Our Social Accountability and Empowerment Learning Pathways

The market is increasingly demanding from companies not only sustainable production methods, but also the effective application of ethical standards. COLEAD's Sustainability Charter states its aim for socially responsible and committed companies, responsible for the well-being of their workers, and concerned about long-term economic and social development. The aim is to ensure fair and decent working conditions for workers and small producers in the supply chain.

We will introduce the diversity of market access strategies available to managers. The agri-food sector has developed a range of voluntary private norms (VPNs) relating to production, manufacturing and distribution methods. We will look at these and their main characteristics, focusing particularly on the main VPNs in the fields of food safety, environment, organic production, sustainable development and fair trade.

In the second part of the course, we will consider the notion of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the competitive advantage of investing in CSR or ethical production. We will learn about some methodological tools to assess the sustainable or ethical performance of a company (ecological footprint, carbon footprint, development indicators). The final part of the course will focus on the marketing of products and how managers can promote their efforts in terms of sustainability and ethics to their customers and consumers.

This course on Respect for the Person and Professional Development currently includes only one route, with two levels. The intermediate level allows you to tackle the subject and to understand the main principles, without going into all the details of implementation. Successful completion of a test will give you access to the advanced level, where you can progress in understanding the subject and address the more practical aspects of implementation.

This thematic is dedicated to all managers and ACP company executives (operators) responsible for the strategic orientation of their company, for the production (conventional or organic) and marketing of products. In particular, they are responsible for informing themselves of their customers' requirements and ensuring the company's profitability, while ensuring compliance with general hygiene rules and the safety of their production, harvesting and packaging processes. They must improve the sustainability of the processes implemented; ensure compliance with specifications (e.g. on ethical production or corporate social responsibility, CSR); and verify the conformity and traceability of batches placed on the market through the documentation accompanying their products.

Target audience: managers and company executives responsible for compliance with the requirements in terms of ethics, CSR and sustainability, without neglecting the food safety of product batches (operations managers, crop or production managers, quality and traceability managers).

Rationale: managers and executives are responsible for a company's orientation and choice of production methods. They must ensure that the specifications required for market access are selected and respected, without neglecting regulatory requirements for food safety.

Enhanced skills:

• Manage production units in such a way as to meet productivity and efficiency requirements, while taking into account the evolution of regulatory and commercial requirements (in particular sustainability, ethical production and CSR)
• Ensure the continuity of operations, production compliance with hygiene and quality standards and traceability
• Constantly evolve and improve the means of production and the sustainability of practices
• Collect and interpret data to manage the company, measure deviations from the sustainability objectives set by the company's strategy and profitability
• Organise and facilitate internal training to strengthen the skills of production staff

Target audience:

• Service providers offering technical assistance to managers and company executives to implement requirements, or certification, in the field of ethical production, CSR and professional development (human resource management)
• Service providers who act as trainers and/or trainers-of-trainers or coaches to these people (training, facilitation, coaching, etc.) in the field of ethical production and CSR

Rationale: provide technical assistance by having both extensive skills in the field of ethical production, CSR, HRM, and complementary training skills (coaching and communication) to be able to lead a team around a project. Providing training (or training-of-trainers) requires the mastery of technical skills (e.g. knowledge of ethical production, CSR and ISO 26000) and training skills (communication skills, group facilitation, coaching, skills assessment, etc.). In line with COLEAD's cascading training system, ACP experts in the field of training are also needed, for example to strengthen the communication skills of middle managers in companies or inspection service managers for the internal training of inspectors (training-of-trainers, for example through the "Field Training Workshops").

Enhanced skills:

• Know the requirements of ethical production and corporate social responsibility (e.g. know the seven central questions of the ISO 26000 standard)
• Develop a plan to bring a company into compliance with the objectives of ethical production and CSR
• Develop a skills development plan/training plan in a company
• Develop and/or manage a training programme in the field of ethical production and CSR
• Facilitate training-of-trainers, and coach and evaluate participants