On 20 January 2021, at 16:00-17:30 (CET), International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) is hosting a webinar "Producer Agency in Certification Schemes: Challenges and opportunities".
Join an online event to share and debate experiences around some of the challenges and impacts of a lack of small-scale producer voice and agency in certification schemes and some ways to more meaningfully promote such voice and agency in standards setting worldwide.
There are a whole host of possible consequences of a lack of producer voice and agency in standards’ governance, including an inappropriateness of standards, verification and auditing for local contexts and realities – ultimately undermining livelihoods and the credibility of sustainability certification.This online event will share and debate experiences around some of the challenges and impacts of a lack of small-scale producer voice and agency in certification schemes for smallholder producers, as well as some of the ways in which certification schemes, producer organisations are looking to more meaningfully promote producer voice and agency in standards setting worldwide. This event is designed for rural producer organisations, private sector, civil society, development agencies and certification bodies.
An introduction to the topic with perspectives from the panellists will be followed by a facilitated discussion among webinar participants. The panellists will consider questions of interest to practitioners working on similar issues in different contexts such as:
- How can producer voices be better ‘heard’ in the governance of voluntary certification mechanisms and their agency promoted?
- What conditions need to be in place for their voices to be heard and agency promoted?
- What challenges are likely to arise, and how can they be addressed?
- What lessons can be learnt from various schemes and ‘best practices’ replicated among them?