COALITION OF SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE SMEs in ASIA (CSR SME Asia)

Councils of Stakeholders for a Bayanihan Compassionate Economy
First Assembly on Bayanihan Compassionate Economy
University of the Philippines
Diliman, Quezon City, May 14, 2005

CHARTER OF PRINCIPLES

1. The CSR SME Asia Councils of Stakeholders for a Bayanihan Compassionate Economy (BCE), heretofore referred to as Councils of Stakeholders, is a framework for interlinking organisations, enterprises and individuals upholding the vision of an alternative, compassionate economy and promoting association-building practices for the Bayanihan exchange of goods, services, information, knowledge, affection and mutual support among their members.

2. The Councils of Stakeholders comprise of: the Council of BCE Producers, the Council of BCE Consumers, the Council of BCE Service Providers, the Council of BCE Investors, and the Council of BCE Youth. Each Stakeholder Council is an autonomous, solidarity-promoting agent comprising of various actors that are working to construct an economy based on the values of God-centered cooperation and reciprocity, participative and collaborative process towards sustainable development, justice and fairness, and pro-poor development.

3. The Councils of Stakeholders seek to promote the ethical standards and codes of conduct of Bayanihan Compassionate Economy as a new way of organising human economy and society, from the local to the global level. All forms of organization of Bayanihan Compassionate Economy should preserve their autonomy from party politics.

4. The Councils of Stakeholders underline the central role that women and men have to play in the Bayanihan Compassionate Economy, enjoying the same rights of participation, decision-making and implementation. They represent the diversity that constitutes humankind, yet bound together in solidarity for the abolition of all forms of oppression, domination, prejudice and exclusion, especially those that have subjugated women throughout history.

5. The Councils of Stakeholders conceive human work, knowledge, ethical sensitivity and creativity as the central values of God-centered stewardship and seeks to foster practical means of living and working that incorporate human time and energy towards fulfilling all God-given human potentials freely and ethically.

6. The Councils of Stakeholders act to promote social, political, cultural and environmental rights, particularly the economic rights of working people. The economic activities of the Councils are directed towards enabling all to collaborate in the creation, production, distribution, and consumption of goods and resources, knowledge, technology and to share the benefits generated by these actions.

7. The Councils of Stakeholders understand economic and technological development not as an end, but merely as a means at the service of human, social, ethical and environmentally sustainable development.

8. The Council of Stakeholders understand Society, particularly the dimension of work, production and consumption in solidarity, as the leading agent of its own development. In a society where development is self-managed by the people, the State and multilateral governance organizations should play the role of subsidiary actors supporting the people’s initiatives rather than undermining them. It is the mandate of the State, serving Society, to assure that democratically formulated development projects are carried out harmoniously, and to implement public policies that guarantee access for all to productive and reproductive goods and resources and the just distribution of income and wealth.

9. The Councils of Stakeholders assert that working women and men and all members of society are also consumers. The way we consume defines the type of society we have. The first step towards constructing a Bayanihan Compassionate Economy is for us to consume ethically, responsibly and in solidarity. Once the needs and wishes of individuals and communities are defined, that provides the basis for planning what is to be produced, with what technology, in what quantity and with what quality, while maintaining ecosystems in balance and promoting ethically exercised public, personal and social freedoms.

10. The Councils of Stakeholders seek to interlink, among diverse modes of organisation, at least seven fields of economic activity:
i. Ethical consumption in solidarity;
ii. Self-managed, eco-sustainable production in solidarity;
iii. Ethical fair trade in solidarity;
iv. Bayanihan finance and mutual guarantee systems;
v. Sharing of knowledge and technology;
vi. Cooperative education and culture; and
vii. Communication in plural dialogue.

12. The criteria for participation in the Councils of Stakeholders include at least:
i. The commitment to a God-centered compassionate economy and social responsibility that promotes and runs on ethical business standards and codes of conduct;
ii. The adherence to social justice and fairness, with no discrimination as to gender, ethnicity, religion, generation and sexual orientation;
iii. The commitment to adopting participative/collaborative, multistakeholder economic processes as well as practices conducive to maintaining ecosystems in balance, reducing waste and promoting ecologically sustainable consumption, reuse and recycling;
iv. The absence of practices in which human work is exploited; and
v. The practice and promotion of education in the values of God-centered compassionate economy, social responsibility, self-management and solidarity.