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» BCS Services
 Business-Community
Synergies (BCS) is a small, dynamic company providing specialized
services to industry, non-governmental organizations and the
public sector. We work with companies in the energy and extractive
sectors, among others, to develop positive, mutually beneficial
relationships in the communities where they work. Our clients
include Chevron, Oxfam America, Rio Tinto, and The World Bank.
Our core service is the Community-Company
Assessment (CCA), a management tool for decision making
about community investment. BCS projects cover three major
areas of work:
- Applied research and analysis
- Training and tools development
- Reviews and assessments
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Community-Company Assessment
The Community-Company Assessment
is an inductive tool, unique to BCS, and the foundation
of all of our work. Our methodology is guided by four
principles.
- Respecting stakeholders' knowledge,
logics and language
- Mapping power relations to understand
the interactions of the local power structure with
actors such as donors, corporate and civil society
organizations.
- Understanding contextual characteristics
shaped by history, current problems, diversities and
resistances in order to understand their relative
influence.
- Assessing community and company capacities
for change to create shared understanding.
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Why does a company need a Community-Company Assessment?
Companies are increasingly judged not only on their ability to deliver a profit for shareholders, but also on how this profit is generated. Ethical behavior, civic responsibility, environmental impact and contribution to positive social change affect corporate reputation.
BCS provides tools and processes that are specific to each context so there is effective collaboration between businesses, their public and private stakeholders, and the communities where they operate.
How does the company benefit from a CCA?
The CCA identifies options for community investment, partnership development, focus areas for company and community capacity building, and other issues pin-pointed through its proven inductive methodology. Clients also receive customized advisory services, tools and training.
A company that conducts a CCA can develop mutually beneficial working relationships with local communities. Companies that integrate contributions to local communities into core operations will deliver greater long-term value to shareholders, other stakeholders and future generations, obtaining and retaining a strong social license to operate.
Understanding the complexities and value generated by mutually supportive business-community relationships can be a daunting task, and--as companies are increasingly coming to realize--one size does not fit all. BCS helps clients understand and find a role in the complex opportunities involved in developing country operations through partnerships with governments and communities – and helps make them work.
Why BCS?
BCS investigates company and community cultures through an innovative inductively created model, which draws on different types of knowledge and experience. BCS incorporates the economic and social effects of globalization, such as electronic communications and diasporic links, through appraisal of local/global interactions.
The central operating principle of BCS is that of engagement. BCS works closely with its clients, constructing a core team that includes representatives from the company, local government, localities and BCS. Each Community-Company Assessment is specifically designed to meet contextual considerations, and in each instance the strength of the analysis rests on the degree of inclusion. Thus, the CCA involves consultations with children, women and other marginalized groups, as well as local leaders and opinion shapers. BCS then helps implement actions and assess progress.
In places where traditional forms of international aid have
been largely ineffective, BCS's approach is especially successful
for two reasons: (a) it rests on the principle of "respectful
intervention," so that the special expertise of the corporate
sector can be harnessed, and (b) it taps into the deep understanding
that local communities have of their own circumstances.
BCS Services
We provide Applied Research
and Analysis so that our clients fully understand
the broad stakeholder environment before undertaking an initiative,
making a strategic choice or embarking on an action. Our services
include:
- Institutional analysis.
- Local context analysis.
- Advice on multi-stakeholder initiatives.
- Identification and analysis of appropriate partners for community initiatives.
We provide Training to Build
Capacity and we Develop Tools that are appropriate
for each client's specific needs, such as:
- Stakeholder engagement and analysis.
- Participatory needs and capacities assessment.
- Participatory community-based monitoring of multinational company activities.
We conduct Reviews and Assessments
of:
- Community development programs and how they are monitored.
- Corporate-community engagement, and donor and stakeholder engagement.
- Scoping reports and other technical documents to ensure that social issues, aspects and measures are effectively and appropriately incorporated.
The Community-Company Assessment is the foundation of all BCS work. |
