Taking local action for widespread impact
Our regional hubs create geographically focused insights and impact. Working with members and suppliers in their regions means the action we take to advance respect for human rights can fit local contexts and be more practical.
The hubs improve local capability and awareness and build a community and network of local representatives. Regional hubs also create two-way communication between members in Africa and Asia and our European and US members.
Our two regional hubs – Africa, and Asia Pacific (APAC), identify and execute collaborative opportunities to positively impact supply chains in their region. Each hub does targeted, location-specific work.
Africa Hub
The Africa Hub is facilitated and run by Partner Africa. It meets quarterly to discuss relevant issues for African supply chains and covers capability building in different circumstances, for example doing business in conflict affected settings. Other topics include the implications of EU human rights and deforestation regulations for African businesses.
members
member companies
supplier events per year
collaborative project
The hub’s outputs includes:
- sharing learnings and members’ best practices, including from its own pilot project and other AIM-Progress projects, and beyond
- hosting annual virtual supplier training across Africa on issues like human rights due diligence; how to spot, remediate and prevent child labour; climate change and human rights for businesses.
- holding an annual event focused on a specific supply chain within Africa. The 2023 event in Nairobi, Kenya included:
- a supplier event discussing grievance mechanisms, casualisation of labour and regenerative agriculture.
- a field visit in collaboration with Farm Africa to see the benefits of regenerative agriculture for smallholder farmers.
- driving industry best practice on living wages by releasing a public report on the findings of our living wage pilot in Africa.
Asia Pacific (APAC) Hub
The APAC Hub is facilitated and run by Embode. It holds quarterly member meetings to share collective knowledge on subjects like responsible recruitment, grievance mechanisms and living wages in Asia. Members can also share progress and focus on what’s most relevant for APAC supply chains.
members
member companies
supplier events per year
collaborative project
The hub’s outputs includes:
- running projects such as the Ganapati Responsible Recruitment Project and the Supplier Engagement Consultation Research Project.
- hosting a Supplier Capability Building Programme in Thailand, in collaboration with Quizrr and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in 2024.
- a supplier event which aims to equip suppliers with essential knowledge and tools for implementing human rights due diligence (HRDD), understanding responsible recruitment and grievance management in Thailand
- a community event with rightsholders in collaboration with Embode in Bangkok, Thailand
- hosting an annual event focused on a specific supply chain within APAC. The 2023 event in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia included:
- a supplier event exploring HRDD and regulatory frameworks and approaches for the ethical recruitment of migrant workers.
- a field visit to Sime Darby’s palm oil plantation to explore their work to reimburse recruitment fees and support social dialogue.
- a community event with rightsholders in collaboration with Our Journey, a local Malaysian NGO.
- running learning webinars to improve supplier and member capability. Webinar subjects include recruitment fees, grievance mechanisms, financing and investing in human rights, Improving Purchasing Practices with a focus on human rights and rightsholder engagement.
Speak to our team to learn more
