Implementing Due Diligence (DD) in globally sourced value chains can be challenging, especially with partners in developing countries, as education and literacy levels tend to be low, and critical infrastructure is not well maintained. These challenges create the main risk for European buyers, which is that the supply chains from specifically Sub Saharan Africa are seen as less reliable.
We aim to empower our three partner cooperatives, support them in organizational building with a focus on producer level aspects of corporate responsibility and know-how on quality control, reporting and DD assurance systems.
The cooperatives will be supported both in organizational building and in designing and implementing quality assurance systems, while integrating key aspects of corporate DD mechanism identified during initial participatory risk assessment workshops with a cross-section of value-chain actors, including partners in processing, shipping and organic agriculture compliant to EU regulation. This aims to raise cooperatives' organization level, and thus strengthen the base of the supply chain, lowering the 'security of supply risks' and make these cooperatives more attractive partners in European markets.
Project lead
