RSPO SMALLHOLDER WORKING GROUP INVITE STAKEHOLDERS TO PARTICIPATE AS MEMBER

The Smallholders Working Group was established in 2012.  The WG envisioned creating innovative and effective ways to promote smallholder participation in the RSPO. The mission of the Smallholders Working Group is to ensure that smallholders improve their livelihoods by benefitting from RSPO standards and best practices.

Smallholder Working Group (SHWG) functions under the Standard and Certification Standing Committee within the overall RSPO organization structure.

Mandate of the Smallholders Working Group are:

• Support and monitor trials of the application of the RSPO Principles & Criteria with smallholders;
• Provide recommendation to the Secretariat/Standing Committee/ EB for approval of project(s)/ funding/ policies that have impact to the overall smallholders’ development;
• Ascertain the relevance and effectiveness of the RSPO Principles & Criteria and Supply Chain Systems with regards to smallholders and propose adjustments to both national and generic RSPO documents;
• Facilitate and support the development of global relevant smallholder knowledge base and ensure linking and learning between different countries, initiatives and technology;
• Promote the development of support mechanisms and partnerships with the aim to reduce barriers for smallholders adopt sustainable production practices and RSPO certification (e.g. funding mechanism, capacity building modules, etc);
• Implement decision and/or policies by the Standing Committee/ EB on projects as well as directive to work with the other Working Groups/Task Force as and when need arise;
• To promote active participation of smallholders in the RSPO organization; and
• To work with all stakeholders of the RSPO, including governments, to achieve its mission.

The RSPO Smallholder Working Group (SHWG) is calling for representation from the following stakeholder groups:

• Grower (Malaysia) [1 position]
• Retailer [1 position]

We wish to invite interested individual representing the above category to join the Working Group.

Please let us know your interest or in case you have questions about the above matter, feel free to contact Julia Majail ([email protected]) OR Imam A. El Marzuq ([email protected]).

The call for participation will be close on 15th October 2015.

The Terms of Reference is provided below for your kind reference.