Strategy and Objectives Working Group Update – September 2019

Several challenges of sustainable natural rubber production were brought up and discussed among rubber farmers and GPSNR members, but front and foremost was the issue of livelihoods and future of labour. After the field visit and 3 days workshop, the rubber farmers both in Indonesia and Thailand agreed that to solve such issues, smallholders should be put at the center of the solution.  They agreed that including smallholders’ representatives in the new governance model is the way forward to achieve this.  As for the criteria of the organizations, apart from having a personnel with extensive knowledge around rubber from cultivation, transportation to processing, the farmers also said that it is important that any representing organization should have a democratic governance. The smallholders also pointed out to a few farmers from different regions that could directly represent smallholders in GPSNR.  A few organization names were also proposed which will then be followed up by Smallholders representation working group to ensure active engagement for further collaboration.

“I am happy to hear that the downstream of natural rubber users like tire makers wish to establish a direct relationship with the upstream natural rubber producers like us. Personally I believe that sustainable supply chain will work only when every actor in the chain work together to find potential solutions together.” said one rubber smallholder in Thailand. Smallholders also emphasised on the importance for engagement to be long term if results are to be achieved.

The dates for the last 3 smallholder workshops have been confirmed and will be held in Brazil (20 – 21 Nov), Cote d’Ivoire (26 – 28 Nov) and Vietnam (16 – 18 Dec) respectively. The aim of the workshops is to gain a better understanding of smallholders, how smallholders can be meaningfully represented within GPSNR and to further explore the future of sustainable natural rubber production from a smallholders perspective at local level.

We will keep you posted on our progress in our upcoming newsletters. Stay tuned !

Following the announcement that the GPSNR General Assembly (GA) will take place in September, the Smallholders Representation Group has quickly adapted its plans around onboarding smallholder members prior to the GA. With restrictions around COVID-19 necessitating a virtual format for the GA, likewise the sessions involving smallholders would follow suit.

The onboarding will be conducted via a series of national and international calls starting from late July until the end of September. There will be a total of 3 calls amongst smallholders at the national level, and another 3 calls at the international level. 

The first national calls have already been conducted for all seven countries: Brazil, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Indonesia, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. During this first call, the smallholders were introduced to the video conference platform with a quick tutorial on its functions. Next, they were given an update on developments and projects within GPSNR before learning more about the upcoming GA, including the onboarding schedule, the process for Executive Committee elections and an overview of the resolutions. 

The Country Champions are providing immense support through coordination of the calls, conducting the calls in the local language and in some cases reaching out to the smallholders individually to help them overcome the barriers of using new technology.

The Working Group will be engaging an experienced facilitator who will be able to foster relationships as well as trigger and encourage discussion amongst the smallholders  in an international and multilingual setting. A Request for Proposal was posted on the GPSNR website and social media channels, and the Secretariat is supporting the Working Group in finalizing the selection of proposals.  

The next national call will see smallholders sharing about themselves and their work in natural rubber production, an activity designed to assist them each in articulating their thoughts and vision as potential election candidates for the Executive Committee.