Global Child Forum in Stockholm

Global Benchmark Report 2019 - The State of Children’s Rights and Business

The State of Children’s Rights and Business 2019, is a bold undertaking and showcases the results of nearly year-long review and analysis of just under 700 of the world’s leading companies, in nine sectors and along 20 children’s rights indicators. While the resulting data can be statistically complex, the underlying ambition was relatively straightforward. We wanted to learn more about how the corporate sector is doing with regard to integrating children’s rights into both their operations and their relationships with the communities in which they operate.

Case study; Bayer mitigating root causes of child labour

Mitigating root causes of child labour

Bayer is a German multinational life science company with global headquarter in Leverkusen. The company is comprised of three divisions – Pharmaceuticals, Consumer Health and Crop Science. All three divisions operate globally and engage with numerous subcontractors. The company has a vision expressed by the phrase, “Health for all, hunger for none” as they focus on delivering innovations in healthcare and agriculture. Bayer is guided in fulfilling this vision through its corporate purpose, “Science for a better life”. Bayer’s vision and purpose indicate that the company strives to create societal good within their core business. During the last two decades, Bayer has experienced incidents of child labour in their indirect supply chain, mainly in India among suppliers of seed. In an effort to address these serious incidences, Bayer went beyond policy and initiated its own action program called the Child Care Program (CCP). Established in 2007, the Program is comprehensive, consisting of structured measures to address and act on child labour, including supporting children who are victims of child labour. Since the implementation of its Child Care Program, Bayer has made several advancements within the area of child labour, where they have managed to influence their value chain in India positively by addressing and acting on the issues related to child labour. Download our case study to learn more.  

Case study: Vodafone demonstrating an end-to-end commitment to children’s rights

Vodafone’s purpose is to “connect for a better future” enabling an inclusive and sustainable digital society. Its know-how and scale – with over 315 million mobile customers in Europe and across Africa – gives it a unique opportunity to drive positive change for society. Vodafone’s networks connect family, friends, businesses and governments and play a vital role in keeping economies running, including critical sectors like education and healthcare. With such scale, Vodafone recognises not only the positive impacts on people’s rights from digital technology, but also the potential that its operations could impact human rights – including children’s rights, even though Vodafone’s services are not marketed to them. Based on this insight, the company has been working actively to strengthen children’s rights across their business in the several ways, elaborated in this case study:

Contributing to the wellbeing of families by supporting employees as parents and caregivers Understanding the potential impact on children across the marketplace Using commercial product design to support inclusion for all Assessing its impact on children’s rights. Download our case study to learn more.

Case study: Safaricom driving a shared value approach through the Sustainable Development Goals

Safaricom, a Kenyan based communications and technology provider servicing more than 38 million customers, has long been working to make the SDGs a central pillar of their business. In doing so, the company as a whole has made sustainable development a part of the organizational and business culture, while also making sure the products and services they design present sustainable solutions to some of society’s most pressing challenges, including the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on their strategy, the company has made a specific effort to improve and secure respect for children’s rights through several initiatives, some of which are elaborated on in this case study.

Case study: Microsoft; Technology to respect and promote child rights in the age of COVID-19

As a global technology company, Microsoft is in a unique position to support children’s access to education and information while helping to ensure their safety online. The company has done this in three main ways, elaborated on in this case study:

Helping to keep children safe online

Learning passport – staying in school whether online, offline or on the move

Understanding the issues – engaging directly with children as stakeholders

Children's Participation Guide

Children's Participation in Business