It’s a Wrap: GPSNR’s Fourth Smallholder International Call

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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.

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GPSNR Working Groups Update: May 2021

It’s been a busy few months for all the working groups! Here are some of their key updates.

Strategy and Objectives Working Group

In April 2021, the Strategy and Objectives working group completed a significant piece of work by finalising the Desired State Document. This month, the group has received ten key recommendations on equity from the Equity Sub-working group. 

These include integrating equity-centric Principles, Practices and Priorities across GPSNR’s procedures and work programs and recommending member companies to do the same. You can find all the recommendations here

These recommendations go beyond the work of the group itself and cover the role of equity in most GPSNR interventions. 

Proforest with Liza Murphy have also submitted the second draft of the Environmental Risk Assessment of Natural Rubber Production and Production and Processing to the group. 

Smallholder Representation Working Group 

Since August 2020, the smallholder onboarding process has been integrating smallholders into GPSNR’s structures and functions.  This month, the smallholder working group conducted a r satisfaction survey for the 28 smallholders within GPSNR to assess the successes and challenges of the smallholder onboarding process. 

Of the 28 smallholders at GPSNR, 16 responded to the survey. While structural issues like the digital divide, access to technology and language barriers are causes for concern in smallholder engagement, the survey results were encouraging. 

15 out of 16 smallholders responded positively on being asked if they better understood GPSNR’s aims after the onboarding process. They also offered plenty of constructive feedback to improve the onboarding experience for future members. These include improving communications and information sharing, clearer rules and organisational goals, and ways to enhance smallholder engagement on the platform.  However, the information that remains unclear for a majority of the respondents centers around the rules of membership and goals of the smallholder representation working group. These will be addressed in the new onboarding programmes that the working group is developing.

The group has also reached out to Thai farmer associations to recruit new members from Thailand, and is also preparing for a workshop to recruit smallholders in Cambodia. At the same time, the group continues to seek responses from the smallholders who haven’t yet completed the survey. 

Policy Toolbox Working Group 

After receiving some strong proposals for the development of guidance for the Compliance Panel operations, the Policy Toolbox working group is now reviewing these and will have a finalist in the coming few weeks. 

For context, GPSNR Statutes mandate the creation of an independent Compliance Panel to  ensure that members conform with Statutes, Code of Conduct, decisions, standards and processes, and make recommendations to the GPSNR Executive Committee. 

After an extensive selection process, the group has also chosen ZSL to work on the Reporting Requirements development as they have significant experience in similar projects. Simultaneously, they have completed the first round of focus group calls and surveys for the development of the implementation guidance. 

Capacity Building Working Group 

After presenting a funding mechanism of capacity building projects to the Executive Committee earlier this month, the Funding Taskforce in the Capacity Building working group has finalised the process and will be broadcasting it to all members in July 2021. 

This funding mechanism is a temporary measure which will support GPSNR’s capacity building initiatives while the larger funding model is finalised.

At the same time, the Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) taskforce has finalised GPSNR’s GAP principles. 

Traceability and Transparency Working Group

The group has put together a draft input on the Implementation Guidance from a traceability perspective this month. 

After conducting discussions on traceability and data requirements for GPSNR, this is also developing data collection and reporting standards together with the Policy Toolbox working group.

Shared Responsibility Working Group

Having finalised the Implementation Framework for Shared Responsibility, the group has finalised a first round discussion of the problem statements for the natural rubber supply chain. 

This has allowed the group to identify the causal pathways and root causes of the issues affecting shared responsibility investment, supply chain data transparency and reinforcing sustainable supply chains (key focus areas for the group). With this step completed, the group is now looking at proposing solutions for these issues that GPSNR can implement. This first draft of solutions will be soon shared with the different categories members for an initial informal consultation.

GPSNR Working Groups Update: July 2023

Strategy and Objectives Working Group:

The Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) were successfully agreed upon during the June Hybrid meetings, and are awaiting review and approval for the OEMs KPI. 

In pursuit of defining targets related to member’s water withdrawal within the KPIs, surveys have been sent out. The results from the water withdrawal surveys will be analyzed and integrated into the KPIs.

ASI has been selected to develop the Assurance Model for GPSNR and has commenced discussions. ASI’s assignment for the Assurance Model involves presenting a framework proposal before the 2023 General Assembly.

The completion of the first consultation for the Due Diligence System (DDS) was completed during the June Hybrid meetings. The second round of consultations for the Due Diligence System by ZSL has been initiated. A teleconsultation, scheduled for the end of July, will provide an opportunity to discuss the feedback obtained. 

The Risk Subgroup has been working on the Traceability Pilot Field Trials, and consortiums Agridence and Koltiva have provided their midpoint updates.

ASI has finalized the initial version of the Risk Assessment Framework. Feedback has been collected to further enhance its effectiveness. Risk subgroup has extended an invitation to ASI to disclose the underlying formula of the Risk Assessment Framework. The initial trial of pre-setting Indonesia’s Risk level using the ASI risk tool has been completed. The results will aid in evaluating the feasibility of setting risk levels for 20 countries, with members’ feedback actively being incorporated to enhance user-friendliness.

Discussions between the Basel Institute and the Risk subgroup have commenced, this collaboration aims to investigate corruption risks within the supply chain.

The submission of Agridence and Koltiva’s final reports for the Traceability Enhancement will happen at the end of July. Subsequently, work will commence on fleshing out the Enhancing Traceability Report.

Smallholders Representation and Capacity Building (SCB) Working Group:

The discussion on Agroforestry Workshops for 2023-2024 has been successfully finalised. The Agroforestry-Income Diversification Taskforce will complete the contractual signing and then proceed to kick-start the preparation for agroforestry workshops in 2023-2024.

The HCSA-HCVN Field Trials task force has reviewed and provided feedback on the final report submitted by Daemeter. Additionally, the HCSA-HCVN Field Trials task force will revise and prepare to submit their final report.

The Thailand Agroforestry project has presented a progress report covering March to May 2023. The team is actively preparing for upcoming training sessions with smallholders.

The Indonesia National Subgroup will present quarterly progress reports to the SCB WG for the GAP Coaching and Disease Fighting projects in early August. The Thailand National Subgroup is currently evaluating proposals for Thailand GAP Coaching.

The Smallholders Policy-Equivalent (SPE) Taskforce is aiming to obtain endorsement from the SCB WG for the final recommendations of their report in early August.

Policy Toolbox Working Group:

The Transparent Reporting Requirements (TRR) for Year 2 have been successfully agreed upon and are now pending review and approval for the OEM category.

Petra Westerlaan, the selected consultant for the Working Group (WG), proposed a quantitative orientation for the reporting matrix. This quantification approach will simplify data aggregation and streamline the evaluation of annual progress. The WG has received Petra’s proposed reporting matrix and is all set to initiate teleconsultations in the first week of August. These sessions will facilitate valuable discussions on the feedback received, ensuring achievement of the most effective reporting system.

In addition, Agridence has presented their proposal for a new reporting requirements platform. They will keep the Working Group informed about its testing, launch, and any subsequent updates.

Shared Responsibility Working Group: 

During the face-to-face meeting, the Governance and Guiding principles were presented, highlighting their importance in shaping the future direction of GPSNR. Manufacturers are now required to seek internal approval regarding the Governance Framework and subsequently provide a final version for approval to the GPSNR Executive Committee (EC) and General Assembly.

The SR WG is actively engaged in defining an inclusive shared investment framework, encompassing various forms of contribution such as in-kind support, financial contributions, and external funding. The outcomes of discussions at the Manufacturers category level will play a crucial role in shaping this framework.

Collaborating with the Secretariat and other WGs, the SR WG is committed to revamping discussions on data sharing and value transfer, recognizing their significance in achieving our objectives. These discussions will seek to optimize the sharing of data and the value derived from it.

To provide clarity and transparency, the WG aims to define the value and benefits associated with each category within GPSNR, ensuring that all stakeholders are aware of the advantages and opportunities available.

Furthermore, the WG, in collaboration with the Capacity Building WG, is working on developing a protocol to filter and evaluate proposals based on the Equity definition and the stakeholders identified by the EC. This process will ensure fair and comprehensive evaluation of proposals.

Lastly, an open co-chair position is available, and volunteers are welcomed to contribute their expertise and leadership to drive the WG forward. If you are interested in taking on this role, please step forward and join us in this important endeavour.

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