The ICRC and DCAF Visited the China Corporate Social Responsibility Alliance in Africa to Discuss Capacity Building for Safety Management at Chinese Enterprises in Africa
On October 16, 2024, Boris Kelecevic, Deputy Head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) East Asia Regional Delegation, and Alan Bryden, Head of the Advisory Group for the International Security Sector at the Geneva Center for International Security Governance (DCAF), visited the China Corporate Social Responsibility Alliance in Africa. They held in-depth discussions with Diao Chunhe, Executive Chair of the Alliance, regarding feasible solutions to help Chinese enterprises operating in Africa enhance their awareness of corporate social responsibility, particularly in improving safety management standards. Also attending the meeting were Cheng Fang, Corporate Affairs Advisor at the ICRC; Fan Mingshu, Head of the Translation Department; Li Tiantian, Director of the Alliance Secretariat; and Zheng Yao.
During the meeting, Diao Chunhe welcomed the visit by Ji Borui and his delegation. He noted that the “toolkit” jointly developed by DCAF and the ICRC covers a wide range of topics and is highly practical in terms of corporate safety management, making it of great significance for enhancing the safety management standards of Chinese enterprises in their projects in Africa. The Alliance places great importance on strengthening enterprises’ capacity to fulfill their responsibilities, particularly in enhancing safety management capabilities. The three parties can collaborate to collect and compile more exemplary cases of safety governance by Chinese enterprises in Africa, and provide targeted safety capacity-building training for enterprises across different industries and at various levels, thereby facilitating the effective use of the “toolkit.”
Ji Borui outlined the history of cooperation between the ICRC and DCAF as well as their current activities, and expressed his hope to see tangible results from the strategic partnership between the ICRC and the Alliance. Alan Brighton then provided a detailed overview of DCAF and shared some of the achievements made in both Central Africa and China through the “toolkit” jointly released by DCAF and the ICRC. He noted that while the “toolkit” has already demonstrated its impact in multiple areas, the current version contains relatively few practical case studies from China. Therefore, he expressed hope that, through the Alliance’s platform, a wide range of practical case studies from Chinese enterprises could be collected to share China’s experiences with the world.
During the talks, the two sides also exchanged views and discussed specific measures to better leverage the value of the “toolkit,” covering various aspects such as innovation in corporate training formats and optimization of training content. This exchange connected the ICRC and DCAF’s specialized tools in the field of security management in complex environments with China’s corporate network under the Non-Corporate Social Responsibility Alliance, thereby charting a clear course for future cooperation in areas such as case study collection, training development, and capacity building.
