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Corporate Social Responsibility
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1.30.2008 - 12:52pm ET
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New International Cocoa Verification Board Formed – Launches Verification of African Cocoa Certification Effort
Industry, Governments, Nongovernmental Organizations, Unions and Academics Meet Formally for the First Time to Launch Transparent, Effective and Credible Verification Process
(CSRwire) AMHERST, MA – January 30, 2009 – The much anticipated verification
phase of the certification effort outlined in the Harkin-Engel Protocol
was officially launched recently. The multi-stakeholder Verification Board
convened by Verité in December 2007 met for the first time on January 15
and 16, 2008, in Brussels, Belgium. The newly created 'International Cocoa
Verification Board' appointed Verité to act as the interim Secretariat for
its inaugural year, subject to a possible one-year renewal.
Verité conveyed the feedback from the NGO Consultative Meeting in
December, 2007, in Boston, Massachusetts, to the new Board. The views from
the wider NGO community expressed during this conference helped to inform
the agenda and discussion of the first ICVB meeting.
The multi-stakeholder approach used in composing the Board yielded a
robust and productive dialog on the complex issues of remediation, scope
and mandate for the verification effort, ICVB Board Member and verifier
independence, compensation and transparency.
There was a lengthy and thoughtful discussion in Brussels regarding the
scope of the current and future verification efforts. While an effort to
evaluate the effectiveness of all remediation activities would be beyond
the initial scope and mandate of the verifiers, there was a clear
consensus that the verification effort should strive at all times to guide
and strengthen remediation, including remediation implemented by
governments, NGOs or the private sector. Any remediation activities
mentioned in the National Survey Reports will be within the scope of the
verification effort.
The Board unanimously agreed that the verifiers that they select must
possess expertise in the cocoa sector in West Africa, child-sensitized
interview techniques, social science research methodology and have
irreproachable ethical standards to ensure that their work is of the
highest quality. The Board envisioned that verifiers' reports will go
beyond mere statistical analyses and will serve the following purposes:
Strengthened Remediation: By more accurately assessing
conditions on the ground and improving data collection techniques,
verification will ensure that future remediation efforts are more
effective, better targeted and more strategically implemented
Improved National Surveys: By recommending methodological
improvements to the Governments of Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire regarding their
National Surveys, the verifiers will make recommendations that will help
ensure that scale-up surveys are increasingly accurate and that research
capacity at the national level is enhanced
Knowledge Transfer: As verification will likely take place
using multi-national teams, it is expected that the NGOs and academics
involved in verification will find mutual benefit from each other's varied
strengths and perspectives and that efforts should be made to strengthen
the capacity of verification partners in these countries
Strengthen Ongoing Multi-Stakeholder Engagement: By coming
together to create a verification regime, this effort will provide an
ongoing mechanism (that was heretofore non-existent) for all stakeholders
to constructively engage in creating new mechanisms for improving the
lives of West African cocoa farmers and children
The Board agreed to work with a high degree of transparency. Details
regarding ICVB policies and procedures (Board member compensation rates,
term limits, etc.) will be posted in the coming weeks on the new ICVB
website (URL pending). There will be links to this site from the Verité
and World Cocoa Foundation websites, among others.
While details of the nearly 50 agreements reached by the Board will be
outlined in a forthcoming report and on the ICVB website, the following
are highlights of some of the key decisions from the meeting:
The ICVB budget will be pre-paid annually by industry to ensure
independence of the verification process. The ICVB will review other
funding sources for year two and onward
All Board functions and verifiers' reports will be available publicly
The Board agreed to decision making by consensus
Three Sub-Committees were formed: Communications, Technical, and
Budget and Finance
All Board members are to be compensated equally to encourage
diversity of representation, but members have the option to decline,
donate or accept their compensation
Legal structures for the ICVB are under review by Verité and outside
counsel
Verification will be carried out in phases – Phase One will verify
data and methodology and Phase Two will consider ways to better link
verification to remediation and to report on remediation activities
A Third Party Feedback mechanism is being created by the ICVB to ensure
that there is a permanent mechanism for the global stakeholder community
to share their perspectives throughout the verification effort.
Next Steps: The ICVB will issue a request for proposals from interested
verifier organizations on February 8th. Interested parties should contact
Alexa Roscoe at aroscoe@verite.org with proposals or to be added to the
ICVB mailing list. The ICVB will select the final verifier(s) during their
next meeting on April 3 and 4, 2008.
About the ICVB
The International Cocoa Verification Board was formed by Verité in
December, 2007. This multi-stakeholder body includes 9 representatives
from NGOs, academia, trade unions and industry. The nine Board members
are: Anthony Fofie, Ghana Cocoa Board; Amouan Assouan Acquah, Special
Counselor to the Prime Minister (Côte d'Ivoire); Stephen Ayidiya,
University of Ghana–Legon; Andrews Addoquaye Tagoe, General Agricultural
Workers' Union (Ghana); Alice Koiho Kipre, Afrique Secours et Assistance
(Cote d'Ivoire); Diane Mull, International Initiative on Exploitive Child
Labor (USA); John Trew, CARE International (USA); Jeff Morgan, Mars, Inc.
(USA); and Isabelle Adam, European Cocoa Association (Belgium).
About Verité
Verité is a US-based nonprofit and award-winning pioneer in the social
auditing, training, research and consulting field. The organization has
over a decade of experience working with Fortune 500 corporations and
their local suppliers through our global network of NGO partners. Verité
works in over 60 countries to empower companies, factories, NGOs,
governments, and workers to create sustainable workplace practices in the
factories and communities where our consumer goods are made. Verité is a
recipient of the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship. For more
information on Verité, visit http://www.verite.org.
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Rodney North
2008-02-13 17:01:50
I would add that contrary to what many THINK is being offered with the cocoa Protocol there is, in fact, no promise that the cocoa exported from West Africa will be free of the "Worst Forms of Child Labor" in the near or long term. Nor will there be a tracking system to assure that even some portion of the cocoa exported is "clean". Due to this underwhelming prospect some of us (Equal Exchange, The International Labor Rights Forum, Global Exchange and others) are asking companies and interested civil society groups to endorse a commitment to ethical cocoa sourcing that establishes a much higher bar, and communicates to all that a greater effort needs to be made. see: http://www.equalexchange.com/reverse-sign-up/CommitmentToEthicalCocoaSourcing.pdf
And, as a gentle reminder to the cocoa & chocolate executives that some sectors of American society are expecting more to be done, we have just sent lovely bouquets of Fair Trade Certified roses, with a little note, to the CEO's of nine of the largest members of the CMA. In the note we ask them to please sign the Commitment to Ethical Cocoa Sourcing.
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