Spring 2011 Internships
(New York, NY)
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Social Accountability International (SAI) is a non-profit, multi-stakeholder organization established to advance the human rights of workers by promoting decent work conditions, labor rights, and corporate social responsibility through voluntary standards and capacity building.
SAI is headquartered in the United States with field representation in Brazil, China, Costa Rica, India, the Netherlands, Nicaragua, Philippines, Switzerland, and UAE.
For newsletter inquiries contact:SAI Communications Manager- Joleen Ong, jong@sa-intl.org |
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 RAGS Project Convenes Roundtable on Gender Discrimination'MAC' forums convene key stakeholders in New Delhi and Tirupur
From left: 1) SAI staff engage in discussions with key stakeholders at the MAC forum in Tirupur; 2) SAI staff visit the PGC Classic Spinning Mill in Tirupur; 3) Breakout sessions during the MAC forum in New Delhi
 In mid-November, Senior Manager of Corporate Programs and Training, Jane Hwang, and Senior Manager, Matt Fischer-Daly, joined India Project Director Rishi Sher Singh in India in support of the RAGS Project, and convening multi-stakeholder advisory committee (MACs) forums in Tirupur (16 November), and Delhi (23 November).
Through the MAC meetings, SAI engaged key stakeholders in the RAGS Project and broader garment and apparel industry, and elicited their feedback to focus the project's training program. The MAC is a forum for facilitated dialogue among stakeholders on strategies to address labor issues that are beyond the capacity of any one group to resolve alone. In line with the focus of the RAGS project, this MAC focused specifically on gender discrimination in the garment supply chain.>>Read more
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UN Women Gender Equity Seal: Public Comment Period
 As announced in our September newsletter, SAI in partnership with UN Women, is developing a new auditable and certifiable standard, the Gender Equity Seal (GES), to measure the degree of inclusion and equitable treatment of women in a company's workplace and supply chain.
SAI has posted a draft of the GES standard for public review and comment. We invite you to comment on the draft standard and respond to a brief survey (15 minutes) to gauge overall interest and perspective on the draft GES. Visit www.surveymonkey.com/s/UNGES to begin your review. The draft standard and survey will be open December 15-January 31.
The goal of the GES is to provide a 'gender lens'- a specialized standard - to target existing inequities and provide a management-system based approach to improvement. The goal is for the GES standard to be easily integrated into, or be part of, a company's existing labor code of conduct monitoring program. >>Read more
To review, comment and respond to the survey on the draft of the UN GES Standard visit
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SAI Introduces Model for Governments to Drive CSR
SAI's implementation model outlines a role for governments to help accelerate business-driven social performance in collaboration with companied
 | | Governments & Companies: SAI welcomes your feedback!
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Ensuring an ethical supply chain that is compliant with labor standards requires the help of many stakeholder groups. Companies can't go at it alone. Governments can play a key role in driving improvement in labor standards performance in their countries. Ultimately this can lead to increased exports for their important small and medium enterprise (SME) sector.
SAI developed this implementation model to respond to a request for ideas on what a national government could do to accelerate the adoption of better social performance standards in all tiers of its economy. It uses business incentives to encourage improvement - from government to large national companies and then to SME suppliers. By widening the scope of participation, this model seeks to eliminate some of the major barriers to entry that SMEs face in trying to improve: lack of internal resources and cost. >>Read more
View the full implementation diagram @bit.ly/sKO6X1. For more information, contact SAI Director of Corporate Programs & Training Craig Moss at CMoss@sa-intl.org.
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Corporate Member Spotlight: Rosy Blue Diamonds
Rosy Blue Releases 2011 CSR Report & Earns Certification to the Responsible Jewellery Council
 | | Rosy Blue released its 2011 CSR report, which highlights its work with SAI's SA8000 standard and Social Fingerprint |
On December 1, 2011, SAI Corporate Program Member, Rosy Blue, released its third CSR report. Rosy Blue's "Report to Society" highlights its performance across operations and shared progress in five main areas: Respect for Human Rights, Working Conditions, Product Integrity, Community Empowerment and Environment. Rosy Blue highlights its partnership with SAI, and its use of the Social Fingerprint program to improve social compliance at both the company and factory level. It zooms in on two factories, in Thailand and China, and illustrates how they use Social Fingerprint® to go beyond the minimum to ensure decent labor practices.
"Rosy Blue finds great value in SAI's Corporate Programs membership and services," said Rosy Blue Corporate Affairs Manager, Iris Van der Veken. "Since we became a member in early 2011, it has accelerated our learning, and strengthened our social compliance system throughout our supply chain. SAI's Social Fingerprint® program has greatly helped us to identify, assess and map out key steps for our suppliers to take in order to improve its social performance." >>Read more
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Timberland & Disney Upgrade Corporate Membership
In response to SAI's enhanced Corporate Programs membership services, both companies take their commitment to the next level
 As reported in the November 2011 newsletter, SAI's enhanced corporate membership, focused on providing members with a broader range of services, has caught the attention of two companies. Both Timberland and Disney have upgraded their membership levels to increase their use of SAI's services to support improvement of their supply chains. Timberland is now a Signatory member, and Disney an Explorer member; this move offers greater access to SAI's sophisticated supply chain management training - including Social Fingerprint®-- multi-stakeholder input, and the ability to confidentially benchmark their programs against other members. "We are thrilled to have Disney and Timberland take their commitment to the next level," said SAI Director of Corporate Programs, Craig Moss. "Both companies that are truly committed to SAI's Shared Mission - to improve working conditions in the supply chain, in accordance with performance criteria based on relevant ILO conventions and national law, utilizing management systems and multi-stakeholder dialogue.">>Read more
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SAI Training Team Grows in China
SAI welcomes new Authorized Representative, Shenzhen Madison Technical Services Co., Ltd.
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SAI Lead Trainer Mike Lee is the Managing Director of Shenzhen Madison Technical Services Co., Ltd.
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Partnerships and Authorized Representatives are an important part of SAI's global reach and local capacity-building efforts. SAI Authorized Representatives are local organizations that have a formal partnership agreement with SAI.
Please join us in welcoming Shenzhen Madison Technical Services Co., Ltd. to SAI's team. It is based in Shenzhen, China, and headed up by SAI Lead Trainer Mike Lee. The organization will work closely with SAI HQ to develop and deliver training, technical assistance and other services on behalf of SAI in China. >>Read more
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SAI Weighs In On Implementation of 'Ruggie Principles'
SAI is interested to comment to the new expert body and will report to it on learnings from our current project with ICCO to develop a Handbook for leading companies on How To Respect Human Rights in the International Supply Chain. The Handbook will provide a step by step guide and lead to online and classroom-based training, on interpreting and practically applying the Principles, using a management systems-based approach. >>Read more
For more information, contact Caroline Lewis at CLewis@sa-intl.org.
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Reflections, Inspired by Sir Geoffrey Chandler, on "Business & Human Rights: A Vision for 2020"
SAI Research Intern, Ayesha Salim attended the interactive discussion in honor of Sir Geoffrey Chandler in London
On November 17, 2011 the Institute for Human Rights and Business (IHRB) organized an interactive discussion on the future of the business and human rights agenda in honor of Sir Geoffrey Chandler, a pioneer in the field of business and human rights. The discussion not only examined the legacy left behind by his work but also the vision for human rights in the next ten years. >>Read more
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Snapshot from India: SA8000® Auditor Calibration Meeting
November 19, 2011 - Bangalore, India
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Representatives from SAI - Rishi Sher Singh, Jane Hwang, Matt Fischer-Daly, Sanjiv Singh and Badri Gulur- stand with participants from SAAS accredited certification bodies in India.
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Organized by Social Accountability Accreditation Services (SAAS), SA8000® calibration meetings are a space to discuss issues that certification bodies face, and answer questions that may arise in implementing the SA8000® system. This meeting was hosted by the SAAS accredited certification body, SGS. During these meetings, it is expected that participants come to a consensus on the interpretation and expectations of both auditing and managing specific topics in the SA8000® system.
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Highlights & Announcements  | |
SAI's Matt Fischer-Daly, Jane Hwang and Rishi Sher Singh and Manager of Orient Fashion Exports (India) Pvt. Ltd visit with a homeworker in Delhi. In coordination with ETI, SAI's RAGS training projecrt is focused on ensuring decent work for homeworkers.
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