Ethics At Work

A day before the start of BIOFACH 2020, the world’s leading trade fair for organic products, we organized a workshop with Indonesian and Nepalese exporters of medicinal and aromatic plants, essential oils, and natural ingredients. For the Import Promotion Desk (IPD) we have helped them develop and implement CSR action plans.

On behalf of Solidaridad Network, we were in Egypt for a scoping mission, with many meetings about sustainable agriculture, decent work, youth employment, and technical and vocational education.

This week we were lucky enough to be in beautiful Sierra Leone and Liberia to train cocoa cooperatives and exporters on sustainable business, on behalf of the Rijksdienst voor Ondernemend Nederland - RVO.nl and CBI - Centre for the Promotion of Imports from developing countries.

We were in Egypt again to coach companies on sustainable business practices, this time on behalf of the Import Promotion Desk (IPD). The companies that participated in this week’s training course produce natural ingredients and fresh fruit and vegetables.

We were in Egypt to coach companies on CSR and to conduct a workshop with Egyptian and Jordanian CSR experts, on behalf of the Rijksdienst voor Ondernemend Nederland - RVO.nl and CBI - Centre for the Promotion of Imports from developing countries.

For the next four months, we'll be responsible for Solidaridad Network's work on the Dutch Agreement on Sustainable Garments and Textile. The companies that have signed this agreement are conducting due diligence and implementing action plans to make their supply chains more sustainable. For more information about the agreement, have a look at https://lnkd.in/dgvYuix.
Photo: employees at Rich Factory in Luxor, Egypt. © Dominic Chavez.

We were in Liberia to meet with cocoa cooperatives for the International Trade Centre. We are developing a project to increase the income of farmers by connecting cooperatives directly with international buyers and premium chocolate brands.
If you're interested in sourcing high-quality cocoa beans from Liberia, drop us a line!

Back in Egypt to train and coach engineering companies on corporate social responsibility, on behalf of the Rijksdienst voor Ondernemend Nederland - RVO.nl / CBI - Centre for the Promotion of Imports from developing countries, in collaboration with the Engineering Export Council of Egypt.
The companies that participated in this training produce and export car parts, kitchen equipment, sheet metal products, lighting, batteries and packaging machines. Jointly they employ over 2,000 people.

“More shrimp, less ice, no cheating on the size”
That was one of the many candid recommendations to the shrimp industry at the EU - Bangladesh market consultation. About a hundred government officials, producers, processors, exporters, importers and retailers gathered in Utrecht to find ways of exporting more and better shrimp from Bangladesh to Europe.
It was great fun co-chairing this event with Maarten Mens and working with the energetic team of the Seafood Trade Intelligence Portal.

We've been working on this for months with Aidenvironment, Profundo and Climate Advisers, and now it's out: the new report about foreign farmland investors in Brazil. Read how Nuveen, Harvard University, Cresud and others have contributed to deforestation in Brazil's Cerrado.
There is some good news: deforestation rates on foreign-held farms in Brazil have dropped significantly in the past six years.

Our travels for the Import Promotion Desk (IPD) continue in Indonesia, where we are training a group of suppliers of natural ingredients on how to develop their businesses sustainably.
For more information about IPD's work in Indonesia, have a look at https://www.importpromotiondesk.de/en/cou ntries/indonesia/.

We're in Nepal to provide training on sustainable business practices to suppliers of medicinal and aromatic plants. We’ve been analysing supply chains of relatively unknown products, such as soapberries, dry ginger, lemongrass essential oil and jatamansi (which at the moment cannot be exported due to a ban).
This training course is part of a project for the Import Promotion Desk (https://www.importpromotiondesk.de/en/co untries/nepal/), in collaboration with GIZ Nepal.

We were in Liberia for the International Trade Centre (ITC), in collaboration with CBI - Centre for the Promotion of Imports from developing countries. We met with authorities, organised a stakeholder workshop and talked to many actors in the cocoa value chain. The most insightful field visits were those to the Bong and Nimba counties, where we met with farmers, agents, cooperatives and local leaders. There are many challenges, but we are sure the ITC - CBI programme will be able to help the sector become more competitive on the world market.

We were fortunate enough to moderate the launch of the Platform Living Wage Financials (www.livingwage.nl), a Dutch investor coalition aimed at raising the wages of workers in global supply chains. What an excellent event! Radiant and proud platform members, a frank discussion with ESPRIT, H&M, ASOS and Marks and Spencer, and visionary leaders like Jessica Simor QC, Gerald Cartigny and Arie Koornneef.

It was a pleasure being back at the KIT Royal Tropical Institute to chair a focus group on trends, sourcing strategies and requirements in the processed fruits and vegetables and edible nuts sectors. What a great group of buyers, experts, and programme managers of the CBI - Centre for the Promotion of Imports from developing countries and the Rijksdienst voor Ondernemend Nederland - RVO.nl.

In Amsterdam again, to kick off a mid-term review for the Chain Reaction Research consortium. Great workshop set-up, with Green Century Capital Management and Climate Advisers participating from two different locations in the US.