Corporate Social Responsibility

Corporate Social Responsibility at the QFC Authority

The QFC Authority's policy on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) reflects our approach as a company to achieve our business goals while ensuring that we adhere to good CSR behavior and practice.

As we continue to grow and develop our ethical, social and environmental responsibilities to the broadest extent possible, we need to demonstrate and practice this. For the purposes of this policy, CSR is defined as the integration of social and environmental concerns into the business of the QFC Authority and its interaction with its internal and external stakeholders, licenced firms and suppliers.

Our main tenet of CSR is responsibility, defined as “the impact of corporate behavior on society that is managed to deliver the best combination of environmental, social and economic benefits”. By embracing this vision we can actively improve our environment and continuously look for opportunities to improve and contribute to the well-being of the community in which we operate.

Addressing our wider impacts while reflecting our vision will require a corporate and systematic approach which demonstrates continuous improvement and delivers wider benefits to our core business, stakeholders and environment. Measurement is a critical area of our work.

Principles

The QFCA is committed to establishing a CSR system which is guided by the following principles:

Shared responsibility – CSR involves everyone in our organisation, as well as other stakeholders, i.e. our licenced firms and our suppliers which means sharing the responsibilities of ownership as well as its benefits.

Openness and accountability – we will regularly will communicate our CSR policies, objectives and performance reviews openly and honestly to our staff, partners and other stakeholders. We will also seek their views and encourage them to communicate with us.

Continuous improvement – In line with our approach, we are committed to measuring and improving our CSR performance. We will develop and implement specific environmental and social policies and procedures, monitor our performance, setting targets for improvement and reporting our progress.

Demonstrate compliance – As a minimum we will meet or exceed all relevant legislation. Where no legislation exists we will seek to develop and implement our own appropriate standards based on international best practice. These will be published and we will hold ourselves accountable for their implementation.

Policies

Policies and their associated programmes will be developed in the following areas of CSR that reflect the nature of our day to day business activities and wider involvement with society:

Environment – To recognise the need to develop our business in an environmentally sustainable way and to include concern for the environment in all our activities. To address impacts arising from our energy, water and resource use, transport needs and waste generation of our services and activities.

Relationships – To deliver our vision through developing strong relationships with our licenced firms, as well as other external organisations and individuals and to conduct them with integrity and courtesy. We will ensure that we honour our commitments. We will work with our contractors and suppliers to implement environmentally sensitive procurement and to develop a partnership approach for the delivery of our strategies and services.

Communities – To build relationships with our service users and the local communities which we serve. We will support local businesses and service providers who share our aims and our values. We will encourage our staff, and those acting on our behalf, to consider the needs of others in their day to day business. We will encourage feedback from the local community on our CSR policies and programmes. We will strive to support the local community’s charitable and humanitarian causes.

Staff – To attain the organisation’s ambitions, highly qualified and motivated staff are essential to the QFC Authority. We seek to offer an inspiring working environment where employees enjoy every opportunity to grow and advance their career. We will promote and maintain equality and have constant regard to the welfare of our people as a whole, including their career structure, empowerment and communication, health and safety. At all levels we will encourage and promote team-work and the sharing of skills and knowledge, whilst recognising outstanding individual contribution and provide the opportunity for employees to develop and advance, subject to personal performance and business objectives.

Organisation

In line with this policy CSR processes will be incorporated into the QFCA’s Service Planning process. This will include provision for monitoring and reviewing the effectiveness of CSR measures and will identify the resources required for implementation and development.

The Director of Corporate Communication and Marketing will have responsibility for CSR management within the QFC Authority, whilst staff at all levels are responsible for ensuring the underlining policy commitments are rigorously applied.

In conjunction with an identified CSR Executive, QFC Authority management will identify and implement an ongoing programme for embedding CSR into the QFC Authorities mainstream activities.

 The CSR Executive will be responsible for the provision of advice and guidance on all CSR matters. Our internal auditor will be responsible for monitoring the compliance and effectiveness of CSR measures as part of their ongoing audit programme.

Corporate Objectives

QFCA's sponsorship and charitable donation programme will:

• Provide an opportunity for the company and its staff to engage actively in the community in which it operates and with the people it serves.
• Bring QFC’s values to the attention of the community;
• Support our brand strategy;
• Help staff to understand more fully what QFC Authority’s values are and to support them in practice.

Corporate Principles and Practice

• QFCA's corporate sponsorship and community investment activities will be aimed mainly at supporting specific centres of excellence which will reflect the QFC Authority’s values and commitment to the local community. These activities will be organised and managed by our Marketing and Corporate Communications team.
• The sponsorship and community investment activities of business units will be designed to enhance their respective roles in the markets in which they operate. These initiatives will be promoted collectively by us so that people can see the scope of the work undertaken throughout the business.

For more information, please contact:

Stephen Carriere:
Marketing and Corporate Communication, QFC Authority
E-mail: S.Carriere@qfc.com.qa 
Tel:  +00 974 44967784

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