Pessoas
Agriculture has a central role in the livelihoods of most rural households, for whom participation in commodity supply chains can either be a route to a better life or a poverty trap. Workers producing agricultural commodities often find their vulnerabilities exploited and trapped in unfair labour practices. Similarly, Indigenous Peoples and local communities in production landscapes may have their rights to land and resources not respected and can be exposed to further abuses when defending their rights.
We work across the supply chain to ensure that companies put systems in place to prevent and mitigate adverse impacts on smallholder producers, workers, Indigenous Peoples and local communities. We also directly engage civil society, rights-holders, companies and governments in production areas to find practical ways to address salient issues in the commodities we work on: including using collective action to tackle the root causes of these challenges.
We have a number of training courses on Proforest Academy relating to how companies and collaborative initiatives can implement good practice to address social issues. These include courses on Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IP&LC), gender inclusion, Free Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC), responsible business conduct, and safeguarding.
Human Rights Due Diligence (HRDD)
We develop guidance and provide tailored advice on concrete ways to apply meaningful HRDD to agricultural raw material sourcing and production across the supply chains. An example of this type of work is the Human Rights Spotlight programme, which developed practical guides on HRDD in the sugarcane sector. We also work in company collaboration spaces, such as the Palm Oil Collaboration Group, to increase the uptake of best practices on the HRDD process and enable buyers to provide support for improved human rights practices across the supply chain, as well as harmonise asks towards suppliers across organisations and industries, through our leading role in developing the Aligning Palm Trader Performance Assessment.
Proforest recommends that companies implement the UNGP and OECD’s approach to ‘Responsible Business Conduct’ in a comprehensive and meaningful way across supply chains.
Respecting Indigenous Peoples' and Local Communities' Rights
We want to ensure that the rights of both women and men living in communities affected by commodity production are respected and secure. We support retailers, manufacturers, traders and growers to set and implement commitments to ensure the respect of local communities’ and Indigenous Peoples’ rights in their supply chains. This includes capacity building, identifying risks of human rights abuses occurring in supply chains, and developing procedures to mitigate and monitor impacts, as well as resolve grievances. We also support growers at the production level in developing good company-community relations and implementing best practice for respecting Indigenous Peoples’ rights, such as via implementing Free, Prior, Informed Consent (FPIC).
Beyond our work with individual companies, we support efforts to include considerations of Indigenous Peoples’ and community rights in global and regional multi-stakeholder platforms and jurisdictional initiatives we are part of, through the active inclusion or consultation of Indigenous Peoples and local communities and expert organisations. We also develop guidance and deliver training for key stakeholders such as governments, producers, NGOs and CSOs.
Securing Local Livelihoods
We support smallholders in enhancing their farming practices, strengthen their capacity and access to training on sustainable production, including improved yields, regenerative agricultural practices, as well as securing decent working conditions and decent living incomes. We understand that effective action requires multiple stakeholders working together and this is what we do in the landscape initiative in Negros, Philippines. We use our strong links with the private sector and civil society to bring key players together to develop common solutions, including models, tools and approaches for smallholder engagement and support.
Respecting Workers' Rights
Our technical advice, tools and capacity building help companies to make labour rights commitments part of their responsible sourcing policies, and take action to address the risks of labour rights abuses in their supply chains. We support jurisdictional, sectoral and industry-level initiatives to deliver meaningful improvements in workers’ rights.
We also work with growers to identify risks and make changes that improve employment conditions at all stages of production, by strengthening avenues for female and male workers to be heard and drive improvements in their working conditions. This is what the MY Voice project aims to do in Malaysia and our landscape programme in Siak Pelalawan in Indonesia. Through our facilitation and technical advice with roundtables and multi-stakeholder processes, we support collective efforts to improve working conditions and respect for workers’ rights.
Gender Equality
Gender equality is a fundamental human right and is key to effective and sustainable development outcomes. Our vision for gender equality starts in our workplaces and extends to the projects, programmes and advisory work we do. Gender lenses apply to our work in various ways, including how we select stakeholders for engagement, the data we gather on the ground and the support we provide female smallholders in supply chains.
Useful resources:
Collection of other human rights assets and resources
Human Rights Defenders – Guidance for Companies
Human Rights Policy Commitments Guide
Human Rights Spotlight - Practical Guide for Human Rights Due Diligence in the Sugarcane Sector
Labour Rights Project in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire – Ulula worker voice technology
Procedures to Remediate Serious Human Rights Issues
Proforest Gender Equality Policy
Respecting the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities in Landscape Initiatives - A Guide for Practitioners on Minimum Safeguards and Best Practices
Series of commodity infographics showing key issues, including human rights issues in shea, coconut, cotton and seaweed
Worker voice technology – piloting Ulula in Southeast Asia and Latin America