Sharing resources to reduce the burden of due diligence assessment on suppliers
Joining forces is more powerful than working in silos. So we provide a forum for our members to share and converge their approaches to assessing suppliers.
This helps minimise duplication, costs, and unnecessary use of resources and time. And ultimately, it makes supplier evaluation more effective and efficient for everyone.
We help our member companies optimise their approaches to responsible sourcing programmes, learn from each other and improve as a collective. We:
- facilitate a discussion forum for supply chain due diligence approaches and supplier assessment tools
- co-create sharing mechanisms to enable the mutual recognition of supplier assessments, including a framework for the mutual recognition of audits
- help members avoid duplication by sharing pre-competitive information on human rights assessments
- provide benchmarking and guidance on leading practices for due diligence, notably supplier codes of conduct, which lay out companies’ requirements for doing business with suppliers
Working group
Mutual Recognition Working Group
Members discuss the convergence of supplier assessment tools in this working group. They focus on audit implementation, and the role of audits in the future landscape of tools to tackle human rights and environmental due diligence. The group’s objectives are to:
- reduce supply chain audit and assessment burdens through mutual recognition
- promote convergence of evolving supplier assessment approaches
- build members’ understanding of the changing landscape of supply chain due diligence
- make the link between purchasing practices and mutual recognition
Working Group
HREDD Convergence Working Group
A dedicated working group is leading a bespoke project, with the support of Proforest and in collaboration with the Consumer Goods Forum, to converge assessment requirements for HREDD management systems in supply chains.
Using pre-existing materials, it aims to recommend a methodology for members and beyond on conducting HREDD assessments to lessen the burden on suppliers.
The Converged HREDD Assessment Tool was published in December 2024.
During 2025 the working group will focus on deployment support.
Resources
See all resourcesMutual recognition of audits framework
This framework governs the mutual recognition of 4-pillar social compliance audits, as enabled by AIM-Progress for participating members.
Converged HREDD assessment tool
This Converged HREDD Assessment Tool was developed collaboratively by AIM-Progress, the Consumer Goods Forum Human Rights Coalition, FLA and Proforest and published in December 2024. Designed to be flexible across industries, this tool aims to support businesses in standardising HREDD practices, streamlining assessments, and containing supplier assessment fatigue through a converged, open-source approach. It allows…