The scale and complexity of human rights issues in global supply chains underscores the need for collaborative and concerted action to address risks and build resilient and ethical supply chains. Strong partnerships involving diverse stakeholders are central to driving system-level change and promoting BHR compliance along value chains. Global companies operating within shared supply chain ecosystems and facing interconnected vulnerabilities tied to specific products or geographical areas need to collaborate to increase collective impact.
Pre-competitive collaboration (cooperation between companies on areas that do not directly affect their competitive advantage) between buyer companies and their engagement with stakeholders in EMDEs is needed to help promote responsible sourcing practices, develop shared solutions, support sustainable local capacity building and facilitate compliance with BHR measures.
Key conclusions:
- Collaborations along the value chain, involving local suppliers and producer networks in discussions about best practices to implement BHR standards and good principles of engagement, would improve the overall ecosystem. These partnerships can help align incentives to reward positive behaviour, reducing the risk of local producers in EMDEs exiting global supply chains or seeking alternative markets.
- Sustainable local capacity building should include targeted financial and technical assistance to empower SMEs and small suppliers to take ownership of grievance resolution and remediation processes. This approach ensures that grievance processes are effective at the worker level, reducing escalation to buyer firms and promoting more localised solutions. Capacity-building efforts should prioritise preventative measures and integrate preventative and corrective functions, ensuring issues are identified proactively and effectively resolved when they arise.
- Pre-competitive and context-sensitive company collaboration on sourcing strategies and sustainable capacity building for local producers can drive shared impact, enhancing ethical sourcing and strengthening sector-wide compliance and risk mitigation.