Social Risks provides consultancy services to companies, governments, intergovernmental organizations and nongovernmental organizations. Our portfolio encompasses a range of social value-adding products and services. Our proactive approach, based upon a technologically-integrated repository of experiences across sectors and countries, allows us to tailor tested solutions and to devise unique approaches to problems. Any program designed to manage social risk must begin with an assessment of client exposure, impact and opportunity.
We assist clients in developing processes for assessing, reporting, addressing and monitoring risks. Our social impact intelligence shapes the effective management strategies that we put in place and results in productive stakeholder outcomes.
Our firm offers
Risk Management, Strategy Development, and CSR services. Our key offering is our versatility. We take cue from our clients’ needs and evolve our package with this growing industry. Each client’s needs dictate a different package ranging from impact assessments to predictive analysis, seminars, consultation, and other tailored services.
Risk Management While the world is becoming increasingly globalized, it is not becoming homogenized. We assist companies that work across borders and cultures to understand the social, environmental and political risks that face them and to make the most of the opportunities for sustainable business practices. We apply real world country and sector expertise to develop tailored advice and assistance to clients to mitigate and manage risk. For each project we undertake, we apply a combination of the most advanced technological tools for analyzing the risk environment with on-the-ground expertise and personal interaction.
Comprehensive Risk and Impact Assessments and Reviews: Any program to manage exposure to social risk must begin with a detailed assessment of each client’s impact and areas of exposure. These findings are provided to the client, along with recommendations for strategies to improve their effects and minimize their risk. In this way, we complement more traditional risk management strategies by taking the lead in providing comprehensive risk management, impact analysis and strategic advice. Thus, we can accommodate existing service providers into a holistic risk strategy, providing oversight and a broader and more proactive approach to managing social risk.
Social Impact Assessments and Reviews: Companies often make extensive efforts to ensure compliance with human rights, labor, and governance standards but lack the expertise to fully engage the issues. Typically, companies sign up to a code of conduct without sufficient follow-through to ensure compliance throughout the organization. We offer assessment assistance and thorough reviews for companies seeking an independent audit or a review of their impact. This type of audit requires political and economic country reporting and individualized intelligence. Given the environment of mounting stakeholder pressure, shareholders and management alike find social risk management an essential tool and core element of a business strategy. While the market need is widely acknowledged, the supply side has lagged as the market segment has not been fully identified, and tailored products have not been developed.
Human Rights Impact Assessment (HRIA): Businesses are increasingly recognizing that they have the responsibility for protecting the rights of individuals. It is becoming apparent that respecting human rights is good business. However, in recent years, some companies have been alleged to have committed human rights and other violations. Because the abuse of human rights continues to occur, through the actions of governments and other actors, businesses find themselves in complex environments with multiple actors. Guidance from experienced advisors to navigate such issues is increasingly indispensable.
To this end, Social Risks offers a comprehensive human rights impact assessment service to its clients. Each assessment builds on our comprehensive approach to risk, and provides a methodology for identifying, evaluating and managing the human rights consequences of a specific business operation or project. The service provides companies with a risk analysis and management program that is tailored to their specific industry and particular circumstances. Our advice is based on the simple principle that prevention is always better than the cure – and that investing in safeguarding human rights is not only ethically the right choice, but also essential for lastingly successful business. You can download our brochure
here.
Environmental Impact Assessment: Climate change, one of the most significant emerging risks facing the world today, presents huge challenges to the environment and to the world economy. It is also one of the most difficult risks to mitigate. Business risks from climate change include; volatile weather, legal and public pressure, conflict, resource degradation, etc. We work with our clients to map out how climate change will affect their operations. Using various predictive processes, partnering with academic and scientific research institutions, and the use of publicly available field data, we will analyze how best to mitigate such risks. We also provide guidance for clients seeking to reduce their “carbon footprint.”
Strategy Development We provide comprehensive strategy advice on practical profit-driven sustainable development. We assist companies with defining a strategic vision, implementation plan and assess progress and follow-through. We provide support in developing performance indicators and metrics for measuring success. We deliver customized reporting and research to meet individualized needs. Our advice draws on judgment acquired through extensive experience in diverse sectors and countries internationally. Customized packages include impact assessments, stakeholder engagement, predictive analysis, seminars, consultations, business plan preparation, advice on growing boards of directors and also attracting finance.
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Services We work directly with companies to provide clients with information, advice and services related to sustainability reporting (i.e. Global Reporting Initiative) and CSR programs.
Code of Conduct Services: Companies increasingly put in place codes of conduct to mitigate social risks and to manage relations with stakeholders. To maximize the operational and reputational effects of the codes, companies increasingly seek to draft them to comply with industry standard corporate social responsibility guidelines.
The marketplace for such guidelines is diverse and complicated. It is not always self-evident to which guideline a particular company should peg its own corporate code of conduct. General codes like the United Nations Global Compact and the International Finance Corporation’s Human Rights Impact Assessment are the emerging standards. However, a multitude of sector-specific codes also exist, including: the Equator Principles governing private investment bank global project finance; the principles set forth by the Global Network Initiative on free expression and privacy challenges; the World Bank and International Finance Corporation Safeguard policies governing their respective co-financed projects; to the similar set of policies governing projects co-financed by the Asian, African and Inter-American Development Banks; the social and environmental standards set by national export credit agencies and insurers such as the US Export-Import Bank, France’s COFACE and the US Overseas Private Investment Corporation; the Kimberly Process diamond certification scheme; and the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights for the extractives industry.
We also offer a unique
Integrated Code Compliance Service. Here, we provide simultaneous multiple code compliance solutions. Our cost-effective service allows firms to satisfy several standards at once, enabling firms to capitalize on the operational benefits of the diverse marketplace for guidelines and certification and also maximize reputational benefits.
Social Risk Assurance:Based on AccountAbility's AA 1000 Assurance Standard, multi-national corporations are increasingly finding that producing yearly assurance statements for corporate sustainability reports conducted are useful to assist firms to go beyond best practices and attract social value investment and government support. We have extensive experience in producing Assurance Statements for major global clients who work in difficult environments. In addition to producing such Assurance Statement with great care, we prepare detailed internal reports of the materiality, completeness, and responsiveness of the client's sustainability reporting process, as well as a stakeholder review of the client's sustainability report after publication.
