KIT Information Portal Gender Equity in Certified Chains
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Global Standards Initiative on Gender Equity in Certified Value Chains


This portal presents a database of selected electronic material on gender equity in certified value chains. It includes resources related to gender, standards and certification, primarily in the agricultural sector. The resources are gathered and tagged as part of the Gender Equity and Global Standards Initiative, which is a collaborative effort launched in 2009 by four Dutch development organizations, namely, the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT), Oxfam-Novib, Hivos and Solidaridad. The initiative endeavours to improve gender equity in certified value chains through building and sharing knowledge and capacity with key stakeholders worldwide, starting with coffee, tea and cocoa.

Key activities and products from the Gender Equity and Global Standards Initiative include: documentation and gender analysis of case studies on certified coffee, tea and cocoa production in Latin American, African and Asian countries; workshops in all three regions to share lessons and experiences; a series of three films that spotlight stakeholder interviews and lessons from the workshops; an online community platform for workshop participants to continue communicating, which includes regularly updated public summaries; a 2012 event targeting coffee, tea and cocoa businesses and standard-setters; and a book that compiles and draws lessons from the 3+ years of collaboration.

Social and environmental certification is a fast growing area in agricultural markets. Participation in these rapidly expanding markets offers small producers the opportunity to achieve better prices for their products while improving work conditions and their management of natural resources. A plethora of standards – e.g. fair trade, organic, Rainforest Alliance, Utz - exist with varying degrees of rigor, and many certification bodies and producer support services operate to validate compliance to these standards, and to ensure that producer awareness of the standards and capacity to comply is adequate. Some standards include a focus on development impact for disadvantaged producers and work to make certification more accessible for small farmers in developing countries. Certification aims to provide small farmers access to global markets and the associated premium prices as well as the health and environmental benefits of more sustainable practices in agriculture.

However, despite the documented positive impact of certification on small farmer’s livelihoods, it is harder to find data on the impact of certification to global social and environmental standards on gender equity and gender relations. Oxfam-Novib, Hivos, Solidaridad and KIT began working together in 2009 to address this information gap in certification programmes and value chain analysis. Experiences are collected through case study documentation, literature review and participatory workshops, as well as an online community for workshop participants. The aim is to provide recommendations for standard-setting organizations and certification bodies as well as NGOs and support organizations involved in small holder certification, to contribute to gender equality in global value chains.

This portal is an important part of the knowledge sharing efforts of the Global Standards Initiative. It aims to provide easy access to relevant publications on the issue of gender equity in certified value chains.

 

Royal Tropical Institute