Registration opens for first ever high-level WJCEF Executive CSR Course

Registration has opened for what promises to be the most comprehensive programme in Corporate Social Responsibility ever offered in the jewellery industry.

The course will take place in Antwerp, Belgium, from June 19 to June 22, and is being hosted by HRD Antwerp. CIBJO has set up a scholarship fund that will cover a large portion of the tuition fee for each participant.

The Executive CSR Course is designed to elevate the role played by companies involved in the international jewellery and gemstone sector so that, through their own business practices, they become actively involved in the fulfilment of the United Nation's Millennium Development Goals, which form a blueprint agreed to by the international community to tackle the world's most pressing development challenges.

Participants will study the principal models and strategies for Corporate Social Investment, their application in an industry dominated by smaller and medium-sized enterprises, the impact of CSR on supply chains and a variety of practical case studies. The third day of the course will comprise a special overview of Corporate Social Responsibility presented by experts from the CSR Certificate programme at the University of St. Michaels's College in the University of Toronto. U. of T. graduates have described this programme as "transformational."

Among the instructors presenting the course in Antwerp will be Dr. François Loriot, president of AIFOMD (International association of MDG/CSR trainers) and formerly the United Nations Chief Legal Advisor; Dr. Mimi Marroco, professor and Director CSR Certificate program at University of St. Michael's College in the University of Toronto; Dr. Michael Hopkins, a professor at Middlesex University Business School in London and the University of Geneva in Switzerland; and Ron Knowles, a professor at the University of Toronto's CSR training program and the principal at Western Management Consultant in Canada.

Members of the industry who are interested in participating in WJCEF's first Executive CSR Course in Antwerp, June 19-22, 2010, should contact the CIBJO Secretariat at cibjo@cibjo.org.