The RSPO Secretariat established Assurance Task Force (ATF) and ATF Advisory Group as a result of Resolution 6h which was passed at the last General Assembly 13 (2015, Kuala Lumpur). The Resolution GA13-6h concerns the quality, independence and credibility of the RSPO assurance system and RSPO’s systems of supervision. The ATF was assigned to identify all necessary steps to ensure robust assessment, verification and certification against RSPO standard and roles required from all parties, notably certifying bodies and lead auditors, assessors and growers.
The ATF and the Advisory Group were dissolved in July 2019 upon the establishment of the Assurance Standing Committee (ASC), when it had yet to complete all of the tasks to which it had committed. The last progress report from the RSPO on the ATF in December 2018 identified that 55% of actions were still outstanding and the ATF has not been convened since November 2018. With that, the new ASC in its first physical meeting had agreed to have an independent review of the activities undertaken by the ATF.
As such, the ASC is looking to contract a neutral third-party reviewer to conduct an independent review of Resolution GA13-6h. The scope of the review covers:
- Evaluation of the management/coordination by the RSPO Secretariat;
- Evaluation of the entire role, set-up, activities, achievements and impacts of the ATF;
- Identify issues that remain unaddressed, points of contention or conflict, and assess what have been the barriers to effective implementation of Resolution GA13-6h.
RSPO Secretariat will provide adequate resources for this review. It is expected that the reviewer determines the suitable milestone with an agreement with the RSPO Secretariat. Interested applicants are advised to read and consider the ToR (attached) and submit their expression of interest together with their profile and relevant expertise.
Kindly submit your expression of interest to [email protected] by 6:00pm MYT on 29 February 2020.
For any queries, kindly contact Aizat Affendi at [email protected].
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