Launched in the year 2000 by the United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, the Global Compact is the main United Nations instrument for promoting CSR. One of its key elements are the Global Compact Local Networks, which aim to support the implementation of the Global Compact principles at the national level. In the Asia-Pacific region, many of the existing country networks are still in an early phase of operation.

Global Compact Local Networks (GCLNs) have so far been set up in fifteen countries in the region: Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam.

To support the work of the networks, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) started a 3 year project, i.e. Investor for Development (I4D), with support from the government of Sweden and the Netherlands. The project aims to increase capacity of the GCLNs in Asia to support more effective implementation of the Global Compact principles in the Asian and Pacific region. In doing so, we work in close cooperation with the Global Compact Office in New York as well as other relevant UN agencies in the region.

More information, please visit: http://globalcompactasiapacific.org