Partners:
Centre for Applied Social Sciences (CASS) of the University of Zimbabwe.
Problem:
At the inception of this project in 1998, many of the major European supermarkets were starting to develop ethical codes of practice as a result of growing consumer concern about food production methods and their impact on poor people and the environment. Such codes can help improve the environment and the lives of poor people in third world countries if they are implemented sensitively and with real commitment from all stakeholders along the supply chain. However, if handled insensitively, codes at best will have little effect, and at worst can harm rather than help poor people. The two phases of the project worked with private sector and civil society organisations in Europe (mainly UK) and Africa (mainly Ghana and Zimbabwe) to develop approaches and tools that will allow direct participation of poor people in developing and implementing ethical codes of practice in the export horticulture sector.
Achievements:
The project developed models and methods for drawing up and implementing codes of practice in ways that benefit poor people. Models and methods developed include:
- how to build stakeholder awareness and support for codes of practice;
- how to build multi-stakeholder institutions for developing and implementing codes;
- how to develop practical criteria, indicators and verifiers that meet the priorities and constraints of workers, smallholders and employers/exporters;
- how to carry out an integrated social and environmental audit on small to medium scale farms, where there are few formal management systems and record-keeping is not well practised.
The project has generated:
- a set of example indicators and verifiers for measuring compliance against social and environmental standards that are appropriate to African export horticulture, and are practical and reflect the real interests of workers and smallholders as well as being acceptable to employers/exporters;
- a systematic assessment of the level of compliance of smallholder vegetable farmers in Zimbabwe to codes of practice, and management recommendations for improving and monitoring smallholder compliance;
- a better understanding of future strategies, options and constraints vis-à-vis the further development of codes of practice for the benefit of poor people.
Further Information
Dr. John Orchard
Email: J.E.Orchard@gre.ac.uk
Telephone: +44 (0)1634 883741
Fax: +44 (0)1634 883386