Statement of continued support by the Chief Executive Officer (CEO)

As the representative regional development agency for the Varazdin County region, the Varazdin County Development Agency’s (AZRA d.o.o.) vision is to become the most dynamic, innovative and distinctive development agency in South-Eastern Europe (SEE) that systematically improves the quality of life and living standards in the Varazdin region through the promotion of vibrant, diverse and sustainable development.

After joining the UN Global Compact in March 2007, AZRA has adjusted its activities, strategies and has implemented projects that are oriented toward promoting the main tenants of the Global Compact and its ten principles, which focus on the improvement of human rights, labour, the environment and the prevention of corruption.

In 2014, AZRA has directly contributed to the successful implementation of 4 European Union (EU) financed cross-border projects, projects that focus on improvements in human rights, social entrepreneurship, economy and employment, vocational education and the environment. As well, the agency have internal measures that ensure that employees (no matter their status) have equal opportunities and rights within the firm and that all activities are transparent to the public.

Overall, adopting the UN Global Compact has served as a means to guide AZRA towards more efficient and equitable management, as well as a means for the agency to have a positive impact on the lives of citizens through its activities and projects. We are proud to say that by doing this not only have our activities taken on corporately socially responsible characters and features, they have also led to increased operational efficiency and a higher sense of belonging and purpose among our employees in AZRA.

Our agency continues to support the Global Impact as well as ensure that other similar agencies and public bodies in our region adopt its principles and measures.

Sincerely,

Nikola Kučiš
Director

Principle 1: Businesses should support and respect the protection of internationally proclaimed human rights;
Principle 2: Make sure that they are not complicit in human rights abuses

AZRA’s commitment:

As a regional development agency, AZRA is fully aware that respect towards human rights is essential in ensuring that there is balanced regional development, and improved living standards and quality of life. As it was mentioned, AZRA’s vision is to become the main agency implementing actions that improve the quality of life in the Varazdin County region.

AZRA’s vision is to be achieved through the mission, which is to:

“Promote and support sustainable economic and social growth of the Varaždin region by providing technical assistance to stakeholders in the pursuit of development activities aimed at creating a highly educated, adaptable, effective, inclusive and competitive region”.

Creating an inclusive society (i.e. where all residents have equal rights regardless of their race, religion, age, gender, sexual orientation, etc.) is considered a key element in ensuring that the region is competitive and has balanced growth. Therefore, human rights is an important theme in all of AZRA’s activities.

AZRA’s actions in 2014
The following describes the actions that AZRA has taken related to human rights development:

▪ Preparation of the Varazdin County Development Strategy 2014-20: In 2014 started preparatory activities for creating of a new strategy document for the 2014-2020 programming period which will made in line with the Regional Development Strategy of the Republic of Croatia. They were organized meetings with the working groups, made analysis of the situation and SWOT analysis. Within the strategy, there are specific measures that are geared towards enhancing human rights for the residents of Varazdin County and people with disabilities, as well as measures to enhance the region’s civil society development.

▪ The Agency is involved in the process of developing a Strategy of Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities of Varazdin County from the Year 2015 till the Year 2020.

▪ Code of ethics: In 2014, AZRA’s management adjusted its code of ethics in order to detail the rights of employees and the values of the agency and pursue all activities with a sense of social responsibility. In order to inform the public of our values under the code of ethics, the agency has created a web-link where all of AZRA’s values are stated and explained.

▪ EU projects promoting human rights: The project INOVALOCA - Promoting new forms of entrepreneurship by strengthening the innovative use of local resources AZRA is one of the partner on the project. One of the specific cross-borders objective of this project is to increase the skills, work skills and employability of people from vulnerable social groups in the development of promising activities related to creative industries.

▪ Also, AZRA was participated in debates, focus groups and seminars in the field human rights and social rights, Roma national minority and employment.

Principle 3: Businesses should uphold the freedom of association and effective recognition of the rights to collective bargaining;
Principle 4: The elimination of all forms of forced and compulsory labour
Principle 5: The effective abolition of child labour; and
Principle 6: The elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation

AZRA’s commitment:

AZRA operates in line with all applicable national laws. The laws clearly state that child labour and forced labour is strictly prohibited, as well as any form of discrimination in the work place. AZRA has adopted all of the labour policies within the UN Global Compact, and has implemented actions to uphold them. All of AZRA’s employees are free to join unions or worker’s associations and have the right to conduct collective bargaining. Regarding discrimination, the code of ethics and AZRA’s operational workbook detail what is considered discrimination and inappropriate employee conduct, as well as the consequences for committing such actions.

Overall, AZRA firmly believes that every employee has the right to be treated equally and fairly.

AZRA’s actions

The following actions have been taken to ensure that there are improved labour rights in AZRA:

▪ Code of ethics: In order to prevent cases of discrimination, conflicts of interest, and ensure that each employee is treated equally and fairly, AZRA created a code of ethics document. The document details what is exactly meant by terms such as conflict of interest, discrimination, intimidation, etc. and how AZRA’s management is to deal with any possible situation. While creating the document, AZRA’s staff was involved in the creation of certain sectors through 1-hour biweekly team meetings. Through these meetings, AZRA’s staff discussed what measures should be included in the code of ethics and what the consequences/penalties for misconduct should be.

▪ AZRA’s operational workbook: The workbook defined the responsibilities of each work position in AZRA as well as the pay grade of each position in the agency. This document also elaborated on the code of ethics by explaining additional situations considered to be unethical and the consequences for misconduct. Each employee was required to sign a form acknowledging that they understood the terms of reference for the workbook, and that they would abide by it.

▪ AZRA – an equal opportunity employer: One of AZRA’s main policies is to hire persons based on their skills, knowledge and competencies. In AZRA, ability has never been based on one’s race, gender, age, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, or physical abilities. Furthermore, AZRA has a zero tolerance policy towards staff that commit actions of discrimination or intimidation towards fellow employees or job candidates. As a result of AZRA’s policies, AZRA’s workforce is gender balanced. Over half of the agency’s employees are women; most of whom have been working in the agency for three years or longer. In Agency has been no case of violence.
▪ AZRA offer Accident insurance to their employees.
▪ To improve the quality of life of employees they are offered an annual tickets for swimming.

Principle 7: Businesses should support a precautionary approach to environmental challenges
Principle 8: Undertake initiatives to promote greater environmental responsibility;
Principle 9: Encourage the development and diffusion of environmentally friendly technologies

AZRA’s commitment:

It is recognized by AZRA that the protection of the environment via the conservation of resources, promotion of environmentally friendly behaviour, the use of green technologies, and other actions are essential in ensuring the enhancement of the quality of life and living standards in the Varazdin County region and for the rest of Croatia. As a regional development agency, AZRA takes actions internally and externally to ensure that the environment is protected and that resources are not misused. In 2014, AZRA has worked closely with government bodies, Environmental protection and energy efficiency Fund, NGOs, and other public entities in implementing projects and other actions that are geared toward enhancing environmental protection.

Regarding the competitiveness of the region, AZRA regards environmental protection not as a burden, but as an opportunity to enhance the regional economy. Green energy and technology sectors have the potential to create new jobs and revenue for the Varazdin County region, while also ensuring that future generations have improved living standards.

AZRA implements various actions that include the promotion of business opportunities in renewable energy and energy efficiency, and recycling.

Overall, AZRA believes that it is very important that citizens understand clearly what are the benefits and challenges related to environmental protection.

AZRA’s actions

The following actions have been taken by AZRA in 2014, in order to contribute to the principles of the Global Compact:

▪ Project BIOREGIO (Green CB Region): AZRA is partner on this project jointly with 4 partners from Slovenia and Croatia. Specific cross-borders objectives of the project include improvement of business cooperation and trading between enterprises, particularly SMEs from the area covered by the project, dealing in the field of technology development, and products/services related to renewable energy sources (RES) and energy efficiency (EE), and improvement of cooperation between enterprises and R&D institutions developing technological solutions for RES (EE) and, in particular, development and improvement of support services and cooperation among support institutions in the project area.

▪ AZRA participating in the development of Energy efficiency programs in the final energy consumption of the Varazdin County 2015-2017, whose aim is to lay down guidelines for energy development through energy savings
▪ In the area of the environmental protection, employees are involved in the selection of waste, paper that used and recycled Center for Upbringing and Education „Tomislav Špoljar“ Varaždin.

Through the implementation of these projects, AZRA has made progress in ensuring that the environmental principles of the Global Compact are upheld and achieved.

Principle 10: Businesses should work against corruption in all its forms, including extortion and bribery

AZRA’s Commitment

AZRA receives about 30% of its annual funding from the Varazdin County government, which signifies that a large portion of the agency’s activities are financed via public monies. Therefore, it is of the utmost importance to AZRA to uphold the highest ethical standards, and establish internal mechanisms to ensure that every cent is used in the public’s interest.

AZRA’s code of ethics and AZRA’s operational workbook define exactly what is considered by the terms ‘bribery’, ‘extortion’, ‘nepotism’ and ‘conflict of interest’. Also, the code of ethics provides the course of action that each employee should take when confronted with a situation that is deemed as corruption. AZRA regards corruption in any form as an obstacle to regional development and as a threat to efficient internal management. Apart from the agency’s internal views and actions, the agency promotes corporate-social responsibility principles on its website in order to fight corruption and ensure that there is balanced and equitable regional development in Croatia.

AZRA’s actions

Our agency has not been involved in any legal cases, rulings or other events related to corruption and bribery identifying any suspicious payments which could be related to bribery or corrupt behavior. There has been no such incident reported in the period.

AZRA has taken the following specific actions to fight corruption in all its forms:

▪ Defining actions that are considered to be corruption in the code of ethics and the operational workbook: The code of ethics & operational workbook define what is nepotism, conflict of interest, bribery, extortion, and data protection. Also, the code of ethics states that any form of corruption is punishable by dismissal, and could be followed up by criminal investigation (depending on severity). This has contributed to deterring corruption in the workplace in AZRA.
▪ * Please note that many of the actions taken to promote the labour principles as apply to this principle as well.