Intro

Socfin Group has 15 operations (plantations and/or factories) in eight African countries and two in Asia. It specialises in the development and management of palm oil and rubber tree plantations. The company also transforms these raw materials and trades the products.

SOCFIN committed to a Responsible Management Policy in March 2017 and became an Earthworm member in April 2017. Earthworm Foundation and Socfin’s partnership aims to support the implementation of Socfin’s Policy in its operations.

The work is a mix of ground-based approaches and strategic support. It covers group-level actions such as grievance mechanism development, stakeholder engagement, process development, and implementation, as well as focusing on some subsidiaries based on their specific challenges.

Relevant links

Annual report

News & Media

Jun 28, 2024

Investigation report for Okomu Oil Palm Company

Key Milestones

January
2023

Deep dive investigation: The investigation of allegations made against Socfin’s operations was a great opportunity to show more evidence related to EF and Socfin’s commitment to transparency and improvement. The investigations were conducted in the following countries and subsidiaries: o Liberia / LAC and SRC o Sierra Leone/SAC o Cameroon/SAFACAM and SOCAPALM Dibombari o Nigeria/Okomu ▪ Worker rights: The workers' representatives of Brabanta were trained on the following aspects: the roles and responsibilities, the qualities of the workers’ representative, and the tools to be used by the workers' representative ▪ Livelihoods: The implementation of income-generating activities done by women with the financial support of Brabanta is ongoing. ▪ Wild FFB: Elaboration of a procedure to improve transparency during the purchasing process of wild FFB in Brabanta ▪ HCV Management: High Conservation Value (HCV) working instructions were drafted during the working session done in LAC. ▪ Workers’ accommodation: The construction or renovation of workers’ accommodations is ongoing at most of the subsidiaries

January
2022

Workers’ rights: The gender committee members of SOCAPALM and Brabanta have been trained, and their roles and responsibilities are clearly defined. An action plan has been developed for each gender committee. Health and safety: The training was conducted on accident investigation in SAC and LAC. Forest restoration: The approval by RSPO of the compensation plan (Annex 8) for the restoration project of SOCAPALM Mbambou, SOCAPALM Edéa and SAC. Child Labour: The profiling process for the Child Labour Monitoring and Remediation System has started in LAC with 70% of workers camps already covered. Livelihood: A training session on entrepreneurship was done in Brabanta for the benefit of communities’ members and the company has committed to fund the implementation of some relevant projects.

January
2021

Stakeholder engagement strategy developed for SOCAPALM, LAC, SAC and BRABANTA. The approval by RSPO of the concept note (Annex 7) for the restoration project for SOCAPALM. Training conducted in SOCAPALM and BRABANTA on participatory mapping. Two CSE trainees completed internships which contributed to sustainability efficiency in LAC and SOCAPALM Kienké

Key impacts

4 countries Engaging Socfin team in four countries Cameroon, Sierra Leone, Liberia and DR Congo. -6 plantations and 6 mills Engaging teams of 6 plantations and 6 mills on the development and implementation of the stakeholder engagement strategy, training on FPIC and participatory mapping. -Forests Socfin committed to a restoration project of 1568 ha of degraded forest in Cameroon in collaboration with EF and the Cameroon National Forestry School. In 2021, the Remediation and Compensation Procedure concept note (Annex 7) for that restoration project was approved by RSPO. -2 CSE Students Two students trained as Social Practitioners at Earthworm’s Centre of Social Excellence (CSE) graduated after completing their internships in Socfin operations in SOCAPALM Kienké (Cameroon) and LAC (Liberia). The 10-month CSE training program was funded by the UK government

5 countries Engaged with Socfin teams in 5 countries through field visits in Cameroon, Sierra Leone, Liberia, DR Congo. and Nigeria -6 plantations and 6 mills Engaged teams in 6 plantations and 6 mills on the implementation of Socfin’s Responsible Management Policy -Forests The compensation and remediation plan for 2,303 hectares of degraded forest received approval from RSPO. The plans covered SOCAPALM: Mbambou, Edéa & SAC. -Capacity building • 30 women from communities received training on entrepreneurship • 172 workers received training on topics such as gender approaches in plantation, child labour monitoring and remediation systems, RSPO Internal audits and accident investigation

6 countries Engaging the Socfin teams of six countries through field visits to Cameroon, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and the DR Congo. Ivory Coast and Nigeria - 8 plantations, 7 palm oil mills and 4 rubber factories Engaging teams of 8 plantations, 7 mills and 4 rubber factories on the implementation of the Responsible Management Policy - Capacity building 10 workers trained as worker representatives, 14 employees trained on Environmental management system requirements and internal audit. Several workshops done with workers on various topics such as child labour monitoring and remediation systems, HCS and HCV management and stakeholder engagement strategies