Call for Volunteers: Implementation Guidance/Reporting Requirements Stakeholder Category Focus Groups (Members Version)

Strategy and Objectives Working Group

The risk subgroup, which sits under the umbrella of this working group, is working on a series of Traceability tools webinars for GPSNR members to present on some tools available that would help members map their supply chain. The subgroup is also working on a pilot traceability study to investigate what it takes (costs, time, labour) for a company to map its supply shed. The subgroup is also working with a consortium to develop a risk assessment matrix.

The assurance model subgroup continues to work on the KPIs set during the last in-person meeting as they are to be finalised at the end of the year and presented during the next in-person and hybrid meetings in January 2023.

Smallholder Representation Working Group

After completing two rounds of pilot agroforestry workshops for smallholder members in Indonesia, and Cambodia, the working group is working on concluding how GPSNR should approach agroforestry capacity building in the long term through an agroforestry strategy. This work stream aims to integrate priorities of smallholders with developing long-term income diversification strategies through the Capacity Building Working Group.

They are also busy holding focus group discussions towards the smallholder policy equivalent, kickstarting HCSA-HCVN programme field trials for natural rubber smallholders, and on enhancing integration with the capacity building working group.

Policy Toolbox Working Group

The group is working on finalizing the TORs for the Year 1 Reporting Review to be conducted in the first quarter of next year. They are also assessing if any changes to the reporting framework and its details (i.e. process, extensions, questions) are needed based on the Year 1 Reporting Review results. They have already kicked off the crosswalk of the reporting requirements against other reporting frameworks to better improve the questions. The group would also be sending out a survey for members to provide feedback on their reporting (reporting process, reporting requirements questions, guidances, etc.). They would also be working on the Transparency Reporting Roadmap for years 2 and 3 of reporting that would be voted at the GA 2023.

Shared Responsibility Working Group

The group is currently evaluating proposals to appoint a software developer for the second phase of the GPSNR Knowledge Sharing Platform based on a reworked tender. In 2022, they have also kicked off the Disease Fighting Project with SNV-IRRI in Indonesia, after having recently completed the first milestones of the Koltiva and SNV-Proforest GAP coaching projects in the country. They continue to seek members’ funding for capacity building projects in Indonesia (second stream of disease fighting) and Cote d’Ivoire (training centres). To know more, you can find the project details here. 

Although it had been more than a month since the GPSNR smallholder members had met at the international level, they took their places in the online meeting with a sense of familiarity that was heartening to see. 

We had come a long way since the first international call in late August. Since then, the second and third international calls had taken place, focusing on preparing the smallholders for the General Assembly. In the weeks after the General Assembly, the Country Champions helped to organise national-level calls for the smallholders to recap the results of the resolutions and Executive Committee (EC) elections, and to discuss topics of interest to be brought up during the fourth and final international call as part of the series.

The fourth international call was held in the evening of 22 October, and attended by smallholder members from all seven countries. The call began with an update from the three smallholder EC representatives on the EC calls that they had attended thus far. Overall, the representatives had positive takeaways from the EC meetings, despite some language barriers remaining. 

Next, the Co-Chairs of GPSNR’s various Working Groups joined the call in order to introduce each of their Working Groups and briefly explain key focuses and projects. This generated some questions around the policy equivalent for smallholder members, as well as GPSNR’s approach towards traceability for smallholder producers. Several smallholder members also expressed interest in participating in these Working Groups. The Secretariat will get in touch with all smallholders members to facilitate their inclusion in the platform’s Working Groups.

The final half hour of the call was dedicated to a discussion on smallholder community dynamics and how to manage the exchange of information within the category while understanding the geographical and linguistic differences amongst the clusters of smallholder members. 

This concludes the series of preparatory calls designed by the Smallholder Representation Working Group to prepare smallholders for their first GPSNR General Assembly and outcomes. But as the saying goes: when one door closes, another opens. And in this case, the door has opened for the newest membership category to define the parameters and mechanisms of their involvement within the platform, with the support of the Secretariat and fellow GPSNR members.