Enhancing Sustainability

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“Enhancing Sustainability”

Riyada GCC Civil Society Leaders Awards and Dialogue 2011

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“Enhancing Sustainability”

Commitment to transparency sharing our social, environmental and economic impact with all stakeholders have lead us to upgrade our annual report to this first annual sus-tainability report, entitled “Enhancing Our Sustainability”. This report does not only give a glimpse about our programs, activities and data, covering the financial year 2011; it also lists a number of challenges, in particular in the areas of governance and environ-ment that we seek to overcome future sustainability goals. You are welcome to view, comment and give feedback on all of our programs, as a well as institution progress reports for the year 2009 and 2010, openly accessible through our website www.tawasul.co.om http://tawasul.co.om/engage2.html; respectively. We hope you deduce useful lessons learned. To enhance the quality of our programs internally, and of the quality of sharing our work with the society at large we make our utmost efforts to adhere to the highest declared sustainability principles. Therefore, this sustainability report uses the UN Global Compact guidelines and Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) as per the guidelines of G3.1. We self declare that the report meets GRI application Level C. An index listing the GRI Indicators that are included in this report can be found on pages 83You are invited to engage with us to improve reporting and transparency based on our performance and report. We are eager to hear your comments and feedback on sustainability at [email protected]

What is this document and Why is it important for you?

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Afkar 1st GCC Think Tank Development Dialogue Women’s Campaign Consultant Development Program

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1. What impact are we trying to achieve? Message ...............................7

2. Who are we? ...........................................................................9

3. How do we empower Civil Society?............................................. 10

4. How do we lead by example : sustainability begins at home ............. 17

5. What values do we share? ........................................................ 21

6. Who are our partners? ............................................................ 22

7. What have we achieved ? ........................................................ 28

8. How do we run our institution? ................................................. 51

9. How transparent are we? ......................................................... 53

10. Where do we go from here? ..................................................... 77

Index

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Seminar on Human Development based Approach

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Dear Partner,These have been exciting times not only for us at Tawasul – Global Connections Center Limited Liablity Company (Tawasul) but for most private, public, and civil society institutions in the Sultanate of Oman and the region.Since August, 2008, being socially responsible was the way each member of our team sought fulfill her and his duty to contribute to the wellbeing, sustainability, and advancement of people, planet, and profit.

To do so; we have aligned our vision, mission, values, code of ethics, and programs with the vision and national priorities of the visionary leadership. With the support of partners such as yourself; our ambition is to become by 2018 a leading world-class think tank that offers the highest quality of capacity building training, and policy re-search papers. Our name in Arabic “TAWASUL” sums up what we do- strengthen a constructive link and connection between private, public, and civil society sectors.

2011, the year this Sustainability Report covers, is a source of pride for us as we have finalized streamlining stake-holders services feedback into four programs to interpret our mission in to “Empowering Civil Society”. First, through Qudrat (capabilities) where we enhance future leaders with capacity building and training, second, Afkar (Ideas) providing high quality policy research papers, third, Riyada (leaders) enhancing shared values through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) solutions and social engagement,and last but not least through Majlis (Platform) where we provide a platform to engage public opinion.

As a small private institution that empowers civil society, sustainability to us means integrating doing good to people, planet, and profit into everything we do. Therefore our CSR policies are totally internalized in our processes and structure. Based on our stake holders feed back, in 2012 we will focus even more on CSR. We adhere to promoting and building the capacity and training youth and women, and sharing policies that are friendly to the environment, human rights, and diversity. We also incorporate and guarantee freedom of expression and civil liberties in all our activities. Externally, we work on designing; implementing and assessing society based programs and initiatives.

By participating in United Nations Global Compact and Global Reporting Initiative, we demonstrate how we can lead by example in the area of CSR by practicing what we preach. It also serves us as a benchmarking on CSR for our projects, core-work and stakeholders. Therefore, we will continue to do this in the years to come.

This report is a review of our performance and work of progress towards Tawasul’s contribution to sustainable de-velopment. In developing this report, we assess our position in achieving the goals of sustainability within Tawasul and put future directions and targets to any sustainability shortfalls within the organization.

Nasra Al Adawi Khalid Al Safi Al Haribi

1. What impact are we trying to achieve?

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Partnership : Signing with Oman Oil Company

Tawasul was incepted in August 2008 to be the first national, independent and private Think Tank in the Sultanate of Oman, serving locally with international standards. We aim to be the primary and preferred catalyst for an effective and efficient civil society.

Mission: Tawasul pursues its mission “to empower civil society” through training and knowledge aided by home-grown partnerships and support, presenting the Sultanate of Oman as a leading nation in the field of societal soli-darity and partnerships between the public sector, the private sector and the civil society institutions.

Vision:

Tawasul is driven by its vision to be the primary and preferred catalyst for an effective and efficient civil so-ciety in Oman.

Tawasul’s Corporate Values:

Tawasul has seven corporate values it strives to incorporate in all its programs and actions:

2. Who are we?

Transparency

Acceptance

Willingness

Assertiveness

Society - based

Universality

Leadership

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In 2011, Tawasul structured its training, knowledge, and outreach initiatives into 4 core programs:

“Qudrat” - Capacities: Enhancing the capacity of future civil society leaders - Capacity Building Work-shops, Advocacy and Leadership - For professional groups, women associations, trade unions and other civil society organizations. The workshops are aimed towards civil society organizations and their leaders. They are designed and delivered upon Tawasul’s assessment of the skill mix level within the civil society in Oman.

“Afkar” - Ideas: Providing high quality policy research papers - Policy Research Papers - These are research papers on focus areas chosen by Tawasul in consultation with its Omani interlocutors and re-searchers or based on Tawasul’s own judgment. They are meant to objectively highlight an issue from a policy making and practicable setting perspective taking into consideration ‘local particularism’ and human development goals.

“Riyada” - Leadership: Enhancing our shared values Sustainability and Social Responsibility - Design, implementation and supervision of social responsibility and sustainability projects for private sector and institutions interested in social investment and engagement with CSOs. These projects aim at:

Consulting on social investment strategies, evaluation, project-selection, development and •management.

Connecting businesses with society through social responsibility solutions that meets the •needs of individual companies or organizations through dialogues

Supporting NGOs and non-profit organizations to administer their charitable projects. •

Helping entities to demonstrate respect for ethical values, people, communities and the •environment as well as researching solutions on best practices in business ethics.

“Majlis” - Platform: A platform to engage public opinion - Organizing seminars and conferences – Design seminars and conferences that focus on raising awareness to a certain issue, preferably gath-ering civil society, public and private sectors.

Media Outreach Activities - These activities are meant to accord the media its due position as a great influencing factor in the public mindset. These activities are, hence, designed to achieve two goals:

To launch Tawasul’s Policy Research Papers.•

To raise the media awareness level of the subject matter of these papers and engage them •in public discussion.

3. How do we empower civil society?

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Symposium on E-Campaigning: Electronically Connected - Salalah

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Code of Ethics

As the society is at the center of our vision and mission and corporate values. since 2011 our team adopted the following Code of Ethics:

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Period Focus areas

2012 - 2013

Youth Engagement •

Social Entrepreneurship•

Employee Resources Retention and Development/Diversity•

Sustainability•

Human Rights•

2011 - 2012

Youth Engagement•

Employee Resources Retention and Development•

Human Rights•

Sustainability •

2009 - 2011

Women Empowerment•

Youth Engagement•

Employee Resources Retention and Development•

Sustainability •

Focus areas for Tawasul’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategy

Every two years, stakeholders engagement feedback guides a society’s share values reassessment process. The purpose of this process is to enable Tawasul’s team to determine the following main stakeholder groups relevant to core training, knowledge and outreach programs:

Mentoring Session for Civil Society Organizations Workshop on Best Practices in Sustainability

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Majlis on Successful Marketing Skills

Seminar on Human Development Based Approach

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# Activities Focus Area Status Info

Available Page

1 Women Entrepreneurship Capacity Building (4 ses-sions)

Women Empowerment Program

withheld

2 Civil Society Mentoring Program (3 sessions) Human Right Accomplished 31,34,35

3 Human Rights Sensitization Project (3 workshops, 3 symposia) Human Right Accomplished 28, 30, 33

4 Social Business Models Dialogue Social Entre-preneurship

Program Postponed

5 Best Practices on Sustainability and Social Respon-sibility: Shared Values

Social Responsibility and Sustainability

Accomplished 30

6 Qudrat : Future Young Leaders of OmanYouth Engagement Program

Postponed

7 Youth Employability Youth Engage-ment Accomplished 31

8 Launching Majlis A’Shura Website (The project to en-hance women candidate access to society)

Women Empowerment Accomplished 35

9 Women’s Campaign Consultant Development Program Women Empowerment Accomplished 37

10 Civil Society Leaders Awards

Social Responsibility and Sustainability

Accomplished 39

What Is The Main Challenge?

Securing Resourc-es to implement various initiatives

Status of our targets

Out of 10 projects that had been planned for year 2011, 3 projects have not been implemented; this is due to lack of securing partners and resources in order to implement the programs. Two proj-ects are now set to be implemented for 2012.

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Majlis on the Results of Majlis A’Shura Elections

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The Sultanate of Oman

Tawasul is based in Muscat, the capital city of the Sultanate of Oman in the Gulf Region. The northern tip of Oman, called the Musandam Peninsula, is strategically located on the Strait of Hormuz, the entrance to the Gulf, 35 miles directly opposite Iran.

The Sultanate is known for its rich heritage, geographic diversity, stability, and moderate conservatism.The inhabit-ants of the area of Oman have long prospered on Ocean trade. Muscat has a rich seafaring history and has had relations with Europe, Africa and India since the 16th century. The Sultanate’s moderate, independent foreign policy has sought to maintain good relations with all nations. It has close ties to its neighbors and is an active member in international and regional organizations, notably the Arab League and the six-member Arabian Gulf Cooperation Council (AGCC). The fact that the Sultanate maintains stable and mutually respectful relations worldwide contrib-utes to Tawasul’s programs and partnerships that aim at sharing best practices in capacity building training, knowl-edge and outreach programs.

As a steadily evolving and advancing nation ample opportunities are provided to Tawasul to thrive as an innova-tive model of a unique private institution with programs that connect between the public, private and civil society sectors.

4. How do we lead by example: sustainability begins at home

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National Outreach the Sultanate of Oman

During this reporting period, Tawasul operates only in the Sultanate of Oman, with the ambition of development an AGCC model by 2014, and an Arab world model by 2016, and to be an international Think Tank institution by 2018. Here are the eleven governorates of the Sultanate of Oman: Muscat, Dhofar, Musandam, Al-Buraimi, North Al Batinah, South Al Batinah, Al Dhahirah, Al Dakhliya, North Al Sharqiyah, South Al Sharqiyah) and Al Wusta. These eleven governorates contain 63 areas that are called wilayats. Tawasul has only one headquarter located in Muscat and leverages Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to maximize its outreach to all the Sultanate’s governorates.In 2011, it is essential for the progress of nation to maximize all the use of resources to reach as many people and institutions as much as possible.

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Region in Oman Wilayats covered*

Future Targets Comments

Muscat Governorate 6 0 All area/wiliyates covered

Dhofar Governorate 4 6Areas to cover in 2012-2013: Maqshin, Halaniyat, Raikhout, Dhalk-out, Al Mazyouna, Thamrait

Al Batinah Governorates 10 2 Areas to cover in 2012: Nakhal, Kha-boura

Al Dakhiliya Governorate 6 2 Areas to cover in 2012: Samael, Bahla

Al Sharqiya Governorates 5 5

Areas to cover in 2012- 2013: Bidiya, Al Kamel Al Wafi, Ibra, Wadi Bani Khalid, Dima Wa Al Taeen, Al Qa-bel

Al Wusta Governorate 0 4 Areas to cover in 2012: Al Jazer, Haima, Mahout, Duqum

Al Buraimi Governorate 2 1 Areas to cover in 2012: Al Sanina

Musandam Governorate 3 1 Areas to cover in 2012 : Diba

Al Dhahira Governorate 1 2 Areas to cover in 2012: Dhank, Yan-qul


1 out of 11 governorates has not been reached due to low population density

The table below lists the efforts made to achieve this. Unfortunately 1 out of 11 governorates (Al Wusta) is still not reachable due to low population density.

*= participants from these wilayats have taken part in Tawasul’s activities and programs

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Country Institutionengaged

Future Target Program

United Arab Emirates 7 10

Qatar 6 10

Kuwait 4 5

Saudi Arabia 5 10

Bahrain 1 5

Yemen 1 3

Lebanon 1 1

The Netherlands 2 2

United States of America 10 10

Germany 2 2

Sweden 3 3

France 1 1

Italy 1 1

Norway 1 2

The United Kingdom 1 1

Regional Outreach

Our ambition for sharing positive capacity building training, knowledge, and outreach impact is driving a gradual and steady programs engagement expansion to the rest of the AGCC and other countries. Mainly through two core areas of competencies “Afkar” (Policy Research Activities) and “Riyada” (Shared Values, Social Responsibility and Sustainability Activities) and other related activities, as follows:

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Our CSR policies are totally internalized in processes and structure: Internally: adhering to the environmental friendly policy, promoting diversity, empow-ering women enh ancing legal framework and labor rights, encouraging freedom of expression and civil liberties. Externally: designing, implementing and supervising community based social pro-grams and projects.

Our Actions for Sustainability

How does Tawasul achieve its Corporate Social Responsibility policies? Social

By addressing social issues in our core-work - By empowering our society’s women and youth - By promoting projects that address human rights, gender equity, labor rights - and youth empowerment By promoting cultural diversity among the internal stakeholders -

Environment By addressing recycling policies in Tawasul (mainly for papers and toners)by - taking part in Al Phaw Oasis Trade Co (a recycling company) By taking part in Save Energy Oman Campaign and taking internal actions in - order to reduce the energy consumption

Economic By having economically sustainable processes that enhance Tawasul to continu-- ously work for Omani societyBy making social investments focused on empowerment of civil society and - having a separated budget for CSR investments


• Challenges of main-taining separate CSR budget due to scarce financial re-sources

• Data Collection of environment impact

5. What values do we share?

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6. Who are our partners?

Stakeholder Engagement

The Omani way of establishing partnerships and maintaining relations with our stakeholders is through social gatherings (Majlis meetings). In addition, Tawasul regularly informs its stakeholders about its activities via brief-ings, newsletters, emails, website and social media such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.

We engage our stakeholders in activities releted to the UN Global Compact Initiative by providing them with infor-mation and program. We monitor any news and activities in the GCC region in the area of human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption and share this information with our stakeholders through social media. In Oman, using social media is not always effective as it does not always influence their behavior. Therefore, more traditional ways of communication such as the regular media (newspapers, radio and television) are chosen as well.

Tawasul always asks the participants to fill out evaluation forms. This gives us a wealth of information about what our stakeholders want and how they rate our performance. That way, we can adapt our services to the needs and wishes of our stakeholders. This is stated in our Code of Ethics: “The services of Tawasul shall be always evaluated by its stakeholders in order to improve internal processes and generate a better social impact”.

Tawasul’s main stakeholder groups are pictured in the figure below:

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Stakeholder group Initiative

Civil Society Institutions

Public Policy and Research Institutions

Private Institutions

Board, Employees and Volunteers

Media Media Outreach Activities

Launching Majlis A’Shura Website Dialogue on research and the making Development

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2011

Key Issues Identified How are we addressing the issue

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Com

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lsFinancial Sustainability including −signing national partnership, apply-ing for grants Compliance with legal and regula-−tory requirementsIncrease Human Resources capac-−ityVolunteer Engagement −Sustainability program scope and −prioritiesMonitoring and reporting sustain-−ability performance, including im-pact of activities Focus on decreasing paper con-−sumption, and encourage recycling Checking on energy consumption −on our own operationsFind solution for recycling plastic, −cans, glass

Working on gaining more national −Partners: Partnered with Microsoft, Oman Oil, Sablat Oman

Attracted Omani talent as speakers, −trainers

Monitoring our energy consumption −

Engaging volunteers throughout our −programs

Participated in various sustainability −programs (internally and externally) to build capacity of our own organi-zation and others

To produce GRI report and UNG −Communication on Progress

Engage with Environment Society of −Oman for Tawasul recycling strate-gies

Civ

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Mee

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Soci

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edia

Emai

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Tra

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Maj

lis (

Net

wor

king

Ses

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Encourage Volunteerism −

Provide Capacity Building Program −

Include participants from all areas −in the Sultanate

Increase dialogue with society −

Keeping society informed through −engaging media to capture topics of society concern

Continue contact and Communica-−tion with CSOs

Engage our volunteers in our initia-−tives

Annual celebration of Riyada (GCC −Civil Society Leaders Award 2011)

Mentoring Programs−

Engage media through 4 sympo-−siums highlighted media role

6 Majlis sessions to discuss societal −topics

9 Seminars and symposiums were −open for civil society/public in 2011

Stakeholder Engagement 2011

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2011

Key Issues Identified How are we addressing the issue

Priv

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Inst

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Maj

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Net

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Ses

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Trai

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Em

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Tele

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Networking between CSOs and −Private Sector

Introducing Sustainability to new-−comers

Networking and sharing best prac-−tices on Sustainability

Understanding international best −practices such UN Global Compact

Annual celebration of Riyada (GCC −Civil Society Leaders Award 2011)

Training on CSR and Sustainability−

Open Dialogues such as Youth Em-−ployability: Towards a Role for Civil Society in partnership with Public and Private sector

Established CSR network to engage −private sector in showcasing success in sustainability

Encourage Organization to sign in −with UN Global Compact

Encourage Organization to partici-−pate in Arabic CSR Award 2011

Publ

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Mee

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Ann

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Monitor Tawasul Policy Research −paper

Networking to see ways of part-−nership for joint publications and activities

Participation in meetings, seminars −or conferences organized by other regional and international Think Tanks

2 of Policy of research papers issued −in 2010 are now taken

AFKAR 1 GCC Think Tanks gathering −in Salalah

Steering Committee AGCC Think −Tanks Dialogue (AFKAR 2)

Dialogue on research −

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1 Provide Capacity Building Programs (CSOs, Private and Public Sector) including sustain-ability program scope and priorities (internally and externally).

2 Increase dialogue with society and keeping society informed through engaging media to capture topics of society concern.

3 Networking and Communications between (CSOs, Private Sector, Public, Research insti-tutions) and knowledge sharing on best practices.

4 Financial sustainability including signing national partnership, applying for grants.

5 Tawasul initiative to reach out all areas in the Sultanate.

6 Compliance with legal and regulatory requirements.

7 Increase human resources capacity.

8 Monitoring and reporting sustainability performance, including impact of activities and Tawasul policy research papers.

9 Focus on decreasing paper consumption, and encourage recycling and solutions for re-cycling plastic, cans, glass.

10 Checking on energy consumption on our own operations.

11 Encourage volunteerism, engaging volunteers.

12 Participation in meetings, seminars or conferences organized by other regional and in-ternational think tanks.

Overview of sustainability issues according to our stakeholders

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Methodology of developing the 12 key sustainability issues

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7. What have we achieved ?

Tawasul’s Achievements in 2011

In 2011, Tawasul’s four programs planned, designed, implemented, and assessed sixteen initiatives varied from symposia, seminars, workshops and 6 Majlis sessions (discussion platforms).

2011 Workshops1. Symposium on Partnerships for Society: Budget, People and Media

Date February 2nd, 2011

Place Sohar University

Description Chief Guest: His Excellency Sayyid Hilal Bin Badr Al Busaidi, Mayor/Wali of Sohar. This symposium aimed at strengthening partnership between the media, the public and Majlis A’Shura (Omani parliament) members. The participants discussed issues such as the state budget and five-year plan. Themes approached included: • Reviewing the Budget History and Planning Performance in Oman • Avenue for Active Partnership Between Representative Bodies • Media and Civil Society • Concept and Applicability of Performance Based Budgets to Oman and GCC • Role of Media in Involving the Society in Budget Review and Debates • Modes and Formats of Budget

Speakers

Dr. Mehdi Ahmed Jafar (Vice-Chairman of Evironment Society of Oman and member of Ta-wasul Advisory Board), Ahmed al-Mukhaini (Strategic Consultant at Tawasul and Indepen-dent Researcher), Alex Brazier (Expert in Budget and Parliamentary Scrutiny from Global Partners), Hatim al Taie (Chief Editor at Al Roya), Fatma Al Arimi (Special Correspondent of Alam Aliktisaad Wala’mal), Ahmed Al Othman (TV Presenter and Academician at Col-lege of Applied Sciences in Salalah), Hamad al Musharrafi (Expert in Econometrics and Researcher)

2. Seminar on Human Development Based Approach (HDBA)

Date March 7-8, 2011

Place Tawasul Headquarters

Description The seminar aimed to provide senior media professionals with basic concepts and principles of Human Rights, approaching themes such as culture, gender and the relation between Hu-man Rights Based Approach and development. Also discussed the Media Role in integrating and promoting Human Rights Based Approach, Human Rights based assessment and Human Rights based Analysis.

Speakers Dr. Amal Van Hees, Director of Bridging the Gulf Foundation and Ahmed Al Mukhaini, Inde-pendent Researcher and Tawasul’s Strategic Studies Consultant.

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Afkar. 1st GCC Think Tank Development Dialogue

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3. Symposium on Partnership: Human Development, Media and Society

Date March 9, 2011

Place Nizwa University

Description Chief Guest: His Excellency Malik Bin Hilal Al Abri, Member of Majlis A’Shura and representative of the Wilayat of Al Hamra. This Symposium aims to highlight the analy tical and investigative role of the media in raising societal awareness and involve-ment in public life. Many themes were approached such as Youth Perspective on Human Rights and Media, the Human Rights Assessment Criteria for Media Professionals and Shura Members and the Role of Civil Society Organizations in institutionalizing Human Rights.

Speakers Aysha Ali Al Wahaibi, New Media Specialist,Dr. Mohammad Al Rukun, lawyer from UAE.,Dr. Sadiq Jawad Sulaiman, Chairman of the Omani Society for Writers and Literati,Dr. Mehdi Ahmad Jaffar, ESO and Tawasul Advisory Board,Dr. Amal Van Hees, Director of Bridging the Gulf Foundation

4. Workshop on Best Practices in Sustainability and Social Responsibility: Shared Values

Date 12th and 13th of March 2011


Description This workshop aims to promote Corporate Social Responsibility and to share values be-tween public, private and Civil Society Sectors through engaging organizations CSR in their development strategy and introducing the Principles of UN Global Compact.

Speakers

Matthias Stausberg, Spokesperson and Head of Public Affairs & Media Relations at •United Nations Global Compact.

Habiba Al Marashi, President of the UN Global Compact Local Network for AGCC •States, and Chairperson of the Emirates Environmental Group and.

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5. Mentoring Session (1) for Civil Society Organizations in Al Dakhiliya

Date April 14 2011

Place Al Dakhiliya

Description The mentoring sessions aimed at providing Civil Society Organizations participated in capacity building program “together” in cooperation with Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) the professional and practical advice on strategic planning, community outreach, and pro-gramming which was held in 2010 in order to expand widen and strengthen networking and contact between organizations outside the capital to further development progress.

Civil Society Associations that Participated in Mentoring Sessions: Al Noor Association for the Blind -Al Dakhiliya•Omani Women Association Manah•Omani Women Association Jabal Al Akhdhar•

SpeakersAhmad Al Mukhaini, Tawasul Strategic Studies Consultant•

Nasra Al Adawi, Tawasul Chief Operations Officer •

Mireia Zamora, Consultant •

6. Youth Employability: Towards a Role for Civil Society in partnership with Public and Private sector

Date April 27, 2011

Place Crowne Plaza

Description In partnership with Microsoft Oman, the Dialogue aimed to enhance the role of civil society (NGOs) to address Youth Employability – by leveraging technology (IT) – in partnership with Public and Private sector and to empower civil society in Oman to play an impactful role in youth employability and skills.

Chief Guest: HE Dr. Yahya bin Badr Al Maawali, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Social De-velopment.

Speakers

Talal Al Rahbi, Deputy CEO for Operation-Information Technology Authority, Shaikh Saif al Hosni, Public and Education Sector Manager Microsoft, Dr. Zaki Khoury, Business Manager- Gulf, Microsoft, Abdullah Al Jufaili, Deputy General Manager-Shell Intilaaqah, Abeer Al Jasim, General Manager, Knowledge Horizon Institute, Salim Al Maqbali, General Manager Organization Planning-Omantel, Sharifa Al-Bara’mi, Deputy Chairwoman- Omani Woman’s Association Muscat, Fahad Al Abri, General Manager of Digital Society Development Divi-sion - ITA, Sultan Al Fare’i, Head of Marketing and Public Relations-Royat Shabab (Youth Vi-sion), Fatma Al Shidad, Director of Women in Technology – Salalah, Nasra Al Adawi, Chief Operations Officer-Tawasul, Khalid Al Haribi, Managing Director-Tawasul.

Riyada GCC Civil Society Leaders Awards and Dialogue 2011

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7. Symposium on Partnerships for Society: Majlis A’Shura, Media and Society

Date May 15, 2011

Place Omani Women Association, Al Buraimi

Description This Symposium aimed to highlight the analytical and investigative role of the media in rais-

ing societal awareness of and involvement in public life, and also to facilitate the creation of

partnership between the media, people and Majlis a’Shura members to institutionalize and

strengthen popular participation processes.

Speakers

HE Salim Ali Al Kaabi, Majlis Shura and Member -Representative of Al Mihdha, Mem-•ber of Majlis Bureau

Hatim Al Taie founder and Chief Editor of Al Roya Press and Publishing•

Dr. Amal Van Hees, Director of Bridging The Gulf Foundation•

Khalid Al Haribi, Managing Director of Tawasul•

Nasra Al Adawi, Tawasul Chief of Operations (moderator)•

8. Symposium on Partnerships for Society: Majlis A’Shura, Media and Society

Date 17th May 2011

Place Grand Hyatt, Muscat

Description This Symposium aimed to highlight the analytical and investigative role of the media in rais-

ing societal awareness of and involvement in public life, and also to facilitate the creation of

partnership between the media, people and Majlis a’Shura members to institutionalize and

strengthen popular participation processes.

Speakers

Honorable Lamees Abdullah al Taie, State Council Member•

Honorable Dr. Suad Sulaiman, State Council Member•

HE Malik Al Abri, Majlis Shura Member - Representative of Al Hamra•

Hatim Al Taie founder and Chief Editor of Al Roya Press and Publishing•

Ahmed Al Mukhaini, Tawasul Strategic Studies Consultant•

Khalid Al Haribi, Managing Director of Tawasul•

Nasra Al Adawi, Tawasul Chief of Operations (moderator)•

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9. Mentoring Session (2) for Civil Society Organizations in Al Batinah

Date 5th and 9th of June 2011

Place Al Dakhiliya and Al Batinah

Description In continuation to mentoring session started on April 2011 with aim to provide Civil Society Or-ganizations participated in capacity building program “together” in cooperation with Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) the professional and practical advice on strategic planning, community outreach, and programming

CSOs that Participated in Mentoring Sessions: Omani Women Association Jabal Al Akhdhar•Omani Women Association Buraimi•Women In Technology Sohar•Oman Association for Disabled Children Musana•

FacilitatorsAhmad Al Mukhaini, Tawasul Strategic Studies Consultant•

Mireia Zamora, Consultant •

10. 1st GCC Think Tank Development Dialogue: Potentials, Challenges and Benefits

Date July 7, 2011

Place Salalah Crowne Plaza

Description The Dialogue aimed to determine the status quo of Think Tanks in the GCC region and identify their strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats, also deduce a framework of action to synergize sustainable development of TTs in the region. Including legal, financial and advo-cacy aspects and to Develop support and guidance schemes by Think Tanks to CSOs in the region.

Guest speakers included Dr. Sa’ad Al Ajmi- IDEA , Hon. Dr. Suad Sulaiman – Member of Statce Council, Dr. Mashail Al Hajri- Kuwait University, Mr. Thomas Birringer- KAS, Khalid Al Haribi-Co Founder Tawasul, Dr. Obaid Younissi -RAND Qatar Policy Institute, Ahmed Al Mukhaini – Tawasul, Dr. Amal Van Hees, Bridging The Gulf Foundation.

Facilitators Ahmed Al Mukhaini•Dr. Mashail Al Hajri•

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11. Launching Majlis A’Shura Website

Date September10 2011

Place Tawasul

Description Tawasul partnered with Sablat Oman, the biggest online forum in the Sultanate with quarter of a million members on the design, implementation and content management of the Majlis A`Shura Elections 2011 website.

FacilitatorsHatim Al Tai, Al Roya Newspaper Chief Editor•Khalid Al Haribi, Co Founder Tawasul•Moosa Al Farai, General Manager of Sablat Oman•Khalid Al Balushi, Sablat Oman Marketing Manager•

12. Mentoring Session (3) for Civil Society Organizations in Dhofar

Date Throughout September 2011

Place Dhofar

Description The mentoring session aimed at providing Civil Society Organizations participated in capacity building program “together” in cooperation with Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) the professional and practical advice on strategic planning, community outreach, and program-ming which was held in 2010 in order to expand widen and strengthen networking and contact between organizations outside the capital to further development progress.

Organization Participated in Mentoring Sessions: Women In Technology Salalah •Al Noor Association for the Blind – Salalah•Al Wafa Voluntary Centre Salalah•Al Majlis Al Shamila•

SpeakersAhmad Al Mukhaini, Tawasul Strategic Studies Consultant•

Nasra Al Adawi, Tawasul Chief of Operations •

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Partnership : Signing with Microsoft Oman

37

Date September 18, 2011 Muscat September 21, 2011 Salalah

Place Muscat , Muscat Intercontinental Hotel Salalah, Crown Plaza

Description Organized in partnership with Sablat Oman the country’s biggest on line forum. The aim of the event is to highlight Majlish a’Shura Elections and the potential role of social media, Infor-mation Technology and Media communication tools in engaging the public (with a focus on pre-election stage). Also to promote youth engagement through social media (with a focus on post-election).

Speakers

Mr. Mosa Al Fare’i, Founder of Sablat Oman Ms. Aysha Ali Al Wahaibi, New Media Specialist , Knowledge Oman Mr. Sultan Al Fare’i, President of Marketing and Public Relations, Youth Vision Mr. Ahmad Mohammed Al Othman, TV Presenter and Academician at College of Applied Sciences Salalah Mr. Khalid Al Haribi, Tawasul Managing Director Mr. Ahmed Al-Mukhaini, Tawasul Strategic Studies Consultant

13. Women’s Campaign Consultant Development Program 2011

Date September to October 2011

Place Tawasul HQ

Description The program aimed to provide consultation to 21 women A’Shura election candidates. Fo-cus Area of consultation was a to support women in their election strategy such as platform development; message development; message dissemination; design of campaign materials; campaign strategy; voter outreach efforts and election-day voter turnout efforts. By the end of consultation women candidates were better equipped and prepared to run their election cam-paign and provided with better chances of winning.

Facilitators Aysha Al Wahaibi, blogger and new media specialist

14. Symposium on E-Campaigning: Electronically Connected

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15. Steering Committee AGCC Think Tanks Dialogue (AFKAR 2)

Date December 4, 2011


Description The AGCC Think Tanks Dialogue (AFKAR 2) aims to build professional ties between local consulting firms and contribute in the development of civil society and its institu-tions. The agenda of the proposed program for the second AGCC Think Tank Dialogue was discussed by a Steering Committee in collaboration with the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung Abu Dhabi and the presence of a number of research centers and consulting firms in the AGCC such as the Dubai School of Government, the Emirates Centre for Studies and research and King Faisal Center for research and Islamic Studies. The com-mittee also discussed and developed preliminary themes for the second dialogue, in-cluding the challenges and expectations about the development in the AGCC and the role of promoting and upgrading Private Local Think Tanks regarding development and planning.

Participants

Dr. Awadh Al Badi, King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies•

Mohammed Al Ansari, Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research •

Thomas Birringer, Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS)•

Stephen Brannon, Dubai School of Government (DSG) •

Partnership : Signing with Oman Oil Company

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16. GCC Civil Society Leaders Awards and Dialogue 2011

Date December14, 2011

Place Diplomatic Club – Muscat

Description Chief Guest: H.H. Sayyid Loay bin Ghalib Al Said. The ceremony was opened with a “Dia-logue on Best Practices of Cooperation” between the public, private and the third sector The winners of 2011 were: - Injaz (Oman) for the Best Social Investment Initiative in the Private Sector - Tamkeen (Kuwait and Yemen) for the Best Social Independent Initiative of the Year - Dubai Foundation for Women and Children (UAE) for the Best Civil Society Organization of the Year (women organizations, groups and unions) - AEICD (Oman) for the Best Civil Society Organization of the Year (charitable organizations) - Amal al Manai (Qatar) for the Female Civil Society Leader of the Year. Recognition Awards: - H.H. Shaikha Fatima bint Zayed Al Nahyan for Civil Society Leader of the Year - Muscat Youth Summit for Best Social Enterpreneurship Initiative of the year - Sheikh Mohammed Al Maktoum Foundation for Civil Society of the Year - Al Rahma Team (Oman) for Charitable Organization of the Year - Society of Majid bin Abdulaziz for Development and Social Services (KSA) for Charitable organization of the Year - Al Roya Newspaper for Media organization of the Year

Sponsors

Platinum Partner: Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS) Golden Partners: 1. Oman Oil Company 2. MonteAdriano Middle East

Communication partner: Oman Mobile Media partners:

Al Roya Newspaper1.

Sablat Oman2.

Muscat Daily3.

Hala Fm4.

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Majilis on View on Oman’s Achievements and Potential Best Practices

Majlis on Successful marketing skills

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Date March12, 2011


Description Talking about CSR Arabia

How CSOs can convince companies in approaching CSR

Partnering in CSR programs that are sustainable (presenting her experience in the topic).

Gaining support of these companies in order to develop the third sector (Civil Society) including answering queries.

SpeakersHabiba Al Marashi, Chairperson Emirates Environment Group and Board Mem-•ber UN Global CompactMatthias Stausberg, Head of Public Affairs & Media Relations and UN Global •Compact Spokesperson

2011 Majlis Sessions: Majlis 1: Successful marketing skills in Small Business Administration

Date February12, 2011


Description The Dialogue aimed to provide participants with successful marketing skills based on her per-sonal and professional career achievements which include achieving the second-highest lead-ership position in the management of small enterprises, and presiding over one of the largest telecommunications companies, and leading about two thousand staff and eight hundred thousand clients, and contributing to the establishment of a number of business start ups for young men and women from families with limited income

Speakers H.E. Mary G. Jones, Deputy Head of Small Business Administration (SBA), USA

Majlis 2: Corporate Social Responsibility in the GCC

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Majlis 3: View on the Sultanate’s achievements and potential best practices

Date May 29, 2011


Description In honor of visiting delegation of consultant from the United Kingdom

David Rigg, Founder and Managing Director of Project Associates and Head of our - Overseas Governments Practice

Alexander Gee, - Associate Director at Project Associates

Dialogue: View on the Sultanate’s of Oman Achievements and potential best practices to highlight our unique advantages

Speakers

Hatim Hamad Al Tai, Chief Editor of Al Roya −Saud Ali Al Jabri, Chairman of General Federation of Oman Trade Union−Shabib Mohammed Al Mamari, Executive Director of Injaz Oman −Haidar Abdul Redha Al Lawati, Board Member of Oman Journalists Association −Sharifa Mussalam Al Barami, Deputy Chairwoman of Omani Woman Association −MuscatMajid Sultan Al Tooqi, Board Member of Oman Society for Petroleum Services −Mashoor Dawood Al Asfour, Deputy Chairman of Contractors Association of Oman −Salim Talib Al Shidi, Chief Executive Officer of Contractors Association of Oman −Hanan Qassim Al Muscati, Manager of Dar Al Atta Association−

Majlis 4: Dialogue on Research and the Making of Development: The Role of Think Tank

Date July 7, 2011

Place Salalah, Hilton

Description The role of think tanks and research centers in the society: intellectual luxury or a ref-1. erence for decision-making? Current challenges of development in the Gulf: Education and knowledge creation as 2. case studies. Endowments: What is available and what are the future trends? Global experience 3. and projections in the Gulf.

Speakers

Dr. Ibrahim Sharqiya, Brookings Center, Doha •Dr. Saad Bin Taflah Al Ajmi , IDEA•

Moderator: Dr. Mehdi Bin Ahmed Jaafar, Deputy Chairman Omani Environmental Society of Oman.

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Date October26, 2011


Description The discussion was to review results of Majlis A’Shura Election and also covered on women candidates’ performance and focused on lesson learned. Hamad Al Musharafi shared the statistic in terms of number of votes and how women can use such statistic in future

SpeakersHonorable Dr. Suad Sulaiman, Member of the Omani State Council•

Hamad Bin Rashid Al Musharafi, Econometrics Specialist•

Majlis 5: Results of the Majlis A’Shura Election

Majlis 6: Steering Committee AGCC Think Tanks Dialogue (AFKAR 2)

Date December 4, 2011


Description The AGCC Think Tanks Dialogue (AFKAR 2) aims to build professional ties between lo-cal consulting firms and contribute in the development of civil society and its institutions. The agenda of the proposed program for the second AGCC Think Tank Dialogue was discussed by a Steering Committee in collaboration with the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung Abu Dhabi and the presence of a number of research centers and consulting firms in the AGCC such as the Dubai School of Government, the Emirates Centre for Studies and research and King Faisal Center for research and Islamic Studies. The committee also discussed and developed prelimi-nary themes for the second dialogue, including the challenges and expectations about the development in the AGCC and the role of promoting and upgrading Private Local Think Tanks regarding development and planning.

Speakers

Dr. Awadh Al Badi, King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies•

Mohammed Al Ansari, Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research •

Thomas Birringer, KAS•

Stephen Brannon, Silatech •

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1st GCC Think Tank Development Dialogue

Youth Employability: Towards a Role for Civil Society in partnership with Public and Private sector

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Symposiums and Workshop Impacts

# EventNumber of people who benefited

Nationality Speakers/Trainers/

facilitators Area

1 Symposium on Partnership: Budget, People and Media 48 6 Omanis – 1 UK Sohar

2 Seminar on Human Development based Approach14

10*1 Omani – 1 Dutch Muscat

3 Symposium on Partnership: Human Development, Me-dia and Society 143 3 Omanis – 1 Emirati-

1 Saudi Nizwa

4 Workshop on Best Practices in Sustainability 15

15*1 Emirati– 1 German Muscat

5 Mentoring Session (1) for Civil Society Organizations in Al Dakhiliya 3*

2 Omanis –

1 Spanish Al Dakhiliya Region

6 Youth Employability: Towards a Role for Civil Society in partnership with Public and Private sector

110

34*

11 Omanis

1 Egyptian Muscat

7 Symposium on Partnership: Majlis Ashura, Media and Society (Buraimi) 40 4 Omanis – 1 Saudi Buraimi

8 Symposium on Partnership: Majlis Ashura, Media and Society (Muscat) 100 5 Omanis Muscat

9 1st GCC Think Tank Development Dialogue: Potentials, Challenges and Benefits

33

21*

3 Omanis

2 Kuwaitis - 1 Saudi

1 German - 1 American

Salalah

10 Mentoring Session (2) for Civil Society Organizations in Al Batinah 4*

1 Omani

1 Spanish Al Batinah Region

11 Launching Majlis A>Shura Website 306

*= organizations

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# EventNumber of people who benefited

Nationality Speakers/Trainers/

facilitators Area

12 Mentoring Session (3) for Civil Society Organizations in Al Batinah

22

4*

2 Omani Dhofar

13Women’s Campaign Consultant Development Program 2011

21 (Around different areas of the sultanate)

1 Omani Muscat

14 Symposium on E- Campaigning (Muscat and Salalah)Muscat 56Salalah 67Total: 123

5 OmanisMuscat

Salalah

15 Steering Committee AGCC Think Tanks Dialogue (AFKAR 2) 5*

1 Emirati,1 Saudi, 1 Omani,1 American, 2 Germans

Muscat

16 GCC CSLA 2011162

21*2 Emiratis,1 Qatari Muscat

Majlis impactEvent Number of Participants speakers

1. Successful marketing skills 18 1 American

2. CSR in the GCC 20 1 Arab, 1 American

3. View on Oman’s Achievements and Potential Best Practices 15 1 British

4. Dialogue on research and the making Development 74 1 Kuwaiti, 1,1 Omani, 1 American

5. Results of the Majlis A’Shura Election 13 2 Omani

6. Steering Committee GCC (AFKAR 2) 19 1 Emirati,1 Saudi, 1 Omani,1 American, 2 Germans

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Total number of people benefited (training, conferences) 1138

*Total number of organizations benefited from Tawasul programs 117

Total of people benefited from Majlis sessions 159

Summary of Tawasul’s Impact in 2011 The total number of people that benefited from our four programs:

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The Community’s open platform (using ICT as a Social Media Platform)

Tawasul also consistently provides open community group discussion feedback and engagement platforms hence has been active using LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Storify and also Dropbox.

Tawasul Oman

1642 friends daily interact with relevant news and activities updated in this group established in 2008. Our like page is also frequently visited and has 830 likes.

Oman CSR Group:

141 members from the Sultanate, AGCC, and other countries interact in this group which is daily updated with relavant Sustainability and Social Responsibility (SSR) in Oman tips, activities and news, since March 2011.

Riyada Civil Society Leaders Awards:

118 members in this group dedicated to engage the online community to know more about CSR concepts, our fo-rum and the award, initiated in 2011.

@TawasulOman : 2100 followers enrich this active timeline since 2011.

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Impact of issuing Policy Research PapersTawasul had 2 policy research papers issued in 2010:

Civil Society Organizations: The way forwar1- d October, 2010

Omani Majlis a’Shura Elections: A Normative Analysi2- s March, 2010

Actual Impact in 2011 based on policy papers outreach

- Association Law 14/2000 is currently getting reviewed by the Ministry of Social Development.

- The word civil society organization was included in His Majesty Speech for the first time in October 2011.

- 3 women from Civil Society Organizations had been assigned to the State Council.

- Order to assign a youth committee to oversee Youth affairs and also include a member of civil society organizations.

- The use of social media was allowed for election campaigning

- 7 Majlis a’Shura members were appointed ministers in 2011.

- The Council of Oman was granted more power in the legistalitive and auditing field

- Independence of judiciary has been enhanced.

Recognition Awards/Appreciation 2011

1- Appreciation Award given by Nizwa Healthy Life Style Project.

2- Appreciation Certificate for participating as member of judging committee in Al Roya Business Award.

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Corporate Social Responsibility in the GCC

51

8. How do we run our institution?

Ownership structure Tawasul is an independent privately owned limited liability company. It follows a social entrepreneurship model that seeks to maximize returns for people, planet and profit.

Challenges facing governance of small social enterprise such as TawasulEntrepreneurship is a path to sustainability for nations seeking the economic diversi-fication of their income. In our context, start ups such as Tawasul, have been looked at as the next big priority for various reasons but the main reason would be that it creates jobs. The government, legal and business environment have taken gradual and steady initiatives such as, sending 50 Omani entrepreneurs abroad to learn from different experiences, to support small businesses that we hope will improve in the near future. Tawasul has been hosting seminars in 2011 to encourage social entrepreneurship in Oman. Our advi-sory board has identified the following obstacles that we will have to approach policy makers with in order to find solutions. Here are some of these challenges: 1. Administrative challenges.Facing difficulties from finding a CR name to complications of meaning of the name chosen. administrative and licensing procedures involve many restrictions, complexity, and bureaucracy. Defining commercial activities of a social enterprise is very tricky is only either a profit, or non profit registration is available. 2. Market conditionsPurchase power and Marketing, are the biggest challenge, people would rather spend their money on necessities, so any new products such as Tawasul capacity building training and research policy programs papers are very challenge-able , spreading awareness and marketing might take a lot of time for the people to accept. 3. Labor regulationsWorkforce nationalization efforts and policies for large corporate are fully supported by Tawasul, however, for small social startups the government’s attractive and aggressive recruitment campaign in 2011 is a direct competi-tion and undermines Tawasul’s packages and compensations. policies 4. Education and trainingAnother challenge finding the right people for the right jobs, skilled and trained staff are lacking in the Sultanate is its mega infrastructure development projects continue. Therefore this has and will always be a challenge. An entrepreneurship academy will help overcoming this education and training challenge. 5. Financial institutes.Oman also lacks diversity in capital financing sources. There are no venture capital industry or angle investors; The main one is the “Fund for Development of Youth Projects” a closed joint stock company, which was the first venture capital fund created in 1998. Sharakah has been always been there to support youth with creative idea’s and in Sharakah we have many success stories that we are highly proud of.

What Is The Main Chal-lenge?

• Tawasul is a social enterprise, so far the regulatory and busi-ness environment is not supportive of such entrepreneurial business models

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Organization Chart

Open Door Policy By consistently holding local majlis/town hall Tawasul sessions we encourage a communicative process and have open dialogues regarding the strategy and performance of the institution, articulate organization priorities, recog-nize employee achievements and address any employee questions or concerns.

Board of trustees

Board of Directors

Chief Executive Officer

Chief Operations

Officer

Management and Projects

OfficerFinancial Officer

Public Relations Officer

Research Innovation

Officer

Administration Officer

Creative Officer

Advisory Board

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9. How transparent are we?

Trust and confidence in our selves as a society-based transparent institution is the rea-son behind our firm interest and commitment to reporting. Since 2008, reporting did not only simply told people what we do it further provided with a thorough feedback and assessment on how we can contribute to the society’s sustainable development efforts. You, as a stakeholder have an open access to our previous, current, and future program activities and your feed back is welcomed.

In July 2010, Tawasul joined the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), a stra-tegic policy initiative for businesses that are committed to aligning their operations and strategies with ten universally accepted principles in the areas of human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption.

By participating in UNGC, we demonstrate how we can lead by example in the area of CSR by practicing what we preach, and by going above and beyond compliance with prevailing laws and regulations of the Sultanate of Oman. It also serves us as a benchmarking on CSR for our projects, core-work and stakeholders.

UN Global Compact Initiative - The Ten Principles

At Tawasul, we wholeheartedly support the UN Global Compact’s ten principles in the area of human rights, la-bor, environment and anti-corruption. We strive to implement these principles in order to achieve our mission and value. Therefore, we have incorporated this in our ethics code: “The core-work, support-work and daily-based adminis-trative tasks shall not contradict Global Compact principles…”, “Tawasul shall not liaise with suppliers that con-tradict Global Compact principles” and “Tawasul shall not offer its services for institutions that contradict Global Compact principles”.

Furthermore, one of our Board Members is a Board Member of the GCC Global Compact Local Network.

Human RightsPrinciple 1: Businesses should support and respect the protection of internationally proclaimed Human Rights; andPrinciple 2: Make sure that they are not complicit in Human Rights abusesTawasul supports and respects the protection of internationally proclaimed Human Rights (HR). We deem HR to be so important that we involve a HR component in all our projects. NationallyIn December 2010, Tawasul designed, planned and implemented a Human Right (HR) sensitization project focused on youth, academic institutions and media. This was the first and only project in Oman related to Human Rights car-


Lack of diverse role • models in the area of sustainability reporting by Oman Based Orga-nization

Role of private institu-• tions as human rights stakeholder is not yet clearly defined

54

ried out by an Omani institution. The overall objective of this project was to further skill media professionals in Oman with an HR mind set aimed at:

Sensitizing the media to HR principles, values and processes.1)

Enabling the media to identify, determine and analyze HR dimensions in the issues and topics addressed 2) and deduce appropriate approaches to streamline HR in their analysis and coverage.

Instilling the presence of HR in the mind of the populace, hence, enhancing responsibility and account-3) ability.

This project had started from 2010 and continued 2011 was composed of three workshops and three symposia covering Human Rights Based Approach. Around 14 representatives from the Research Council, civil society orga-nizations and media professionals attended the training (see page 17-18, workshop 1, 2, 3, 7 and 8).

In addition, in 2010 the workshop commenced on State Budget Scrutiny and Media and the Public Interest focused on providing economic journalists the skills to analyze the five years state budget from a human development per-spective.

In January 2011, Tawasul presented an individual Universal Periodic Review Human Rights report to the UNHRC (United Nations Human Rights Council). We wanted the report to be viewed in the spirit that UN conventions and other instruments assist member states to streamline Human Rights in all their planning processes and functions.

In our submission to the UN Human Rights Council, we focused amongst others on discrimination of women and chil-dren. Our recommendations to the Omani government were to take necessary legal and administrative measure to ensure the following: 1. Creating a legal environment that protects women and children from violence, by implementing a system that encourages victims to report attacks, protects them and their families and deters perpetrators from committing these abuses. 2. Ensuring that complaints of gender based violence are properly registered by the police and investigated, and any crimes prosecuted leading to the conviction of the perpetrators. 3. Training the law enforcement officers on handling victims of abuse and violence, particularly with women and children.

RegionallyTawasul follows the news on Human Rights in the GCC region and share this information with stakeholders through all our channels.

InternallyWe are committed to not discriminate any person. This is even incorporated in our Code of Ethics: “Tawasul never discriminates on the grounds of race, religion, beliefs and nationality etc.” We have regular meetings to assess whether we are still compliant with our Human Rights commitments.

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LaborPrinciple 3: Businesses should uphold the freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to col-lective bargaining;

InternallyAs Tawasul is quite a small organization, freedom of association and collective bargaining do not really apply in-ternally. Nevertheless, these issues are very important to us. NationallyIn our submission to the UN Human Rights Council, we have written the following: “Oman is a signatory to the Inter-national Labour Organization (ILO) and its conventions. Though great strides have been achieved towards fulfilling those conventions and Human Rights principles and instruments, Tawasul wrote in its report that the following issues remain a challenge:

Labor/Trade Unions have not formed industry-wide federations, as per the law, mainly due to modest under-1. standing among employers and employees about the use and value of industry federations, leave alone the Human Rights and Legal significance. As per the Omani law, labour unions cannot organize activities nor participate in even local, regional or 2. international without the consent of the General Federation of Trade Unions, which has not been rendering sufficient support to its main stakeholders. Labour regulations do not offer any provisions to help expatriate labour communities to integrate into the 3. community and culture.”

Therefore, in its report Tawasul made the following recommendations: 1. Industry wide federations must be encouraged along with limiting the influence of the General Federation of

Trade Unions.2. More efforts need to be exerted by the government and employers to integrate expatriate labor force into

the communityInspired by the popular uprisings that swept the Middle East and North Africa in 2010-11, Omanis began staging peaceful marches and demonstrations in March-May 2011 to demand economic benefits, an end to corruption, and greater political rights. Tawasul followed the news closely and participated in public discussions.We always engage the General Federation of Oman Trade Unions in our stakeholder activities (Majlis). Also, we share experiences with international labor unions and federations with e.g. representatives of the Dutch Labor Fed-eration (FNV) and Federal Mediation Conciliation Services (FMCS) from USA. In 2012, Tawasul aims to continue to be active in this field. Principle 4: the elimination of all forms of forced and compulsory labor;Tawasul is committed to equality of employment as is shown in our Code of Ethics: “Tawasul shall not discriminate against any person for her or his color, gender, nationality or religion”. All employees are working according to the rules outlined in the Omani labor law.

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Principle 5: the effective abolition of child labor; and

Tawasul does not tolerate child labor in any form.

Age Group:

Board of TrusteesBoard of Directors

25-45

Management/Admin 25- 40

Interns – Volunteers 18-25

Principle 6: the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation.

Tawasul is compliant to the Omani government rules on employment. Tawasul encourages all their employees to read the Omani labour law. Moreover, we require from all our partners to sign an engagement contract which explains their basic rights and duties.

Tawasul respects and supports Human Rights and fairly treats its employees, consultants and volunteers when it comes to gender, language and culture. Tawasul’s work force is diverse, as its full time staff hail from various back-grounds and geographic areas, its gender ration is about 60% female and 40% male. Tawasul’s volunteers, advi-sors, and consultants also come from different countries, and they speak Arabic, English, Swahili, and also Spanish is spoken on the work floor.

Positions Number of Human resources Nationality Salary Status /Range

Board of Trustees

Board of Directors2 Omani Nationals Voluntary

Board of Advisors 3 Omanis, Qatari Voluntary

Management/Admin 3 Omani RO 300 - RO 1000

Consultants 3 Omani, Spanish, Dutch RO 250 – RO 600

Interns /Volunteers4 Omani, Swiss, Brazilian RO 150- RO 400

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Details of human resources 2011

Positions Number of Work force male

Number of Work force female

Management/Admin 1 1

Consultants 0

Interns /Trainees 1 1

Tawasul abides by the Omani Labor Law in providing all facilities to workforce according in terms of annual leave, sick leave and social insurance. Tawasul also provide work appraisal for the employee and has provided bonuses to the employees on June 2011 in appreciation of the employees’ dedication to their work.

Tawasul is committed with the workforce nationalization policies (Omanization- creating meaningful job opportuni-ties for Omani national) and is rooted in our organization culture and we have achieved 100% Omanization of fulltime employees, %66 of the overall team of advisors, consultants, and volunteers. Additional the same policy has been applied in terms of encouraging pool of Omani talent to participate in our initiatives reaching a 60% of participation. (Please refer back to page 28-30).

The salary range of Tawasul employees is higher than the rate has been set by Ministry of Manpower which is RO 200/- for Omani nationals.

Tawasul invests in the human resources retention and development of its team members by training them in differ-ent aspects. In the table on the next page you can find information on participation in trainings, conferences and seminars.

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# Title Type Country Attended

1 Social Return on Investment CSR Workshop Dubai, UAE 1

2 Symposium on Partnership: Budget, People and Media

Symposium/Workshop

(Internal)Muscat, Oman 1

3 Start up Business Training Entrepreneurship Work-shop Muscat, Oman 1

4 Seminar on Human Development based Ap-proach

HR Seminar

(Internal )Muscat, Oman 1

5 The role of the media in Arab Societies Media Conference Abu Dhabi, UAE 1

6 Outbound Celebration Conference Muscat, Oman 2

7 Entrepreneurship as Social Policy Seminar Abu Dhabi, UAE 1

8 Dubai Debates on «Females in the Arab Spring» Debate Dubai, UAE 1

9 Women on Sustainability Growth Workshop Sweden 1

10 Youth and Employability post Arab Uprising Seminar Qatar 1

11 Media Literacy Leadership Training USA 1

12 Exchanging Experiences Post Arab Uprising Dialogue Egypt 1

13 GCC Integration Potential Dialogue Italy 1

14 Exchanging Experiences with Qatari institu-tions Meetings Qatar 2

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Benefits to our Employees during 2011:

# Facilities to our Employees Number of Employees

1 Flexi Hours and working from Home 1

2 Maternity Leave (50 days as per Omani law) 1

3 Lunch break Policy: 90% of lunch breaks supported by the institution All fulltime staff

4 Covering Employee Social Insurance 2

5 Employee Relocation support 2

6 Salary Increase All fulltime staff

7 Incentives to Volunteers/ Trainers/Speakers 100%

8 Pursuing leadership discourse (supported by providing full paid holiday) 2

Target 2012

1 Encourage Women Empowerment

We are pursuing a strategy of women empowerment which should lead to the appointment of a new young Omani woman CEO.

2 Continuity on our employee satisfaction Tawasul is committed to provide a work environment without any harassment or intimidation.

3 Quantifying rate of employee satisfaction Have survey on job satisfaction

4 Continue on providing professional development to our employees

To enroll new member of Tawasul in training opportu-nity and attending conferences

5 To increase sustainability training for employees Conduct GRI Training in Muscat in 2012

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EnvironmentPrinciple 7: Businesses should support a precautionary approach to environmental challenges Tawasul has implemented introduced recycling through advisory and consultation withEnvironment Society of Oman and have remained committed in terms of recycling since 2010. Two of our Advisory Board members are international recognized founders and lead-ers of AGCC based Environment Societies, in the Sultanate and Qatar. Principle 8: undertake initiatives to promote greater environmental responsibility

One of Tawasul’s Advisory Board Members is the Deputy Chairman of the Environment Society of Oman. We sup-port his organization as much as possible and often include them in our activities. In 2011 we hosted their External Board Meeting in which they addressed and deliberated on their 5 year members proposed strategy. Another Advisory Board Member is the Chairman of the Qatari Friends of the Environment. Tawasul has strived to incorporate an environment friendly way of working. As actions to save the environment such as recycling, sorting waste or the use of green energy are not yet very common in the society, we are a front runner in this. We minimize our carbon footprint and save the environment by:

Identified gaps in our paper usage tracking during 2011 against primary source to restate 2012 1.

2010 2011

Paper in kg Not available 120

Opted for electronic invitation instead of printed paper invitation 2.

2011Electronic Invitation Letters/Paper Invitation

85% 15%

Recycling papers (including newspaper, and boxes) and recycled ink toners through a recycling company Al 3. Phaw Oasis Trade Co. We are realizing that 85% of our recycled papers are newspapers; we need to re-view on the necessity of obtaining printed newspaper and if we can find alternatives Amounts of paper and toners recycled in 2010-2011:

2010 2011

Paper in kg 340 880

Ink Toners 7 7


• Recruit Human Re-sources that matches future expansion plans and better vol-unteers management system

61

Taking part in the Save Energy Oman Campaign. We have started to take 4. internal actions in order to reduce the energy consumption (reduce the air conditioning temperature and unplugging chargers and switching off lights, computers and air conditioning at night). All employees use laptops instead of more energy consuming desk tops.

2010 2011

Electricity watts not recorded 16257

For 2012, we aim to decrease our electricity usage by being stricter in our en-ergy saving measures. However, as efficient energy use is achieved primarily by means of a more efficient technology or process rather than by changes in individual behavior, we are planning to install fluorescent lights and/or sky-lights instead of incandescent lights.

Saving as much water as possible. The Arabian Gulf region is the driest region in the world. Scarcity of 5. water is an eminent problem now and in the future. Nevertheless, low water tariffs and scant awareness provide little motivation for users to reduce consumption in this region. We would like to break this pattern and lead by example by saving as much water as we can in our daily work.

Unfortunately, our water units consumed were not recorded in 2010, but our consumption in 2011 was as follows:

2010 2011

Water units consumed not recorded 49280

We would like to reduce our water consumption in 2012 by 10%. Therefore, we plan to increase our water saving actions daily. Reducing the use of paper by not printing any paper publications, all our publications are published on 6. our website. And we encourage communications by email and read email messages onscreen to determine whether it is necessary to print them. When possible we use scrap paper for printing. For 2012, our aim is to start producing double-sided documents and use environmentally friendly paper.

Recycle plastics (bags, containers, bottles etc.) by reusing them for different purposes. We want to find a way 7. to recycle plastics in 2012.


Have not main-• tained records on energy consumption in 2010, hence we could not provide comparability

Limited recycling • channels for plastic, cans and glass in the country

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Tawasul is increasing its use of new ICT programs such as Ustream and Livestream on our website. We are 8. encouraging our clients to follow our workshops and other activities through our website (webinars), so our carbon footprint is reduced.

For 2012, Tawasul aims to engage their employees to record on staff commuting in order to check on actual travel impact and additionally encourage employees and stakeholders in a national Clean up Oman-cam-paign to safeguard the environment.

Principle 9: encourage the development and diffusion of environmentally friendly technologies

Tawasul has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Emirates Environment Group (EEG) to promote CSR in Oman including environmental initiatives. It had also taken part in engaging organizations be adherent towards social responsibility and to take part with Arabia CSR Award this resulted participation of 2 organizations from Oman. In 2012, we will be monitoring national initiatives that uses environmentally friendly technologies like solar energy, desalination, hydro-power and tidal power. We will engage society in understanding these technologies through our Majlis Sessions.

Anti-Corruption

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

Externally As Tawasul holds transparency very high, we organized a workshop on budget scrutiny in February 2011 that focused on officials, academic institutions and the media. The symposium aimed at strengthening the partnership between Majlis A’Shura members, the public and the media and eradication of corruption in all its forms.

During the uprisings in March-May 2011 in Oman in which more checks and balances were demanded, Tawasul constructively engaged in promoting rationalism in public discussions.

Internally Tawasul uses transparency as the primary principle of fighting corruption. Tawasul team participated with Kuwait Transparency Society which is a member of transparency international (TI) in two activities, forum for the Future discussion and Kuwait National/Assembly Majlis Al Umah elections in 2012. Also, in 2012 we continue to make all their activities publicly available. Tawasul stresses on transparency and eradication of corruption.

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2011 Partners and Sponsors

During 2011 we have entered into partnership with the following organizations to enable us to continue with our programs:

Supported by Program

The Kingdom of the Netherlands Workshops/Symposium on Human Right (HR) sensitization.

UN Global CompactArabia CSR Network

Workshop on Best Practices in Sustainability.

Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) CSO’s Mentoring Sessions (1, 2, 3).

Microsoft, Information Technology Authority Youth Employability: Towards a Role for Civil Society in partner-ship with Public and Private sector.

Salalah Festival, Bridging the Gulf Foundation, Kon-rad-Adenauer-Stiftung Foundation (KAS) Abu Dhabi

1st GCC Think Tank Development Dialogue: Potentials, Chal-lenges and Benefits.

Sablat Oman Majlis a’Shura Website.

International Republican Institute (IRI) Women’s Campaign Consultant Development Program 2011

Sablat Oman Symposium on E- Campaigning (Muscat and Salalah).

Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS), Monte Adriano, Oman Oil, Bank Muscat, Omantel Riyada 3: GCC Civil Society Leaders Awards 2011

Media Partners: Al Roya, Al Wisal, Hala FM, Knowl-edge Oman, Muscat Daily, Times ofOman/Shabiba.

All programs

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1 Encourage Youth and Women Empowerment: Promoting A Wom-an CEO 1 young Omani woman

2 Continuity on our employee Satisfaction: Place Employee Satisfac-tion survey All employee should take job satisfaction survey

3 To enroll new member of Tawasul in training opportunity and at-tending conferences 2010 new members which represent 30%

4 sustainability training/events for employees, stakeholder 30% from our overall 2012 activities including con-duct GRI Training in Muscat in 2012

5 Recycling paper / plastics / toners Double recycling actions 10%

6 Water Consumption Increase our water saving actions and reduce con-sumption by 10%

7 Environmental responsibility Take part in the National Clean up Oman Campaign

8 Measure carbon footprint including staff commuting Keeping record on carbon footprint

10 Use of new programs such as Ustream and Livestream to cut carbon footprint By 10%

11 Show transparency in all levels Make all our activities publicly accessible, and avail-able (online)

12 Engaging Staff in corporate volunteerism and engage volunteers 30% engagement

13 Gain national partners 10 %

Tawasul aims to lead by example, in the area of sustainability. As a small social enterprise, the volume of our activi-ties may be limited in numbers but it is big in positive on all our partners, and partner institutions in the AGCC, in particular. In 2012, we will continue to support the UNGC principles and best practices in every way we can.

In 2012, we strive to improve our performance on the UNGC Principles and Global Reporting Initiative in the fol-lowing:

10. Where do we go from here?

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Program Initiative Relevant to Sustainability

Workshop on targeting the goals and strategic planning focusing on CSO’s Framework

Emphasizing how CSO’s take a vital role in the implementation of sustainable de-velopment

Majlis 11: Social Entrepreneurship: Youth opportunities

Exploring entrepreneurship as means of economic sustainability

Workshop on communication skills and Advocacy Building capacity on understanding the

need of societal advancement and stake-holder engagement

Majlis 12: Stakeholder Engagement - Jury Panel

Giving youth a platform to lead stake-holder engagement

Workshop on Social Business Models Enhancing sustainable development and capacity building

Workshop on Civic Responsibilities and Human Resources Administration

Capacity building on vital skills of sustain-ability for future pioneers

Majlis 13: Human Resources Development and Work Ethics

Improving recruitment, retention and employee motivations as part of sustain-ability mandate

Global Reporting Initiative Workshop Capacity building on CSR and Sustain-ability

Symposium on the Role of Representa-tive Bodies in Development and Public Engagement»

Pushing transparency agenda forward

Citizen Journalism and Role of Civil So-ciety Exploring sustainable solutions

Assessment and evaluation of Qudrat Initiative Participants’ Project

Internal check and monitoring on Tawa-sul programs for the purpose of leading by example

What are our upcoming initiatives for 2012?

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Program Initiative Relevant to Sustainability

CSO Mapping Project Identifying impact f CSOs and their role on sustainable development

FURAS: a platform for youth and entre-preneurship

Leveraging ICT in youth engagement including professional development and job opportunity

Manual for Election Law Development Good governance and transparency

GCC Think Tanks and Development Society based policy research

Majlis 2020 Engaging Stakeholder

Training and Working Kits on Media, Societal Discourse and Policymaking»

Fostering regular link and dialogue be-tween thinkers, media and society

Partnership Forum between the private higher education institutions and civil so-ciety organizations

Promoting shared values and social re-sponsibility

Review on current Development in Elec-tion Process Good governance and transparency

Field guide for Public Engagement Providing a long term road map to trans-parency and public engagement

The New Agenda of the Majlis Good governance and transparency

Dialogue and Riyada Civil Society Lead-ers Awards in A GCC

Promoting shared values and social re-sponsibility

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Our Reporting Methodology

Determining our priority issues: We have identified our institution priority sustainability issues and tried to our best of knowledge to apply the issues and concerns within the report content. We were able to receive feedback from our stakeholder that has resulted in the identification and prioritization of 12 major sustainability issues that will drive our sustainability strategy. Materiality: We believe that we have covered all topics that reflect our organizations impact within the economic, environmental and social aspects including key issues raised by stakeholders and covering standards and guidelines of UN Global Compact and GRI G3 Reporting Guidelines. Stakeholder inclusiveness: We have consistently identified and incorporated all our key stakeholders in our programs, and have outlined their engagement in this report, and our action in terms of their interest and concerns.Sustainability context: Our main consideration towards our sustainability context is our local context, in which we operate, namely linking sustainability to the country’s sustainable development goals. Keeping in mind regional and global sustainability best practices that are in line with society priorities.Balance: This report covers a period that witnessed scarcity of resources especial to small institutions. Through the increased interest in social responsibility and transparency we have sought to mitigate the numerous challenges we faced in our line of business in 2011.Comparability: Wherever apprporiate we have provided year on year data and have attempted to follow the GRI Indicators Pro-tocols in order to facilitate comparison of our report against industry peers and other companies practicing sustain-ability. Clarity and accuracy: Sustainability best practices are a relatively new and evolving concept to Oman based institutions. All the environ-mental data provided in the report was originated from Oman Investment & Finance Co. SAOG (OIFC), an orga-nization that provides a monthly reading of water and electricity consumption. As for paper recycling, Al Phaw Oasis Trade Co (a recycling company) had maintained record on our organization paper recycling. Reliability and data measurements techniques: As a small social enterprise and a civil society organization, we have limited direct environmental impact. All data collected had been gathered manually. We realize that data collection was among one of the challenges we are working to improve our efficiency. Most of all data provided had been conducted in-house and all data presented here showcase our best understanding of our impacts. In 2012 we will review our tracking data system.Assurance: This report has only been reviewed by Arabia CSR (refer to page 81) and Environment Society of Oman.

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This report has been externally reviewed by Arabia CSR Network, one of the very first multi-stakeholder platforms that engage small and large businesses and government institutions to strengthen their commit-ment to sustainable development across the Arab world.

The review was done by Habiba Al Marashi, President/CEO of Arabia CSR Network, Board Member of UN Global Compact and CSO Representative in the GRI Stakeholder Council.

The review is a general assessment of the soundness of the report and its presentation, it is not an exter-nal assurance nor does it attest to the validity of Tawasul’s sustainability performance.

Report Review

Main suggestions of Arabia CSR Network (on the non-final report)

Actions by Tawasul (in the final report)

Please put in some of the key targets that Tawasul had at the beginning of 2011.

The following table “Status of our targets” was added on page 14 of the final report.

Please clarify what is meant by “areas covered” on page 10. This was clarified on page 19.

Please mention the exact units of water on page 40. This was changed to exact units on page 61.

Please clarify the process that Tawasul has used to identify the 12 priority sustainability issues (refer to page 45)?

An explanatory figure was added on page 27.

In order to make the report more balanced, Tawasul may consider to put in some unfavorable incidents.

A few new blocks “What is the main challenge?” were inserted (page 14, 19, 21, 51, 53, 60, 61).

What were the data measurement techniques used, especially for the environmental data?

This was clarified in “Our reporting methodology” under “Clarity and accuracy” on page 80.

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Appendix 1: GRI Index

GRI Pages

4.1 51,52,56

4.2 51-52

4.3 56-59

4.4 52,57,58

4.14 22-23

4.15 24-27

Economic performance

EC1 64-76 Auditing Report

EC7 57 Omanization

Environmental performance

EN1 60

EN3 60-62

EN8 61

Social performance: Human Rights, Society and Public policy

HR3 57-58

HR6 55-56

HR7 55-56

HR9 53-55

SO9 None have been reported

SO5 49

Labor Practices and Decent Work

LA1 56-57

LA2 56-57

LA3 58-59

LA4 54-55

GRI Pages

1.1 7

2.1 7, 65

2.2 9,10,65

2.318,52

Tawasul is a SME and has no subsidiary or joint venture

2.4 17

2.5 18,19,20

2.6 51,65

2.7 18-20,23,45-46

2.8 56,65-78

2.9 7,65-76

2.10 49

3.1 3

3.23

only progress report for 2009 -2010

3.3 3

3.4 3

3.5 3

3.6 Not Applicable We operate only from Oman

3.7 Not Applicable

3.8 Not Applicable

3.10 Not Applicable

3.11 3,7

3.12 83

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This first sustainability report “Enhancing Sustainability 2011” of Tawasul was prepared by:

Khalid Al Haribi, Co-founder

Nasra Al Adawi, CEO

Mireia Zamora, Consultant

Lysianne Katier, Consultant

Asma al Jandal, Administrative Officer

Iman Al Huraibi, Media Consultant

Checked and Reviewed by:

Dr. Mehdi Jaffar, Vice-Chairman of the Environment Society of Oman

Qais Al Khonji, Manging Director of Qais United Enterprises

Design by: Hatem Amin

Muscat, 15 May 2012

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Documents

Enhancing Sustainability