Following the Conversation with GPSNR Topic Talks!

As every month seems to be busier than the last, these monthly updates encapsulate all the details that are important for members to know. Here is the snapshot for the month of July 2021:

Strategy and Objectives Working Group

After a busy few months of putting together the Environmental Risk Study and the Theory of Change, this group is preparing to present these two important pieces of work to the rest of the membership before publishing them on public domains.

While the Environmental Risk Study webinar is scheduled for 29 July, the Theory of Change is still being finalised and will be worked on through a workshop planned for September or October.

The group is also continuing to work on refining the platform external partnerships approval process. 

Smallholder Representation Working Group

After an onboarding workshop for Indonesian smallholders this month, the group is planning its next onboarding for Sri Lankan smallholders in September. While COVID-19 has caused a delay in similar workshops for Cambodia and India, the group has begun planning outreach for Liberia and Malaysia and Colombia. 

They are also developing participants lists from workshops to onboard more smallholders from Vietnam, Thailand, Ivory Coast, and Ghana, which already have some amount of representation at GPSNR.

Policy Toolbox Working Group

This working group has completed the initial reviews of two significant aspects of the GPSNR assurance model: the Implementation Guidance and the Reporting Requirements. The WG will also embark on a review of the Compliance Panel Guidance in August. As they take each of these bodies of work forward in the next few months, please reach out to the secretariat for any questions around these documents and how they impact your work. 

Capacity Building Working Group

The group rolled out a call for funding from all rubber industry players (both GPSNR members and non-members) for capacity building work in Indonesia, Thailand and Ivory Coast, while also finalising BMZ funding for projects in Indonesia and Ivory Coast in 2021-22. 

In the next month or so, the group is working on identifying suitable locations for capacity building programmes in Indonesia across five key rubber-producing regions, and advancing implementation plans for Ivory Coast.

They are also finalising Good Agricultural Practices, developing systems for monitoring and evaluating capacity building activities and putting mechanisms in place to ensure national implementation subgroups remain aligned with GPSNR.

Traceability and Transparency Working Group

This working group is currently finalising the definition and acceptable levels of traceability for GPSNR and developing data collection and reporting standards together with the Policy Toolbox working group.

Shared Responsibility Working Group

The group is drafting activities and framework for Shared Responsibility for integration into other processes such as the Implementation Guidance. 

Assurance is defined as demonstrable evidence that specified requirements relating to a product, process, system, person or body are fulfilled. In other words, thinking about Assurance is to ponder the question: how do we protect the credibility of our claim?

The Executive Committee (EC) has been working on an Assurance model concept since late 2019. Following the request for proposal put up in August 2019, an external consultant was engaged to conduct a review of the options for various Assurance Models that would support the desired outcomes of the Platform. In early 2020, the report from the consultant, which discussed existing approaches to Assurance and included recommendations for GPSNR’s approach to Assurance, was submitted to the EC. 

The EC considered the input from the report and expanded upon its findings by conducting a thorough benchmarking of existing Assurance model approaches. Following this exercise, the EC identified and defined several key characteristics that merit inclusion in GPSNR’s Assurance model concept.

In the process of developing these key characteristics, the EC also took into account the purpose, value and benefits of an Assurance model. 

A robust Assurance model would provide a credible and effective system to manage risks by supporting the achievement of sustainability impacts, focusing on accurate assessments of compliance, ensuring the effectiveness of its assurance strategies through good information management systems, and finding additional ways to create value for stakeholders.

A webinar will be held on Friday, 26 June 2020 to introduce GPSNR members to a proposed Assurance model concept.

A tabled summary of the process and timelines around the development of the Assurance model concept up until now is included below: