GPSNR Working Groups Update: January 2022

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All GPSNR working groups have begun planning the year ahead. Here are all their updates: 

Strategy and Objectives Working Group

After finalising the Theory of Change, the group is working on developing next steps for itself based on the ToC and updating its own Terms of Reference and membership.It is also busy with developing the RFP for the Economic Risk Study, which will be published soon.

Smallholder Representation Working Group

Apart from onboarding workshops in Ghana, Liberia, Malaysia and Colombia, the group is focussed on its newly formed task force to develop the GPSNR Smallholders Policy Framework before the General Assembly of 2022.   

Policy Toolbox Working Group

The group saw a major milestone in the approval of the reporting requirements at the 2021 General Assembly. In the coming months, they will be developing guidance for the reporting requirements and a transparency roadmap before the reporting cycle begins in mid-2022. At the same time, the group continues to refine the Implementation Guidance before the General Assembly of 2022 while supporting the smallholder working group with the Smallholder Policy Framework. Additionally, this group is busy with finalising the compliance panel operational guidance.

Capacity Building Working Group

The group recently closed two RFPs for the assessment of the Knowledge Sharing Platform and GAP coaching for Indonesia respectively. While finalising and appointing service providers from the applicants, the group will also review and finalise the strategy and approach for capacity building in Thailand, including integration with Agroforestry Task Force workstream. To this end, the recently formed Thailand capacity building national subgroup had its first meeting in January 2022. 

The working group is also working on capacity building plans for Indonesia and Ivory Coast. 

Traceability and Transparency Working Group

Having received members’ input on the traceability benchmark, this working group is now refining the benchmark based on the feedback. They will also be providing a summary of tools based on traceability studies conducted in 2021 to the EC.

Shared Responsibility Working Group

The Shared Responsibility working group has appointed a consultant from New Foresight to support the Shared Responsibility (SR) framework development. The consultant is now working on completing the preliminary interviews to gather perspectives on the SR Framework, as well as a data collection exercise. After this, the group will work on drafting the SR framework and policy and preparing a resolution for it by the General Assembly of 2022. 

More To Explore

13 Global Tire Companies Co-Invest to Deliver Healthcare to 1,800 Rubber Farming Households in Côte d’Ivoire

Groundbreaking GPSNR initiative with social enterprise Elucid targets the overlooked link between farmer health and supply chain resilience

SINGAPORE, 23 April 2026:  The Global Platform for Sustainable Natural Rubber (GPSNR) today announced a three-year partnership with Berlin-based social enterprise Elucid to deliver healthcare access to 1,800 rubber farmers and their households. This will benefit approximately 9,000 individuals  in Côte d’Ivoire. The initiative is funded through GPSNR’s Shared Investment Mechanism (SIM) by 13 tire and rubber companies: Aeolus Tyre Co., Ltd., Apollo Tyres Ltd., Balkrishna Industries Ltd. (BKT), The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, Hankook Tire & Technology, Kumho Tire Co., Inc., Maxxis International, Nokian Tyres plc, Prometeon Tyre Group, Sumitomo Riko Company Limited, Sumitomo Rubber Industries, Ltd., Toyo Tire Corporation, and The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd.

The partnership addresses a gap the industry has long overlooked: the direct impact of farmer health on supply chain productivity. Medical emergencies cost Côte d’Ivoire an estimated 853 million USD in cocoa exports in 2017 alone. With many farmers cultivating both cocoa and rubber, the implications for the natural rubber sector are significant. Research from Ghana  shows that enrollment of farmer households in national health insurance increases their agricultural investment in several areas by approximately 40%, according to a 2024 study published in Agricultural Finance Review.

“We talk constantly about improving yields and farm management practices, but we’ve missed something fundamental,” said GPSNR CEO Stefano Savi. “A farmer who can’t afford to see a doctor when they’re sick or who cannot go to the farm because their child is unwellcan’t be productive. Healthcare isn’t separate from supply chain resilience. It’s central to it.”

A Critical Gap for the World’s Fourth-Largest Rubber Producer

Côte d’Ivoire is critical to global rubber supply chains, yet smallholder farmers who drive production across the country’s forest regions face severe healthcare barriers. The country ranks 187th out of 195 globally for quality of care, and only 32% of essential medicines are available in the public health sector, according to a 2020 health systems assessment. While two-thirds of the population are enrolled in the national health insurance scheme (CMU) on paper, fewer than 4% actually used their insurance card in 2025, due to administrative hurdles and facility-level barriers.

When farmers lack reliable healthcare, medical emergencies force them to sell assets and abandon farm improvements — a direct risk to the supply chains that depend on them.

A Comprehensive, Four-Part Approach

The initiative combines four components:

  • Enrollment in CMU national insurance for all participating farmers and households
  • Elucid’s emergency and essential care scheme covering WHO-accredited medications and life-saving services
  • Quality improvements at 15 healthcare facilities serving the target communities
  • Community awareness programs connecting health to economic wellbeing

Elucid’s digital platform will track all data in real time, enabling transparent impact reporting throughout the project. The program aims to increase healthcare visits from fewer than 200 to over 1,800, drive CMU enrollment from less than 30% to over 90%, and prevent more than 150 catastrophic health expenditure events each year. Half of beneficiaries will be women and 20% will be children under 18.

“This is about demonstrating what’s possible when the private sector invests in making national health systems work for farmers,” said Sambhavna Biswas, Partnerships Manager at Elucid. “This model can be replicated across rubber-growing regions and adapted to other agricultural sectors. Everyone in the value chain benefits when the people at its foundation are healthy and economically secure.”

Farmer enrollment begins in August 2026, with healthcare access improvements continuing until  January 2029. From December 2027, the project will transition toward long-term sustainability, building cooperative capacity to maintain health support for their members.

About GPSNR: The Global Platform for Sustainable Natural Rubber is a multi-stakeholder initiative bringing together tire manufacturers, vehicle makers, natural rubber processors and traders, and civil society organizations to develop and implement sustainability policies and practices across the natural rubber value chain. More on sustainablenaturalrubber.org

About Elucid: Elucid is a Berlin-based social enterprise providing data-driven healthcare services for farmers and workers in global supply chains across six countries and five agricultural sectors. Learn more at www.elucid.social

Media Contacts: GPSNR: Bani Bains | bani.bains@gpsnr.org;

 Elucid: Sambhavna Biswas | sambhavna.biswas@elucid.de

GPSNR Secretariat April 23, 2026
News

Proposing National Strategies for Capacity Building

Following several rounds of further consultation amongst its members, the Capacity Building Working Group has finalized proposals for capacity building strategies for the four previously identified focus countries: Côte d’Ivoire, Indonesia, Myanmar and Thailand. Within each of these proposals, the Working Group has defined key strategic approaches to best allow for immediate engagement and implementation. 

Each proposal sets out the issues that have been identified as threatening the sustainable production of natural rubber, underlying causes for these issues, as well as a main objective. Within each proposal, the Working Group has suggested various strategic approaches, providing a rationale for chosen actions, and proposing impacts and resources required. While the Working Group recognizes that the issues do not represent the full list of challenges that stand in the way of national rubber production becoming sustainable, it highlights that the focus is on strategic approaches that allow for immediate engagement and implementation.

These proposals have been submitted to the Executive Committee for review and approval, while the Working Group concurrently addresses final concerns around the proposed strategy around a CO2 compensation scheme.   

Looking ahead, detailed implementation plans and timelines will have to be developed upon approval of the proposed strategies. These are issues that the Working Group will be exploring in the weeks to come.

GPSNR Staff July 29, 2020
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