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The forum was held on August 31st, at the Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil (CCBB), in Rio de Janeiro. PREVI, along with pension funds Petros, Real Grandeza and Valia, participated in the organization of the Workshop on Social-environmental Responsibility of Pension Funds, whose main objective was to share experiences regarding socially and environmentally sustainable efforts made by each entity, in various fields: asset management, social security management, administrative management, institutional relations, and governance. 

 

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The Pro Gender-Equity Program is a federal government initiative implemented by the Secretaria Especial de Políticas para as Mulheres (Special Secretariat of Policies for Women), in a partnership with the United Nations Development Fund for Women (Unifem) and the International Labour Organization (ILO). The first edition occurred during 2005 and 2006.

 

The program aims to motivate mid-sized and large-sized public and private companies and institutions to introduce gender equity practices in its organizational culture and people management. These companies are annually bestowed the Pro Gender-Equity Seal.

 

At PREVI, the debate about the program and about the institution’s participation occurred after a decision from the Deliberative Body in December 2008.

 

After examining studies on the subject, the Executive Board approved adhesion to the program in February 2009. In November 2009, PREVI signed the Implementation Agreement of the 3rd Edition of the Pro Gender-Equity Program.

 

In its Social-environmental Responsibility Program, PREVI made a clear commitment to promote equity and diversity in the workplace. Respecting differences and including diversity also represent one of the values expressed in PREVI’s ethics code.

 

When deciding whether to join the program, PREVI evaluated that it could encourage exemplary management practices, thus avoiding discrimination complaints. Moreover, it could create a network of information and include experiences with “good practices”.

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December 2009 was the month of the II Meeting on Pro Gender-Equity, Race, and Diversity in Pension Funds, sponsored by PREVI and Eletros, Funcef, Geap, Infraprev, Petros, Real Grandeza, Serpros, and Valia. The theme was “The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Role of Women, Racial and Social Quotas: A Debate about Inclusion”.     

 

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The Social-environmental Responsibility (SER) Policy serves the purpose of organizing the many different actions that have already been implemented and extending them to a larger portion of the target audience. The aim is to render PREVI even more qualified so that the dialogue with different interlocutors may be based on general SER principles, such as ethical conduct, equity-promoting practices, and the sustainable use of natural resources.

 

The policy considers the impact of PREVI’s performance in different spheres, such as investment management, relationship with suppliers, market institutions, pension fund sectors, government agencies, among others. And PREVI also seeks to articulate between internal processes and external benefits.

 

In terms of internal affairs, regarding people management, the policy considers, for instance, respect to diversity and the promotion of equity in selection and hiring processes, training and development, compensation, retention and dismissal. It also values the development of actions toward the preparation for retirement in financial and psychological aspects.

 

In respect to membership and representative bodies, the policy predicts respect, transparency and timeliness in processes of communication, benefit management, and member transactions.

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A PREVI representative went to Australia in July to participate in an event that stands out in the international debate about the actions of institutional investors in the field of Social and Environmental Responsibility: the PRI In Person 2009, an annual conference held by the Program Principles for Responsible Investment, in which PREVI has participated since its inception in 2006.

 

The relationship between the signatory PRI institutions, which are all around the world, is mostly online. The portal of the program contains, a series of resources which provide opportunities for information sharing, ongoing dialogue between workgroups and signatory performance in engaged actions aimed at, for instance, fighting against slave labor in sectors in which institutions can invest. The name of the conference - PRI In Person - held in July, refers to a scenario where it is possible to meet face to face, without virtual intermediation.

At the conferences, annual PRI reports are published. The 2009 report has rendered great visibility for PREVI initiatives that include developing countries (Emerging Markets and Developing Countries).

The report highlighted PREVI’s leadership in creating an area in the PRI website, written in Portuguese, where local parties share information and organize actions. Part of this effort focuses on programs such as creating incentives for affiliated companies to disclose judicious information on the promotion of social responsibility. There is also a commitment to broaden the signatory base. The annual report shows that the number of signatories in emerging markets has grown 24% in the last 12 months. As an example, Brazil has more signatories (28) than Japan (13), Canada (23), and Germany (7).

Another report released at the conference, the Report on Progress 2009, presents a review of the annual survey that PRI conducts with its signatories, who must respond to more than 100 questions listed in a comprehensive questionnaire. The Report on Progress this year highlighted the role of PREVI in encouraging affiliated companies to publish sustainability reports based on the Global Reporting Initiative methodology. This is a condition put forth by foreign institutional investors who demand transparency on the performance of Brazilian companies regarding SER.

As one of the 50 largest pension funds in the world and as the Latin American representative of the PRI program, PREVI presents a history of achievements and examples of activism towards SER actions and Corporate Governance, both internally and in subsidiary companies. These are facts that even helped strengthen the perception of investors around the world about the good performance of the Brazilian economy before the global crisis. Brazil’s reasonable stability was highlighted in a crisis context that projected some of the most important economies in the world into recession.