Smallholders Representation Working Group Update – August 2019

It’s been a month of progress! Here are the updates from each working group:

Strategy and Objectives Working Group

While the working group did not meet this month, they are focussed on finalising the Theory of Change and organising a workshop for the same in September. The group will also continue to work on refining the platform’s external partnerships approval process. 

Smallholder Representation Working Group

After a successful onboarding workshop for Indonesian smallholders, the group is welcoming new smallholder members at GPSNR. They are also planning  similar workshops for smallholders in Srilanka and Cambodia in September. Workshops in India, Liberia, Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana are also being kept in view and will be scheduled as soon as the COVID-19 situation allows.

At the same time, the smallholders will meet to discuss GPSNR’s agroforestry position next month (in tandem with the Capacity Building Working Group). 

Policy Toolbox Working Group

This working group has received draft documents from consultants on three significant aspects of the GPSNR assurance model: the Implementation Guidance, the Reporting Requirements and the Compliance Panel Guidance. 

They are currently focussed on finalising the reporting requirements. For this, they need members to send in their feedback by 30th August. If you haven’t yet done so, please take a look at the form here. This will make it possible for us to vote on the Reporting Requirements by the General Assembly in December 2021. 

The group is also busy revising and finalising the Implementation Guidance, which will be voted on at the General Assembly in early 2021. 

Capacity Building Working Group

The group has completed an initial review of documents on agroforestry, and will now initiate a task force to develop a position on agroforestry. If you are interested in being part of the task force, please contact Aidan and Si Yuan at aidan@gpsnr.org and yeo.siyuan@gpsnr.org respectively. 

They are also starting a national capacity building subgroup in Thailand after Michelin pledged funding for key projects in the country. Should you be interested in joining this subgroup, you can also write to Aidan and Si Yuan! 

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

As a step forward on the discussion about the long term financial model, the group has discussed the preliminary concept of a rubber trust fund. It is now seeking inputs to refine and further develop the foundations of thel model.

Strategy and Objectives Working Group

The S&O Working Group has received inputs to the platform Theory of Change from the Smallholders Representation, Capacity Building, and Traceability and Transparency Working Groups. A task team from the S&O Working Group will now work to synthesize these different contributions into a single document. This compiled Theory of Change template will then be developed into the platform Theory of Change through a workshop which will involve representatives from all the working groups.

The Equity Sub-Working Group completed a summary of the Living Income studies that the platform commissioned in 2021 and presented the summary through a webinar. The Equity Sub-Working Group will now work to develop recommendations on how GPSNR can address priority risks and boost equity in the value chain.

‘Policy Toolbox’ Working Group

The Policy Toolbox Working Group has selected a combined consultant team of Proforest and Are We There Yet to lead the development of the Implementation Guidance for GPSNR. The development is expected to be a consultative process that concludes with a set of draft guidance that will be ready by July 2021.

To facilitate consultation on the Implementation Guidance, the Working Group will set up category-specific focus groups that members are encouraged to join. The focus groups will meet twice to review the draft guidance and provide feedback and inputs to improve the document. Each focus group is only expected to meet twice and members are only required to spend a few hours before each meeting reviewing the draft documents. The focus groups will be set up in the following manner:

Focus Group 1
Growers
Traders of Raw Materials

Focus Group 2
Processors
Traders of Processed material

Focus Group 3
Tire makers and other manufacturers

Focus Group 4
End users (incl. car makers and other downstream stakeholders).

In line with the assessment of policy documents against the policy framework, the Secretariat has collated company policy documents that were submitted and will proceed to review the policy documents submitted for review. The Secretariat has received responses from all 29 ordinary member companies that were required to submit documents and will spend the next month assessing the submissions.

‘Capacity Building’ Working Group

The Capacity Building Working Group has created three separate task forces that will work on working group tasks. The first task force will focus on developing mechanisms to measure impacts of capacity building activities, the second task force will develop a strategy to attract and recognize GPSNR members’ funding of capacity building activities, and the final task force will develop systems to ensure that the national sub-groups tasked with implementing capacity building activities in each country remain aligned with the broader working group. In addition to the Good Agricultural Practices Task Force, the Working Group now has four Task Forces that will work to deliver on their tasks in the coming months.

‘Traceability and Transparency’ Working Group

The Traceability and Transparency Working Group will continue to meet in its sub-groups to develop recommendations on minimum benchmarks for traceability tools and data sharing in the platform. With the submission of the Working Group’s input to the Theory of Change, the Working Group is pleased to announce that its first sub-group has completed the assigned tasking and will no longer meet.

Smallholder Representation Working Group

The Smallholder Representation Working Group has now onboarded smallholders from Indonesia and Vietnam into the Working Group. The Working Group has also divided into two groups within the working group. The first sub-working group will work to develop a strategy to onboard smallholders from countries that are not represented in GPSNR yet. The second group will work to deepen engagement with smallholders who are already members of the platform and also develop strategies to improve representation among minority groups in countries that are already represented in GPSNR