In dialogue with our suppliers: laying the foundations for HREDD together

For us, doing business responsibly means more than meeting standards. It means talking to the people who work along our supply chains. That is exactly the idea behind Human Rights and Environmental Due Diligence (HREDD): companies systematically assess where their supply chains pose risks to people and the environment, ideally together with those affected.

Fairtrade sees HREDD as a cycle of commitment, risk identification, action, impact monitoring and communication. Certifications and audits are one building block. But companies further downstream in the value chain share the responsibility too. This is where Fairtrade's HREDD dialogues come in: a facilitated, direct exchange between companies and producers. After all, problems and how they are connected come to light far more clearly in a face-to-face conversation than in any audit report.

A pilot project with MACFAWA in the Philippines

As a fourth-generation family business, we have always valued relationships along the entire supply chain. That is why we are taking part in a Fairtrade HREDD pilot project together with the Maria Cecilia Farm Workers Association (MACFAWA). This Fairtrade-certified association of small-scale sugarcane farmers supplies us with its mascobado sugar through our long-standing partner Alter Trade. Many of its members used to work as farm labourers under the hacienda system and became landowners themselves through agrarian reform.

Risk assessment as the starting point

Following an external review of our own due diligence, the focus shifted to the risk assessment that MACFAWA had carried out with an external HREDD expert. In a participatory workshop, around 25 MACFAWA members identified and prioritised the risks most relevant to their community. These findings were complemented by interviews with other farmers and by focus groups. Building on this, we worked with Fairtrade to prepare for two direct dialogues.

What difference does direct dialogue make?

The first dialogue, held in summer 2025, centred on the risk assessment MACFAWA had developed. The exchange showed how closely income, climate risks, healthcare and working conditions are interlinked. One example: many producers have to pre-finance wages and farm inputs with expensive loans, and part of their harvest income goes straight into repayments. The general risk of 'insufficient income' thus became a concrete question: how can access to affordable finance be improved?

Shortly afterwards, a typhoon hit the region, damaging crops and infrastructure. The second dialogue had to be postponed until the end of October 2025. It focused on possible risk-reduction measures: which ones MACFAWA can implement itself, and where outside support is needed. Children and young people also contributed the findings from their focus groups. Besides financing, the topics discussed included emergency medical transport, additional sources of income and better access to healthcare.

From dialogue to action

A risk assessment shows where risks exist. Dialogue helps us understand why they exist and which measures make sense on the ground. As a next step, we will work with MACFAWA to determine which specific measures we can support and help fund. For us, HREDD does not mean solving every structural problem on our own, but taking responsibility where we have influence.

The lessons from the pilot project will feed into the further development of our HREDD approach and will also be applied to other supply chains in future. Interested in our approach? Feel free to get in touch.

For more information, see the Fairtrade report on the pilot project or the following Fairtrade blog post.

Fairtrade pilots: Meaningful dialogue can strengthen risk management

Author 
Manuel Holzer
Head of Sustainability