Glaciar Pesquera SA is a company Clearwater has in Argentina in association with an Argentinean partner. It was founded in 1995 to dedicate exclusively to the catching and processing and exportation of Patagonian scallop in Argentina, an under utilized species due to the complications of its catch, processing and marketing.
The company has two factory ships equipped with specialized technology adapted to the Patagonian scallops and collaborates constantly with the National Institute for Fishing Research and Development (INIDEP) in order to improve the knowledge of the species and therefore ensure sustainability of the resource.
Glaciar Pesquera has 120 employees and exports its production mainly to Europe and Canada.
In 2005, Glaciar Pesquera received for its “Self-sufficient food production Program” three recognitions. From the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of France in Argentina in the category Medium Company we received the CCIFA Corporate Social Responsibility Award 2005. We were also singled out among 89 other companies in the 4th edition of the Social Entrepreneur Award with an acknowledgment in the category Community Integration. Finally, the American Chamber of Commerce in Argentina in its 7th edition of the Corporate Citizenship Award granted us with an Honorific recognition in the category Social Promotion where we competed with big players as Coca Cola, Tenaris Siderca and Dow Chemical.
During 2006 we continued struggling to improve our social performance, and amongst several new developments we’ve started, we are again celebrating the success and recognition received by some of our programs.
We can proudly say that the excellent team of professionals of the Agronomic Sciences School of the National University of Mar del Plata that coordinate the “Self-sufficient food production Program” has received in 2006 the biggest recognition from the Government as well: the Presidential Award for best practices in social education. The program achieved the first prize, which includes also a monetary allowance of U$10,000 dollars. We are very happy for this result because it’s a sign of a good understanding between the public sector, the academic community and the private sector.
But there is more, our “Health care assistance and prevention in needy neighborhoods Program” was granted the Social Entrepreneur Award in the Health category in the 5th Edition of the Award organized by the Social Ecumenical Forum. And we are really proud of the latest recognition that we received at Corporate Citizenship Award 2006 Ceremony organized by the American Chamber of Commerce in Argentina. We got the first prize in the Small Company (less than 300 employees) Social Programs Category for the “Ñandeyará Program”, and as we were the last awardees to receive it, the newly arrived American Ambassador gave us personally the prize.
During 2006 and 2007 Glaciar Pesquera’s Corporate Social Responsibility Program aroused the interest of many specialized institutions and forums which were eager to have the Company’s Case Study told. Glaciar Pesquera’s Corporate Social Responsibility team-members have participated as speakers in one of the Social Ecumenical Forum’s Conferences, the “National University Community Relations Congress” organized by the National University of Mar del Plata; the “First International Congress for Corporate Social Responsibility, University and Development” and the “First International Congress of Economics” organized both by the School of Economics of the University of Buenos Aires. In addition, during the closure speech, Bernardo Kliksberg, the Congress Head Chief, communicated the creation of the Social Responsibility and Social Capital National Centre, in which Glaciar Pesquera was invited to participate.
Finally, the company was recognized with a very special invitation to participate in a discussion meeting in Lima (Peru) organized by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Regional Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean. During the meeting, the 2008-2011 Regional Cooperation Framework was analyzed. This was the first time that the UNDP consulted both private and public sector organizations and civil society organizations about the priorities in the Millennium Development Goals action plan in order to promote human development and sustainable development and strengthen democratic governance. Regarding the private sector organizations that participated, only three companies from all Latin America were invited, and Glaciar Pesquera was one of them, along with Novartis Latin America and BBVA Banco Frances and its Foundation.
We believe that a company with a sense of corporate social responsibility must possess the capacity to listen to and consider the interests of the different stakeholders involved in a business (shareholders, employees, suppliers, consumers, community, government and environment), and that all of this should be included in its activities.
Having a social commitment means fully complying with the objectives of the company in its economic, social and environmental aspects, both in its internal and external affairs. It is also a new way of making business, trying to strike a balance between the need to reach its economic, financial and development goals and their social or environmental impact.
A strong sense of corporate social responsibility implies a commitment to the country, working in favor of social development, investing time, talent and resources to build a future with equal opportunities for all. It means investing in the people so that they can lead the change through the integration and interaction of the company with the community.
The alarming 40 percent poverty rate in Argentina after the Political, Economic and Social Crisis during 2002 and 2003, aggravated by the physical and psychic consequences that this situation produced in the people, motivated the company to take action and find some means to collaborate, trying to help the most needy in a sustainable way.
In the face of the insufficient and unarticulated management of the different governments and the indifference of many fellow countrymen, the company realized it was necessary that the private sector had to do more. Besides, they knew that donating was the easy way and that much more was needed.
Therefore, by the end of 2003, Glaciar Pesquera came up with an unusual idea; they knocked at the National University of Mar del Plata (UNMdP) door with a strong commitment to help the institution to develop social projects related to health, education and self employment. The surprised authorities of the University were amazed mainly because no other company ever approached them with a similar proposal.
The Assistance and Health Prevention Program in Needy Neighborhoods. Itinerant System was created by the Psychology School of the UNMdP with the objective of improving the psychological and physical health of children and adolescents in the suburban neighborhoods of Mar del Plata, where the company is established, through direct health assistance and prevention in different health areas: psychology, general medicine, dentistry and vaccination.
The Program for self-sufficient food production, run by the Mar del Plata National University, was implemented with the aim of fostering the self-sufficient production of food items (organic agriculture and horticulture) as well as promoting participation and organization at community level. It targets unemployed and underemployed people who have lost entirely any hope of work, and are fully depressed.
The Ñandeyará Program was created by the non-profit organization "Centro de Estudios y Acción Social" (CEAS) and its main objective is to provide for the basic needs of a group of youngsters (rescued from the street or deemed at risk) and adults who have trouble getting a job, improving their standards of living, and building a collective space for personal growth and motivation. It is a farming enterprise in the area of Colonia Barragán, 35km from the city of Mar del Plata.
The Construction laboratory, training and family production for housing improvement Program for Needy Neighborhoods, run by the School of Architecture of Mar del Plata National University, aims to improve both environment and housing in highly endangered neighborhoods. Using special software that provides accurate information for the diagnosis of risky housing, the program works with the neighbor’s collaboration developing new houses, expanding the water supply, providing self-construction training and using new construction techniques and materials.
The Social Construction Store is another project run by the School of Architecture of Mar del Plata National University. Its main objective is to improve housing quality in poor neighborhoods through self construction, training in building crafts and auxiliary construction practices, the production and use of alternative and ecologic building materials, and the management and sale of traditional construction materials.
Grameen Micro credits Program is developed by the non-profit organization Grameen in needy neighborhoods of Mar del Plata. Grameen provides training, business council and micro financial services to impoverished people that have no other means to financial access. Micro credits have proved to be a powerful tool to eradicate poverty for it gives people the possibility to recover their confidence and dignity through work. Grameen is an organization inspired in the original experience of Muhammad Yunus, president of Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, in his fight against poverty. In 2006, both Grameen Bank and Yunus received the Peace Nobel Prize.
The company’s Corporate Social Responsibility Program has offered its employees the possibility of participating in the existing social programs and proposing new ones that fit Glaciar Pesquera’s Philosophy. The feedback has been incredible, several employees are collaborating and the company has included more than 15 projects proposed by them in the CSR Plan. Another positive response has been given by the company’s suppliers, many of which are collaborating at present with the social programs and in some cases developing their own Corporate Social Responsibility Programs.
Glaciar Pesquera has focused the activities with the social organizations in providing information, training and expanding their networks. This approach aims to contribute to their sustainability and development.
The next step is to try to grow a similar social awareness among fellow colleagues in the fishing business.
The Chamber of Commerce and Industry of France in Argentina grants since 2005 the Corporate Social Responsibility Award, “CCIFA-RSE”. This initiative aims to stimulate the companies to assume a community commitment and foster mankind’s integral development, and as a means to promote the projects that the organizations are developing in different areas like health, education, culture, public and social needs attendance and environment preservation. More information in www.ccife.org/argentine/
The Social Ecumenical Forum organizes since 2001 the Social Entrepreneur Award. The Social Ecumenical Forum is an organization that congregates company managers, NGO’s leaders and representatives of different religions (catholic, orthodox, evangelic, Jewish and Muslim congregations) to discuss and share experiences and views about Corporate Social Responsibility. Its main objective is to pioneer and promulgate social responsibility concepts and actions of companies, NGO’s and people, fostering fundamental principles and highlighting the importance of the organizations of the private sector and the companies’ businessmen in Argentina’s transformation. More information in www.foroecumenico.com.ar/
Granted by the American Chamber of Commerce in Argentina since 1999, the Award aims to recognize and promote corporate initiatives and actions that benefit the community in which the companies operate, transforming the Corporate Social Responsibility principle into real facts and setting the example to other fellow companies in the business community encouraging them to replicate the efforts. The Corporate Citizenship Award’s open spirit calls for all companies and corporate foundations around the country; big, medium or small; related or non-related to the American Chamber of Commerce in Argentina. The award recognizes -through a very prestigious and independent Judging Panel- those programs with measurable results under 5 categories: Education and Culture; Health and Environment; Social Promotion and Employee Social Programs; Small and Medium Company Social Programs. More information in www.premiociudadania.com.ar/
The contest’s core is to highlight those educational institutions and their social education programs that address best the need of the student body for practical social experience and community awareness granting the institution a monetary recognition. More information in www.educ.ar/educar/convocatorias/premio_presidencial_2006
This organization aims to become the most important Corporate Social Responsibility debate centre in Argentina, from which companies, governmental and non governmental organizations expect to receive guidelines, information, and training.
UNDP is the UN's global development network, an organization advocating for change and connecting countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life. UNDP is actually in 166 countries, working with them on their own solutions to global and national development challenges. UNDP helps developing countries attract and use aid effectively. In all its activities, they encourage the protection of human rights and the empowerment of women. More information in http://www.undp.org/