Today’s post is about the exciting news that the AA1000SES (2011) Stakeholder Engagement Standard has been published today. Countless experts from across the globe provided feedback and helped to revise the standard over the course of the past 2.5 years!
This is an important development for the CSR / Sustainability field in my view as the standard provides extremely useful guidance on stakeholder engagement and because it is the first standard to be published under a Creative Commons license and not under the umbrella of an organization, for-profit or NGO.
It is the first genuine standard for stakeholders developed by stakeholders.
This is the full press release below and a link to download the full standard here: AA1000SES (2011) or visit the website AA1000SES (2011) website for more information and to leave a comment.
Full press release:.jpg "The AA1000SES (2011) Developed by stakeholders for stakeholders")
The Technical Committee responsible for the development of the new AA1000SES (2011) international Stakeholder Engagement Standard is very pleased to announce its release.
The AA1000SES (2011) has been developed in consultation with and has been welcomed by practitioners, policy and operational researchers, civil society and business leaders and representatives from other standards bodies.
The AA1000 Stakeholder Engagement Standard provides a basis for designing, implementing, evaluating and assuring the quality of stakeholder engagement. It has been designed to be multi-purpose, not just for sustainable development, and can be used by businesses, civil society, public bodies and multi-stakeholder networks and partnerships.
Anne Pattberg (disclosure: yes this is my wife!) from the Technical Committee states: “The Technical Committee would like to thank all stakeholders who have over the last two and a half years contributed to the extensive revision of this standard by attending workshops in more than 20 countries and participating through a variety of other virtual engagement mechanisms.”
The AA1000 SES (2011) provides guidance for continuous improvement, recognizing different levels of practice and can be used as a stand-alone standard or as an integral element of other standards and guidelines (e.g. AA1000AS, GRI, ISO26000, UNGC, OECD, IFC). The AA1000SES (2011) is relevant to micro-level engagements as well as macro-level engagements on major societal concerns and applies to businesses, civil society, public bodies and multi-stakeholder networks and partnerships. It also supports developments in other areas such as quality management, transparency, reporting and governance.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank all the organizations and individuals, including the past Standards Board and secretariat, as well as the Technical Committee and the many supporting stakeholders who have contributed so much to this international body of knowledge.
About AA1000SES
Originally published as an exposure draft in 2005, the AA1000SES is an open-source framework for designing, implementing and communicating the stakeholder engagement process as well as assuring its quality. This new edition takes into account feedback from an extensive piloting program, ongoing research into evolving practice and broad-based international engagement.
Note:
AA1000SES (2011) is made available under the stewardship of the AA1000SES Technical Committee to ensure its availability to all stakeholders and to acknowledge its ownership and creation by a large and diverse community of organizations and individuals. It is for use by all stakeholders. The intellectual property is protected by a Creative Commons copyright.
The future governance of the AA1000SES (2011) will follow the March 2011 agreement between the AA1000SES Technical Committee and the then secretariat. The Technical Committee looks to the AA1000 Interim Standards Board (ISB) and the AA1000 User Group to cooperate to advance a governance for the AA1000 series that can rise to today’s sustainability challenges and provide a focal point for the continued pooling of international expertise.
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Please share this exciting news with your network and feel free to download the standard from the AA1000SES (2011) website.
This is the official AccountAbility response: