New Responsible Sourcing training course in Brazil

Designed to provide practical guidance to help companies develop and implement responsible sourcing commitments, the course covered issues such as supply chain mapping, risk assessment, verification and monitoring of suppliers and communication policy.

Twelve participants engaged in the training, including sustainability and procurement teams and others involved in the responsible sourcing of agricultural and forest commodities. Delegates attended from Monsanto, Cargill, Caramuru Alimentos and the BASF foundation Fundação Espaço Eco – four organisations with huge potential to drive positive change in the supply chain.

The course was based on Responsible Sourcing: A Practical Guide published by Proforest last year, which outlines 6 basic steps for implementing responsible sourcing in the supply chain. The training began with an online module which took place over a period of three weeks. This enabled participants to develop an understanding of the current situation and provided an introduction to responsible sourcing policies.

Participants then took part in a 1-day face-to-face workshop, kindly hosted by Cargill at their Brazil headquarters. The workshop included a combination of presentations, group activities and discussions. As well as providing expert guidance on responsible sourcing, the course provided an opportunity for participants to meet other professionals in the same field and learn from their experiences.

A key outcome of the training was the enhancement of participants’ technical capacity to evaluate the performance of supply chains, identify potential actions, prioritise and engage suppliers, assess risks and report progress.

The course represents a series of firsts for Proforest. It was the first training course to be delivered by our Proforest Brazil Office and the first Responsible Sourcing training course to be delivered by Proforest as a whole. It has also set a precedent for training in Responsible Sourcing in Brazil, which previously has not been available in the country.

We plan to run more Responsible Sourcing training courses in the future, in English, French, Bahasa Indonesia, Spanish and Portuguese.

To keep up-to-date with all our training events, please visit our training page and subscribe to our training email updates. You can also find out more about responsible sourcing in our Briefing: Delivering responsible sourcing in practice: an integrated approach.