Verité is pleased to announce the launch of an exciting new initiative to enhance the tracing of goods made with child labor and forced labor in the garment sector. The STREAMS project (Supply Chain Tracing and Engagement Methodologies) will be implemented by Verité in collaboration with organizations that include Phylagen, RCS Global, the Responsible Sourcing Network, and Sourcemap. This 4.5-year project is fully funded by the United States Department of Labor, which has granted a total of USD 4 million under cooperative agreement number IL-35805-20-75-K.

Supply chains for finished goods have become increasingly complex, making it more challenging to trace the journey of a commodity from farm to finished product, know which suppliers are involved, and see where exploitative labor conditions are occurring. STREAMS will map and categorize supply chains and methods for tracing and validating supply chain connections, pilot and validate the effectiveness of novel approaches to supply chain tracing in the garment sector of India, and create accessible tools to enable diverse actors across sectors and supply chain tiers to adopt innovative tracing approaches.

“We are excited to be working with strong partners on this initiative to advance understanding and utilization of the most fitting approaches to supply chain tracing and transparency and, in turn, to mitigate risks of forced labor in their supply chains.” −Shawn MacDonald, CEO of Verité.

Analyzing Approaches to Supply Chain Tracing while Bridging Gaps

The STREAMS project will compile a database of supply chain tracing approaches currently being used in a variety of sectors and geographical areas and then analyze this to determine how effective these different approaches are in specific environments and whether they can be more broadly applied to other sectors, geographies, and supply chain nodes. The project will also utilize partners’ global experience and expertise in researching and categorizing types of supply chains, examining which supply chain tracing methodologies and which types of supply chains are most compatible.

To address the most problematic visibility and tracing gaps in the garment sector of India, the STREAMS project will forge new insight in supply chain tracing by piloting existing tracing and verification approaches in new ways. Pilot activities in India will focus on upstream nodes in the garment supply chain, working to demonstrate a comprehensive and coordinated approach to bridging gaps in supply chain visibility.

By building evidence-based knowledge through pilot testing and creating supply chain tracing tools and resources, STREAMS will provide stakeholders with innovative product tracing strategies that may be incorporated into business practices and help address the risk of forced labor and child labor in supply chains.

For more information, contact Erin Klett at eklett@verite.org.

Read the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of International Labor Affairs’ project description.  

 

 

 


“Kamali River” by Sherparinji is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0

 

 

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