Instituto Ethos

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Taking the pains and the gains

Vany Laubé

The last plenary of the 2006 International Conference this Thursday morning (Jun 22) was a chance to sum up the achievements and the visions of the Ethos Institute and the Akatu Institute for Conscious Consumption. On behalf of Ethos spoke Oded Grajew, chairman of the Advisory Board, Paulo Itacarambi, executive director, and its president, Ricardo Young. They and Helio Mattar, director-president of the Akatu Institute, spoke to a crowded audience who, despite the fact that the National team was playing in the World Soccer Cup that afternoon, was focused and interested in wrapping up the works carried out on these fours days of the Conference.
“There is a long way to go,” said Grajew. In his opinion, acting on the causes and effects, and in the ups and downs of the works and the movement is part of the process of the desired cultural change.
After commenting on the “truly historical” moments that marked this meeting, such as the debate among journalists of several media held on the 19th, and the discussions on the morning of the 20th about the Amazon deforestation and controlling the government, Young emphasized how evident the wounds of those who face the intrinsic contradictions of a transitional process on a daily basis are. We are in the deepest stage of getting CSR acknowledged as an agent of change within the business organizations,” he said. Referring to the touchy “hot seat” position of professionals that support sustainability, the Ethos president said that “when conducting the transitions, we take the pains and the gains of this process,” because there are many contradictions within the companies.
In the end, according to him, the balance is positive: “All in all, we feel stronger in our sustainability processes because the conversations are getting increasingly clearer and the cases more and more discussed, questioned, demanded. Like islands inside organizations, we face the challenge of building bridges to weave a new social fabric that can bring us back the hope to create a better, more ethical and responsible world,” he added.
Platforms for dialogue
According to Young, the Ethos Institute and the Akatu Institute are platforms for dialogue whose very purpose is to strengthen the change process. As integral parts of the civil society, they must necessarily demand more quality from the public administration, which does not respond to the sustainability dynamics at the desired speed. “Only through alliances between the NGOs and the institutions will we be able to change this situation,” he stressed, and added that, even if private companies do not wish to, “they must be aware that the more powerful they are, the more responsible for dialogue, ethics and transparency of the society and the government they are.”
“Mechanisms are being created for this purpose”, said Young, referring to the launch of the Solidarity Capital Fund (FCS), the Corporate Child Development Index (IDI-E), and the Business Pact for Integrity and against Corruption, made feasible through the many partnerships the Institute has been establishing with the various society actors.  “We are not going to reach the utopia of sustainable society unless we establish quality relationships. Ethos is the space for creating these relationships, and that’s why we will have, as requested by the Conference participants, more women in the panels and the participation of minorities in the discussions, among other suggestions.”

Paulo Itacarambi put down in detail all the moments the CSR process has gone through at Ethos, showing how the institute makes the necessary arrangements in order to fulfill all the commitments made.