan African Federation of Accountants
Discussants:
Thomas Thomas, Chief Executive Officer, ASEAN CSR Network
Jorge Gil, Chair of the Group of Latin American Standard Setters
Concluding remarks and the way forward
Richard Bolwijn, OIC, Enterprise Branch, DIAE, UNCTAD
Sanjeev Singhal, Chairman, Sustainability Reporting Standards Board, India