How we work with businesses
Our approach
We have worked with many organisations over the years to build better businesses for children – businesses that are committed to respecting and supporting the rights of children. We do this by working in partnership with businesses, and other stakeholders, to drive positive social impact and change for children.
Strategic partnerships
In collaboration with the private sector, we deliver programmes on the ground designed to reach the most vulnerable children impacted by business activities, and to address the root causes of social challenges.
We do this by engaging with stakeholders in the workplace to look at issues such as child care, maternity provision, decent work and workplace breastfeeding practices. We also engage with the wider community on which businesses depend, to strengthen systems such as education and healthcare, and with policy makers to strengthen the legislative environment on children’s rights and business.
We also work closely with businesses to develop and implement innovative fundraising ideas. See here for further information on becoming a Corporate Partner.
Technical capacity building
We work with businesses from end-to-end, regardless of whether a business is just starting its journey or is a leader in this field. Using the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) and the Children’s Rights and Business Principles (CRBPs) as our foundation, our work with businesses cuts across all areas of human and child rights due diligence, including:
We help companies review their operating contexts and conduct initial mapping exercises to identify likely human and child rights impacts.
We help businesses create solid foundations for their human rights work by supporting in the development of robust policies, guidance and codes of conduct. We also work with businesses in the operationalisation of policies and in building necessary internal governance systems and capacity to support implementation.
We directly support businesses in undertaking human and child rights impact assessments and developing effective action plans to act on findings.
We develop and deliver a variety of training programmes to build awareness and capacity to integrate children’s rights into business activity.
We support companies in developing pragmatic solutions to tackling identified child rights impacts. Our global work with local implementation partners means UNICEF is uniquely placed to deliver on remediation activities.
Piloting innovative solutions
We know that there are many children’s rights challenges that do not have an easy answer to them, however we are committed to working with businesses to design, pilot and then scale up interventions that improve the lives of children.
One of our current areas of focus is exploring ways of carrying out human rights due diligence in a way that identifies impacts on vulnerable rights holders, such as children, and can be implemented at scale.
Contact
If you have any questions regarding our work or would like to express your interest in engaging with Unicef UK, please reach out to us at [email protected]
