GPSNR Working Groups Update: November 2023

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Strategy and Objectives Working Group: Following the approval of the Assurance Model resolution (5b), the Assurance Model Task Force is working with ASI in developing the Assurance Model including aligning with current normative documents, engaging members for consultation, and pilot testing.

In parallel, the Risk Subgroup hosted a webinar focused on traceability and shared findings from their traceability pilot projects. 

The Risk subgroup has decided to temporarily pause its activities until December, allowing time for ASI to complete the Assurance Model alignment. ASI has commenced its task of aligning key GPSNR documents. These documents aim to lay a solid foundation for the complete Assurance Model. Upon the completion of this alignment process, the fully drafted Assurance Model will be presented to the members for consideration and approval.

Smallholders Representation and Capacity Building (SCB) Working Group: The Indonesian subgroup presented their quarterly reports for two GAP Coaching projects and one Disease Fighting project on October 27, 2023. In addition, GPSNR secured a joint collaboration letter with RAOT and invited all member companies to participate in the Thailand GAP coaching project in Bueng Kan and Chiang Rai provinces. The Thailand agroforestry project also received additional funding for further sub-projects.

The Digital Knowledge Sharing Platform (KSP) task force conducted a pilot user acceptance test and initiated socialisation sessions and training for smallholder farmers in Indonesia. They also announced a Request for Proposal (RFP) for KSP’s third phase, focusing on content development, with submissions due by November 24, 2023.

Rubber agroforestry workshops were held in Côte d’Ivoire from October 25-27, 2023, and information on capacity-building projects open for funding was shared with all members. The SCB WG will continue to oversee all ongoing projects, with efforts to plan logistics for smallholder representatives attending events in Thailand and France. The Thailand agroforestry subgroup is working on a supplemental agreement for additional projects.

Members interested in the Thailand GAP project in Chiang Rai and Bueng Kan are encouraged to contact cheewei@gpsnr.org for more information. The KSP task force plans to continue socialisation sessions and training in Indonesia and Thailand, aiming for the final user acceptance test by the end of November 2023. By the end of November, the task force will begin evaluating proposals for KSP’s third phase.

The Income Diversification and Rubber Agroforestry task force is preparing for its second Indonesian agroforestry workshop of 2023, scheduled for November 22-24. Additionally, a webinar is planned for November 30, 2023, to present findings from the HCSA-HCVN field trial.

Policy Toolbox Working Group: On November 22nd, WG1 met to discuss the  quantification of the RR, data aggregation methodologies, and updates relating to the RR in the context of the Assurance Model. During the meeting, operational timelines and survey to gather information were set up.

Currently, Agridence is developing the digital platform, and the Secretariat plans to provide updates on the RR to ensure the platform is operational before the 2024 reporting cycle.

WG1 is also working on revising the Code of Conduct to include non-conformance measures for failing to update the Reporting Requirements, in line with the non-conformance measures approved by the Executive Committee in 2022.

Lastly, following the approval of the revised reporting requirements, the WG will proceed to develop the disclosure requirements for the Year 3 reporting cycle.

Shared Responsibility Working Group: The Assurance Model will be meeting with ASI to provide feedback on the proposed Assurance Model under development. Additionally, the Working Group has an open co-chair seat and is calling for volunteers to fill this position.

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Embracing our Shared Responsibility: GPSNR’s newest Working Group

Before the second General Assembly on 23 September 2020, the GPSNR Executive Committee had approved the creation of a Shared Responsibility Working Group that would be tasked to define the principles of shared responsibility for GPSNR.

The term ‘shared responsibility’ is relatively new to the sustainability scene, and as such, there is currently no commonly accepted definition for it. In general, shared responsibility is a value-driven concept which recognizes that supply chains are structurally imbalanced in terms of value and benefit, risk, burden of compliance, climate change impacts, power of negotiation, and access to information and resources. A shared responsibility approach strives for value, benefits, risks and improvement investments to be equitably distributed across all actors within the supply chain.​

In order to establish the foundational work that would enable the creation of the Shared Responsibility Working Group, the Executive Committee formed a Task Force comprising several of its members. Over a series of weekly calls, the Task Force has developed a Terms of Reference (ToR) and a set of Guiding Principles to inform the work of the new Shared Responsibility Working Group.

It is envisioned that the Shared Responsibility Working Group will draw from the Guiding Principles for Shared Responsibility (currently being developed by the Executive Committee’s Shared Responsibility Task Force), as well as the GPSNR Equity Definition and the studies launched by the Equity Working Group, to develop an implementation framework for the platform with respect to shared responsibility.

GPSNR Staff February 18, 2021
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GPSNR Working Groups Update: July 2021

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. 

GPSNR Staff July 27, 2021

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