Under the patronage of His Royal Highness Prince Mish’al Bin Majid Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Governor of Jeddah, the second edition of the Saudi Corporate Social Responsibility Forum, organized by the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Al-Iktissad Wal-Aamal Group, took place on the 8th & 9th of Rajab 1433h, 29th & 30th of May 2012 at the Park Hyatt Hotel, Jeddah.

As most Saudi companies have moved towards adopting social responsibility initiatives in recent years and in light of the noteworthy results in this respect, increasing attention will be given in the future to strengthening the social responsibility culture among companies and relating this culture to their strategies and vision. Companies tend nowadays to balance between requirements of stakeholders on one hand, and their social and developmental commitments on another, in addition to establishing more efficient approaches targeting cooperation between the public and private sectors, particularly on the level of determining and organizing social priorities and solidifying the social responsibility experience and ensuring its sustainability.

This year’s edition followed in the steps of the first forum held last year, which attracted the participation of more than 600 attendees and was the catalyst for launching the Small Institutions and Productive Households Endowment Fund amounting to 65 million Riyals, in addition to the “Tayseer” project that aimed at rehabilitating all buildings whether for public or private use, such that they could be used by the physically, visually and auditory impaired.

The forum in its second edition aimed at drawing up new corporate social responsibility initiatives for companies in the Kingdom and discussing how to face up to the challenges that continue to impede the spread of the corporate social responsibility culture throughout the Saudi business community and its development into sustainable strategies. The forum discussed a number of major issues including:

• Corporate social priorities and the methods of achieving the sustainability of their specific programs.
• Corporate Social Responsibility: Set Standards & Published Reports (NEW)
• Means of coordinating the corporate social responsibilities agenda with the educational curriculum.
• Mechanisms of establishing sound responsibility chains.
• The role of large companies in developing small establishments and new initiatives in this respect.
• Role of the media in spreading the corporate social responsibility culture.
• Local, regional and global experiences in the corporate social responsibility domain.

The forum was attended by a large number of government institutions and bodies, Saudi and Arab companies and business groups, as well as expert specialized consulting firms.