Smallholders Representation Working Group Update – August 2019

The strategy and objectives working group

Both the sub working groups under the umbrella of the Strategy and Objectives WG are occupied with some critical milestones. The Risk Subgroup has received the final draft for the risk assessment framework by ASI, and will be working on piloting the framework and the next steps. The Risk Subgroup would also be looking at guidance on traceability enhancement based on pilot field trials and other data from members, and they have started a series of traceability tools webinar sessions with tool providers and member companies and planning on the second session. The next webinar is on 26th April, and you can register for it here. 

On the other hand, the Assurance Model taskforce is streamlining the category specific KPIs along with the members journey/assurance model blueprint that was finalised during the latest hybrid meetings. You can find more context in the minutes here or reach out for questions on info@gpsnr.org.

The smallholder representation working group: 

Along with the work on the smallholder policy equivalent for which the WG has already sent out an all-member survey and initiating the HCSA-HCVN NR Smallholder Toolkit Field Trials, they are preparing for the decided merger with the capacity building working group. More details on how this will play out can be found here. 

The policy toolbox working group: 

The group is working on a tender to Crosswalk RR framework with CDP Forest and GRI Reporting, while aligning with the Assurance Model taskforce on the KPI on due diligence. 

The smallholders representation & capacity building working group: 

As a newly merged working group, they continue to perform the duties of the two old working groups, including overseeing the on-ground projects in Indonesia and Thailand. At the same time, they are focussing on finalising their new TOR and agroforestry/income diversification strategies. Members who wish to continue in the SCB WG and any National Subgroup or Task Force should write to the Secretariat, indicating their organisation, name, email and the national subgroup or taskforce they are interested in participating in.

The shared responsibility working group: 

As per the decisions taken on the next steps during the hybrid meetings in January-February, the group is working with the Tiremaker category on streamlining a proposal on shared investment while also completing the deliverables on the other pillars. They are also aligning with the Assurance Model taskforce on how the KPIs will integrate into the Shared Investment mechanism. They have completed 40% of the progress they committed to on all three pillars during the in-person meetings so far.

By James Chang Wen Jie, Michelin

In February 2022, the Global Platform for Sustainable Natural Rubber released its Theory of Change (ToC), a document which articulates how the platform aims to positively impact the supply chain and achieve its desired states.  As a representative of my company Michelin at the platform, I have been part of this intensive, fulfilling task for the last year.

While I had some previous experience with ToC frameworks for individual projects, this was the first time I was engaged in one at a multi stakeholder platform level. The major difference here, and one emblematic of the ‘GPSNR multi-stakeholder experience’, was that we needed to integrate as many perspectives and expertise as we could, from all of GPSNR’s working groups and member categories. After all, bringing this theory of change to life is a task that will eventually fall on every stakeholder represented in GPSNR. If we wanted a document that the platform could truly rally around, we needed a co-creation process built on inclusivity as well as accountability.

My fellow task team members Martin Hollands (BirdLife International) and James Laimos (Goodyear) can attest to the fact that the journey was hard work. Yet, over the two half-day platform workshops and numerous additional consultation sessions with working group chairs and interested members, the strength of the platform showed itself in the depth of insights provided during discussions, and in the rigor of the final document. I am confident we would not have arrived where we did without the unique mix of experiences and operating contexts that members had. As a representative of my organization, the exposure to a wide range of perspectives from all along the natural rubber value chain is also a valuable input to our own sustainability journey, alongside and in addition to GPSNR.

The most visible output of this work is this interactive web-document accessible on the GPSNR website. While it is an easy and simple introduction to our work, it is nonetheless a result of a rigorous and intensive process, which required the investment of many stakeholders (including many hours of hard deliberation by the task team!). This of course belies the question:

Does theory matter and was this time really worth it?

It’s a question the task team asked itself a number of times as well. However, my own journey in sustainability has taught me that while it is tempting to jump straight to action, issues on the ground are often more complex than they seem, and well-meaning actions can lead to unintended outcomes. We therefore not only need to know where we are going, but also need to map and understand the series of events or actions that will get us there. A theory of change exercise allows us to dig deep into the root causes of the current situation, leveraging on the experience and expertise we have across working groups and stakeholder categories to work on plans that tackle issues at their core.

Articulating the theory of change at this juncture in GPSNR’s journey also allows for a ‘stock take’ before the platform accelerates into implementation. The journey towards sustainability in the natural rubber supply chain is a complex one which requires a careful balance of environmental, social, and economic spheres. It also requires coordinating work on multiple action areas (i.e., the work of GPSNR’s many working groups) to make sure that our activities truly address identified root problems without any major gaps.

In fact, these conversations did end up identifying some gaps, and spurred us to explore solutions. For example, a member brought up the point that real impact across the world’s 6 million smallholders would mean that GPSNR would need some way to multiply its impact beyond farmers benefited through direct involvement in GPSNR or its capacity building programmes. Further conversation and the sharing of case studies from experiences in other commodities identified that a key intervention to tackle will be to empower networks of farmers that can promulgate good practices in, and beyond their communities.

As the world emerges from the aftermath of the pandemic and unprecedented supply chain disruptions, being clear on what we need to do to truly make an impact is more important than ever. I hope that interacting with GPSNR’s Theory of Change will give you a good idea of where we’re headed, and how we hope to get there!