GPSNR Working Groups Update: July 2022

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Strategy and Objectives Working Group

The S&O Working Group has received inputs to the platform Theory of Change from the Smallholders Representation, Capacity Building, and Traceability and Transparency Working Groups. A task team from the S&O Working Group will now work to synthesize these different contributions into a single document. This compiled Theory of Change template will then be developed into the platform Theory of Change through a workshop which will involve representatives from all the working groups.

The Equity Sub-Working Group completed a summary of the Living Income studies that the platform commissioned in 2021 and presented the summary through a webinar. The Equity Sub-Working Group will now work to develop recommendations on how GPSNR can address priority risks and boost equity in the value chain.

‘Policy Toolbox’ Working Group

The Policy Toolbox Working Group has selected a combined consultant team of Proforest and Are We There Yet to lead the development of the Implementation Guidance for GPSNR. The development is expected to be a consultative process that concludes with a set of draft guidance that will be ready by July 2021.

To facilitate consultation on the Implementation Guidance, the Working Group will set up category-specific focus groups that members are encouraged to join. The focus groups will meet twice to review the draft guidance and provide feedback and inputs to improve the document. Each focus group is only expected to meet twice and members are only required to spend a few hours before each meeting reviewing the draft documents. The focus groups will be set up in the following manner:

Focus Group 1
Growers
Traders of Raw Materials

Focus Group 2
Processors
Traders of Processed material

Focus Group 3
Tire makers and other manufacturers

Focus Group 4
End users (incl. car makers and other downstream stakeholders).

In line with the assessment of policy documents against the policy framework, the Secretariat has collated company policy documents that were submitted and will proceed to review the policy documents submitted for review. The Secretariat has received responses from all 29 ordinary member companies that were required to submit documents and will spend the next month assessing the submissions.

‘Capacity Building’ Working Group

The Capacity Building Working Group has created three separate task forces that will work on working group tasks. The first task force will focus on developing mechanisms to measure impacts of capacity building activities, the second task force will develop a strategy to attract and recognize GPSNR members’ funding of capacity building activities, and the final task force will develop systems to ensure that the national sub-groups tasked with implementing capacity building activities in each country remain aligned with the broader working group. In addition to the Good Agricultural Practices Task Force, the Working Group now has four Task Forces that will work to deliver on their tasks in the coming months.

‘Traceability and Transparency’ Working Group

The Traceability and Transparency Working Group will continue to meet in its sub-groups to develop recommendations on minimum benchmarks for traceability tools and data sharing in the platform. With the submission of the Working Group’s input to the Theory of Change, the Working Group is pleased to announce that its first sub-group has completed the assigned tasking and will no longer meet.

Smallholder Representation Working Group

The Smallholder Representation Working Group has now onboarded smallholders from Indonesia and Vietnam into the Working Group. The Working Group has also divided into two groups within the working group. The first sub-working group will work to develop a strategy to onboard smallholders from countries that are not represented in GPSNR yet. The second group will work to deepen engagement with smallholders who are already members of the platform and also develop strategies to improve representation among minority groups in countries that are already represented in GPSNR

What a month it has been! Here is a deep dive into working groups’ updates and progress:

Strategy and Objectives Working Group

With the finalisation of the Environmental risk assessment of natural rubber production and processing study, this working group has reviewed over 300 pages of environmental risks in the production and processing roles in the natural rubber supply chain. Additionally, the group also identified 16 countries as GPSNR priority production countries. Most importantly, the report covers outcomes and recommendations to mitigate these risks. While you can find the full report here, the co-chairs of the working group will soon be hosting a webinar to take members through the key recommendations and findings. Stay tuned!

The group has also worked on the first draft of the GPSNR Theory of Change, a complex yet interesting piece of work which fits in various pieces of the GPSNR puzzle. You can find it here. A Theory of Change workshop is also being planned on 5th August from 7-10pm SGT. Should you be interested in joining, please write to the secretariat. 

Smallholder Representation Working Group 

Due to the COVID-19 situation in Cambodia and India, the smallholder representation working group has had to postpone onboarding workshops for smallholders in the two countries that were planned for June 2021. 

These workshops would be the first onboarding after the recent smallholder satisfaction survey, and will take into account its key findings. You can read more about the survey and its results in the May 2021 newsletter here. 

The working group has also identified Sri Lanka and Liberia as two new countries for GPSNR outreach and will initiate strategies around the same, and have began outreach to new smallholders in existing countries (Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Ghana and Ivory Coast)

The second Smallholders International Call of 2021 was also held on 24 June, where smallholder representatives shared and discussed key Working Group updates, as well as the newly-launched GPSNR Grievance Mechanism.

Policy Toolbox Working Group 

After 12 focus group calls and corresponding surveys for the Implementation Guidance and Reporting Requirements, this working group is now finalising these two crucial pieces of work. At the same time, the group is also working on refining and finalising the development of the Compliance Panel operations guidance with an experienced consultant. 

Capacity Building Working Group 

The group is preparing to rollout a call for funding for immediate capacity building needs in Thailand, Indonesia and the Ivory Coast next month. The Ivory Coast and Indonesia national capacity building country subgroups are also preparing to initiate capacity building activities on the ground and these activities could commence from July onwards.

At the same time, the working group is editing and finalising a document on Good Agricultural Practices for all GPSNR capacity building activities. 

Traceability and Transparency Working Group

In collaboration with the Policy Toolbox working group, the Traceability and Transparency working group is developing data collection and reporting standards. The working group also provided draft text on the traceability elements of the Implementation Guidance and will review the feedback received through the focus group surveys.

Shared Responsibility Working Group

After finalising a first round discussion of the problem statements for the natural rubber supply chain, the group has aligned these problem statements with root cause analysis for lack of equity in the supply chain. It has also conducted discussions with different member categories to propose viable solutions. 

The group is now working on proposing potential solutions based on these discussions and will soon present updates to the GPSNR executive committee.