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Social Fingerprint� Classroom Course
Development of a Process-based Social Performance Program
Denver, CO, USA
August 6-10, Colombo, Sri Lanka
August 27-31, Bern, Switzerland
Sept 3-7, Istanbul, Turkey
Sept 17-21, Sao Paulo, Brazil
Sept 24-28, Bangalore, India
SA8000 Advanced Auditor Training
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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.
SAI- Human Rights at Work
For newsletter inquiries contact:
SAI Communications Manager
Joleen Ong, jong@sa-intl.org |
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 Transforming the UN Guiding Principles into Business PracticeSAI & ICCO to convene a 2-day training event to help businesses implement the UN Guiding Principles in their supply chain
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Date: 17-18 Sept, 2012
Location: Utrecht, the Netherlands |
In June 2011, the UNHCR (UN High Commission adopted the UN Guiding Principles on Business & Human Rights, developed -- with wide stakeholder consultation -- by UN Special Representative John Ruggie. These groundbreaking principles seek to ensure that businesses respect human rights. The challenge now is in their implementation.
Participants will receive a copy of the Handbook and Toolkit prior to the event. The training event will further elaborate on the Handbook with tools and exercises and will address questions concerning interpretation, scope and the practical integration of business' responsibility to respect human rights in their supply chains.
After completing the training, attendees will have a good understanding of the implications and opportunities of the Principles for business. Moreover they will be able to translate these Principles into their daily practice through the 6-step approach of the training and the practical formats, tools, cases and exercises that have been made available. The 6-step approach will help companies implement a supply chain management system that integrates respect for human rights:
1. Committing to a human rights policy
2. Assessing human rights impacts
3. Integrating human rights into policies, procedures and responsibilities
4. Tracking human rights implementation
5. Communicating human rights impacts
6. Remediating negative human rights impacts
Expected Participants: The Training is applicable to companies in any industry and size. It is designed for use by senior management, as well as professionals in the human resources, corporate social responsibility, compliance and sourcing departments. In addition, the Training is also intended for CSR experts and consultants who train or advise companies, as well as for NGO and trade union representatives to learn about the implications of the Guiding Principles on their work.
Trainers: The training will be given by Craig Moss, Director of Corporate Programs and Training of SAI, and Edwin Koster, SAI�s European Representative. Both have broad experience in sustainable supply chain management and were co-authors of the Handbook and Toolkit used in the Training.
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SA8000�: Overtime & Lead Time
Q & A with SAI Lead Trainer Sanjiv Singh
Question: How do auditors determine whether or not suppliers are given adequate time to complete purchase orders based on their capacity? Is this indicated via high instances of overtime?
Sanjiv Singh: To determine why overtime is high, auditors should go back and determine turn around times for a particular product once an order has been placed. Sourcing, design and quality assurance departments have a fair idea of how long it will take a particular factory to turn around goods - they book their order based on this fact and the reliability in delivering on time is an important factor.
Manufacturing in the electronics industry is sometimes comparable to the apparel industry and requires putting together components that may or may not be manufactured by the prime supplier where an order is placed; often delivery dates depend on how soon sub-suppliers can supply components. Brands therefore seek suppliers who manufacture similar products and can possibly retain some inventory of the components that are required to put together a final product. It works both ways - the supplier wants commitment in terms of a minimum number of pieces over a period of time from the brand and the brand wants finished goods that meet both quality and delivery requirements.
For example, in India, we are working with a major brand whose social compliance division in India engages with suppliers that can meet both quality and delivery as well as the social obligations that are expected from a supplier towards employees. The merchandising and social compliance departments work very closely with suppliers and pass on a consistent message that meet realistic objectives. Overtime does take place but is in control and is monitored very closely.
When overtime is high it will be important for an auditor to delve back and note a few factors:
- What products are made at the factory? (similarity between the components that go into making the product/common suppliers for different components)
- How long they have been working with the brand? (the length of the relationship)
- How many orders are booked at the facility? (number of pieces and delivery dates)
- Percentage of business that the particular brand represents in the factory
Have a question? Send it to SAI Communications Manager Joleen Ong (JOng@sa-intl.org) for consideration in the next newsletter.
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SAAS Launches New Oversight Project in India for SA8000
SAAS convenes SA8000 calibration meeting in Bangalore & meet with key stakeholders
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Snapshot from the SAAS Calibration Meeting in Bangalore on June 5, 2012. SAAS Executive Director Rochelle Zaid (far right), SAI Field Services Director Doug DeRuisseau (standing, right), and SAI India Project Director Rishi Sher Singh (standing, left) were in attendance. [Photo credit: Rishi Sher Singh]
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In June 2012, SAAS Executive Director Rochelle Zaid conducted a two week visit to India where SAAS convened a calibration meeting for locally active SAAS-accredited certification bodies. The calibration meeting launched a new oversight project SAAS is piloting in India, which will trial another layer of assurance to the SA8000 system. During the calibration meeting, certification bodies were introduced to the concept, and encouraged to weigh in. Next steps were established. SAAS will begin this pilot in August 2012.
In addition, Ms. Zaid met with stakeholders from a variety of sectors throughout the country during her visits to Mumbai, New Delhi, Coimbatore, Tirupur, and Bangalore, where issues pertaining to working conditions were discussed. Ms. Zaid also met with several SA8000-certified facilities, where she was able to engage with management and workers and to speak with them about the impact of SA8000 on their facilities and work environments. During these visits Ms. Zaid experienced first-hand the impact of SA8000, and was able to examine concerns relevant to the regions visited, such as the Sumangali Scheme, wages, market trends and employee recruitment. SAAS looks forward to implementing the findings of the field visit as part of SAAS' continued goal of improving the SA8000 system for human rights at work.
This article was written by SAAS Project Manager Salah Husseini. For inquiries, please contact SHusseini@saasaccreditation.org.
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SAI Completes GSCP Self-Assessment
The Self-Assessment, a benchmarking tool, allows for a comparison of SA8000 to the GSCP Reference tools
SAI is pleased to announce the completion and submission of three Global Social Compliance Programme (GSCP) Equivalence Process Self-Assessments. The GSCP documents are a benchmarking tool that allows for a comparison of the SA8000 system to the GSCP Reference tools.
Benchmarking analysis was conducted in three areas: Audit Competence; Audit Process and Methodology; and the GSCP Reference Code. Through this participation, SAI seeks to demonstrate the SA8000 Standard's position as a leading standard and resource for measuring the social compliance of facilities throughout the supply chain. This participation is also aligned with SAI and GSCP's memorandum of understanding, announced in June 2011. Special thanks to SAAS Project Manager Salah Husseini and SAI Intern Anya Corke for their work on these submissions.
The GSCP is a business-driven program for the continuous improvement of working and environmental conditions in global supply chains. The GSCP provides a global cross-industry platform to promote the exchange of knowledge and best practices in order to build comparability and transparency between existing social compliance and environmental compliance systems.
For more information, visit www.gscpnet.com. For inquiries, please contact SAI Communications Manager Joleen Ong - JOng@sa-intl.org.
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Rosy Blue Diamonds: Advancing the Rio+20 Agenda
SAI Corporate Programs Member Rosy Blue Diamonds notes SA8000's 'Management Systems' as integral to its social compliance
 In June 2012, the UN Global Compact Local Networks Europe released the report- The European UN Global Compact Companies Towards Rio+20 and Beyond: A Best Practices Collection - to showcase 100 best practice examples across 20 countries that are implementing sustainable development initiatives and programs to help advance the Rio+20 agenda. SAI Corporate Member Rosy Blue Diamonds contributed to the report with the chapter, "Sustainability in the Supply Chain: A Responsibility and an Opportunity."
The chapter highlights its partnerships with the Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC), the UN Global Compact and SAI to advance its supply chain sustainability goals. In one of its four 'lessons learned,' Rosy Blue noted that its "partnerships with initiatives such as SAI for our factories has given us a better understanding of integrating labor standards in the value chain." The chapter includes its experience with its SA8000 certified factory in Thailand to guarantee decent work conditions [a case study of this factory's journey was also highlighted in SAI's 2012 joint report with the UNGC and CIPE.]
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SA8000 'Management Systems: Tool for Social Life Cycle Assessment
UNEP's Assessment's 'Guidelines' references SA8000's management systems requirement as an evaluation tool
 In 2009, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) published its Guidelines for Social Life Cycle Assessment of Products, to set a framework to perform an SLCA for a product. The guidelines seek to provide greater information and knowledge on the three pillar approach towards sustainable development - people, planet, and profit/prosperity - as well as on a product's entire supply chain. The guidelines set forth four phases for a SLCA: 1) the goal and scope of the study; 2) inventory analysis; 3) impact assessment; and 4) interpretation.
Several tools for SLCA are cited in UNEP's Guidelines, including use of SA8000� as a procedural and management tool. The SA8000 Standard's management systems requirement is listed as a sample tool in social life cycle assessment, particularly in terms of the inventory analysis and impact assessment phases. The principles required in the SA8000 Standard provide an approach to evaluating certain stages of the life cycle or chain of a product. SA8000 sets specific standards and provides a management systems approach, whereas the guidelines are focused on information gathering.
SAI's Social Fingerprint� Program takes a similar approach to information gathering across several categories. However, Social Fingerprint� does not assess a specific product, but looks at the social performance of a corporation's code, suppliers, or supply chain. Additionally, Social Fingerprint� takes a management systems approach in its information gathering, evaluation, and approach towards improvement.
The guidelines also classify social impacts by using stakeholder categories and impact categories, in addition to subcategories that cover social and social-economic issues. Additionally, both the costs and benefits of a product are assessed.
- Stakeholder categories: workers; local community; society; consumers; and value chain actors.
- Additional stakeholder categories: NGOs; national authorities; future generations; managers; and partners.
- Impact categories: human rights; working conditions; health and safety; cultural heritage; governance; and social-economic repercussions.
About Social Life Cycle Assessment (SLCA): SCLA has emerged as a way to address questions and concerns regarding sustainable development. SLCA takes into account the entirety of a product's life and is composed of all actors and stages in a product's chain. This includes, but is not limited to, an examination of raw materials and resources, production, distribution, use, re-use, maintenance, recycling, and disposal of a product or service.
The impact of a product or service is difficult to ascertain because its life cycle, or chain, is complex and global. SCLAs aim to increase awareness and address concerns about a product's social and socio-economic impact by examining the real and potential impacts, both positive and negative, of a product's life cycle. SCLAs provide a wealth of information that can be utilized in a variety of ways, including identification of means to improve a product's sustainability.
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Snapshot: SAI Meeting on Labor Rights in China
SAI hosts meeting with representatives from U.S. State Department's International Visitor Leadership Program
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Photo above, from left: Harry Zhang, SEA Manager of the Adidas Group; Yan Huang, Ph.D. of South China Normal University; Anya Corke, SAI Intern; Shirley Wu, SAI Intern; Yu Mei Lay He, SAI Intern; Rochelle Zaid, SAAS Executive Director; Liu Chao, Director at Little Bird Mutual-Aid Hotline for Migrant Workers; Eliza Wright, SAI Development Manager; and Xu Yuling, Attorney at Beijing Zhicheng Migrant Workers' Legal Aid and Research Center.
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On July 10, 2012 SAI hosted a meeting with representatives from the U.S. State Department's International Visitor Leadership Program to discuss labor rights in China. The representatives (names in caption above) came from the private sector, civil society and academia.
A major focus of the meeting was on how to increase transparency and workers' bargaining power within China's social and economic environment. SAI Executive Director Eileen Kaufman opened the meeting with a brief introduction of SA8000� Standards and SAI's programs design to help factories and farms to effectively implement the principles of the standard. The representatives actively participated in the discussion session and asked questions about SAI's training programs and challenges to conducting social auditing in China.
SAAS Executive Director Rochelle Zaid explained the role of SAAS to accredit the certifying bodies to conduct SA8000 certification, and SAI's role in generating social dialogue within China around labor rights issues. SAI China Trainer Harrison Xu also joined the meeting via teleconference to discuss the WE program in China, and present his research on China's left-behind children and potential solutions to this issue.
SAI looks forward to opportunities for future collaboration with the representatives in China.
This article was written by SAI Communications Intern, Shirley Wu - SWu@sa-intl.org. For inquiries, please contact SAI Development Manager Eliza Wright - EWright@sa-intl.org.
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UN Meetings Focus on Gender, Transparency and MDGs
SAI attends meetings of UN ECOSOC, CEDAW and the Development Cooperation ForumIn July 2012, SAI Executive Director Eileen Kaufman and SAI Interns Anya Corke and Shirley Wu attended several United Nations meetings of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), as NGO representatives.
The ECOSOC substantive session is held annually, alternating between New York and Geneva. During the meetings and panels held throughout July (July 2-27), officials from the UN and other international government organizations, country representatives, scholars as well as NGO representatives gathered to address the issue of economic development. The session addressed the progress and challenges the world faces in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) specifically poverty eradication from social and economic perspectives. Meeting and panel topics include productive capacity building, employment and decent work, anti-corruption, education, international aid, South-South cooperation etc. Several speakers- Director General of the ILO, Juan Somovia, and General Secretary of ITUC, Sharan Burrow - stressed the close dependency of economic development upon decent work.
On July 5 & 6, the Development Cooperation Forum's discussions on mutual accountability and transparency stressed the necessity of quality control, transparency and accountability, and the challenge of building a comprehensive model to monitor and evaluate development partnerships. At the panel discussions on mobilizing partnerships for development in the field of education and for combating corruption, Elaine Dezenski of the World Economic Forum discussed its Partnering against Corruption Initiative (PACI), which includes a zero tolerance policy on bribery, development of practical programs for internal systems and controls, and engagement with like-minded organizations. The initiative engages companies across many sectors, such as chemicals, engineering, mining, food and beverage, and transport; these companies include SAI Corporate Program members- TNT and Hewlett Packard (Romania branch).
CEDAW's 30th anniversary event on July 9 celebrated the Committee's work towards the protection and promotion of women's human rights. Conference speakers stressed the importance of female political representation and urged countries to adopt temporary quotas as an effective way to increase women's political participation. UN Women has set the goal of having women constitute 30% of parliamentary bodies' members around the world by 2030.
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SAAS' Accredits 21st Certification Body: GlobalGROUP
The Scotland-based GlobalGROUP is accredited to perform SA8000 audits and issue certifications
 SAAS is pleased to announce the accreditation of the certification body - GlobalGROUP, to perform SA8000 audits and issue certifications to workplaces that qualify. Global Certification Limited (GCL), based in Scotland, was formed in 1993 with the sole purpose of becoming an accredited certification body for ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 standards. In 1995 GCL was accredited by UKAS and operates around the world with agreements with local legal entities via MOU's to offer accredited certification services. GCL is accredited to ISO 17021:2006 and is also approved as a Notified Body under the Lifts & Machinery Directives.SAI recognizes only those SA8000 certificates issued by qualified CBs granted accreditation by SAAS, and does not recognize the validity of SA8000 certificates issued by unaccredited organizations. There are now 21 certification bodies worldwide that are SAAS accredited and have received that formal recognition of demonstrated competence. | |
Enroll in Global SA8000 Auditor Training Courses
International Locations & Online Courses Available
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Participants at the SA8000 Advanced Course in New York - July 16-18, 2012. [Photo credit: Munir Abdullah]
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Upcoming:
Location: Bern, Switzerland
Date: August 27-31
Location: Bangalore, India
Date: August 24-28
SAI training courses are designed to encourage proficiency in social compliance issues and emphasize the implementation of management systems. Learn about a management-system approach to social compliance auditing and supply chain management. These courses are required for all SA8000� and BSCI auditors, and are just as valuable to internal auditors, buyers, managers and workers for auditing to any labor code or standard. The courses are open to all.
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Highlights & Announcements
'SA8000' Officially Trademarked in India The SA8000 Standard has been legally trademarked by the Indian government as a standard of social accountability, with a corresponding accreditation process.
RJC Due Dilligence Webinars - On June 18 & 20, SAI Communications Intern Shirley Wu participated in the Responsible Jewellery Council's two webinars on OECD Due Dilligence Guidance Training, for upstream and downstream companies. Learn more: access the webinar recordings @bit.ly/MDVXpA and read overview @bit.ly/ObhAvp
Global March International Conference on Child Labor in Agriculture- On July 28-30, SAI Senior Advisor Alan Spaulding will participate in this conference in Washington, D.C. Learn more about the event @globalmarch.org.
UN Guiding Principles on Business & Human Rights Workshop -Following the conference on child labor, Mr. Spaulding will attend this workshop on July 30 for civil society organizations in Washington, D.C., hosted by the U.S. State Department.
Sustainable Clothes: From Field to Store In the July/August 2012 issue of Green American (a publication of the NGO Green America) SA8000 was included along with other certifications, incliuding Fair Trade, GOTS Organic, and Union-Made Private Labels. Read the article @bit.ly/O2wh4n (excerpted from magazine)
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