The AIM RVR Center for Corporate Responsibility (RVR Center) seeks to promote corporate citizenship as a core strategy for business competitiveness and sustainability. Through its main thrusts on corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate governance, the RVR Center engages with multiple stakeholders beyond companies (e.g., large/multinational enterprises and micro, small, and medium enterprises), in various industries throughout Asia) including policy makers/implementers, civil society organizations, and future leaders through initiatives on research, training, and conferences/forums to foster an enabling business environment that generates a positive impact on society.
Our Benefactor - Ambassador Ramon V. Del Rosario, Sr.
The Center is named after Ambassador Ramon V. Del Rosario, Sr., founding trustee of the Asian Institute of Management and founder and Chairman of the PHINMA Group in the Philippines. The major institutional sponsors of the RVR CSR Center are the Phinma Group, Ford Foundation, Asian Bank, AB Capital & Investment Corporation, and SGV & Company. Individual sponsors include Mr. Washington SyCip and Mr. Jose L. Cuisia, Jr.
Hills Program on Governance
The governance research chair was initially established by the American International Group through its C.V. Starr Foundation, and based on the conviction that good corporate governance is a fundamental precondition to sustained economic growth in Asia.
The Hills Program on Governance was officially inaugurated on 4 September 2003 under the auspices of the AIM RVR Center, with funding from the World Bank and the Hills Program at the Washington D. C. Center for Strategic & International Studies. Roderick M. Hills, founder of the Hills Program, was former Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and a leading advocate of effective corporate governance. He held distinguished lecturer positions at the Harvard University School of Law, the Yale University School of Management, and the Stanford University School of Law.
Our Programs
The AIM RVR Center is one of the first research centers in the region concentrating on corporate responsibility and governance issues. The AIM RVR Center expects to bring visibility to the Institute and to build its brand through its regional conferences and research in order to be recognized by the business community and by its regional counterparts.
The RVR Center has been sponsored by the International Labour Organization (ILO) to conduct certified trainings on international labor standards in Bangkok (Thailand) and Turin (Italy). As a result, the RVR Center is currently one of the few organizations that have been conducting trainings for current and future business leaders and corporate managers on providing decent working conditions in line with international standards since 2019.
The RVR Center was also a Center of Excellence partner to the European Community-funded initiative on “Responsible Supply Chains in Asia” implemented in the Philippines (and five other Asian countries: China, Japan, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam) jointly by the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and ILO. The RVR Center also provides capacity building programs based on the OECD Responsible Business Conduct (RBC) principles particularly on risk-based due diligence and knowledge sharing on trends in regulation on RBC and the risk-based due diligence framework.
The RVR Center has also been tapped by the OECD’s Energy Directorate for its Clean Energy Finance and Investment Mobilisation (CEFIM) to assist in the assessment of successes and risks of financing clean energy investments in the Philippines towards creating with the Department of Energy a national roadmap for transitioning to clean energy.
Other international organization partnerships of the Center include the The Asia Foundation (TAF), UN Women, Investing in Women AUSAID, Konrad-Adanauer-Stiftung, , United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE). At the national and local levels, the RVR Center's partners include the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), particularly the AFP Learning and Development Center and the Plans and Programs Division of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel (OJ-1) of the AFP, the Office of the Ombudsman (Investment Ombudsman), Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) including regional/local chambers of commerce, and SGS Philippines.
The Asian Forum on Enterprise for Society
Launched in 2002 by the AIM RVR Center, the Asian Forum on Enterprise for Society (AFES, formerly AFCSR) is the largest annual conference on corporate social responsibility in the region to expand the discourse on emerging themes on corporate responsibility towards social enterprise and innovation.
AFES is composed of about 30 sessions, attended by 300 to 500 delegates, and supported by 50-plus partners and sponsors. The conference features
- Plenary sessions addressed by keynote speakers
- Breakout sessions focusing on specific dynamics, learnings, and the best practices of companies
- An expo showcasing specific company corporate responsibility programs
Following 12 successful conference runs in six major Southeast Asian cities — (Manila, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Ho Chi Minh City, and Singapore) as well as a virtual conference in 2021 — AFES continues to be at the forefront of corporate responsibility development in Asia.