From Strategy to Implementation: Next Steps for Capacity Building (Members Version)

What an interesting month has passed us by! As we step closer to the General Assembly of 2021, here’s what the working groups have on their plate:

Strategy and Objectives Working Group

After conducting 2 sessions of the Theory of Change (ToC) Workshop this month, the Strategy and Objectives working group will soon finalise the ToC document and potentially identify new strategies for GPSNR.

Smallholder Representation Working Group

After two successful smallholder onboarding workshops for smallholders from Indonesia and Cambodia, the working group is formally incorporating new smallholders from the two countries as GPSNR members. The group is also conducting onboarding workshops for India at the end of September and Sri Lanka and Thailand in October. 

At the same time, they are developing workshops to onboard more smallholders from Vietnam, Thailand, Ivory Coast, and Ghana and organizing the third Smallholders International Call next month. 

Policy Toolbox Working Group

As the General Assembly of 2021 comes closer, the group is continuing to develop the Implementation Guidance, Reporting Requirements and Compliance Panel Guidance. 

Capacity Building Working Group

As they develop key deliverables and milestones for Thailand National Subgroup and the Agroforestry Task Force, the Capacity Building Working Group is also busy with the Good Agricultural Practices (GAP), a system to monitor impacts of capacity building activities and implementation plans for Ivory Coast and Indonesia.

Traceability and Transparency Working Group

This working group has developed a Traceability Benchmark to support member uptake of traceability and provided draft input and received feedback for Implementation Guidance on traceability. They are now working on finalising the draft and conducting member consultations on the Benchmark. 

Shared Responsibility Working Group

The group is currently exploring and discussing detailed  solutions to identified root causes for each focus area of shared responsibility. It is also drafting activities and a 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: