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Addressing community engagement & human rights challenges in businesses, across supply chains & investment portfolios.
Ensemble is a collaboration between Earthworm Foundation, Landesa and TMP aimed at helping to address community engagement and human rights challenges in businesses across supply chains and investment portfolios.
Ensemble provides access to both world-class expertise and localised implementation capacity. The Ensemble network is unique: it focuses on local experts and non-traditional practitioners, like civil society organisations (CSOs), as well as international consultants and technical specialists. Subscribing to Ensemble gives you a one-stop shop for high-quality human rights guidance and support in emerging markets.
Ensemble helps businesses improve performance on human rights.
(email ensemble@earthworm.org for more information).
An Ensemble subscription can provide access to:
• Risk assessment and management:
Analysing supply chains or portfolios to identify financial and reputational human rights risks.
• Training:
Employee training (long and short courses, in-person and remote) on community engagement and human rights.
• Standards and policy development:
Working across businesses to design, develop and implement practical standards and policies on human rights.
• Hiring and recruiting social experts:
Finding permanent or temporary staff, or identifying consultants and board members on human rights issues.
• Community engagement:
Designing, implementing or assessing a process to engage local people as part of a business operation. This includes implementing consent processes, communicating plans, developing good agreements, and monitoring.
Community engagement and human rights are important but hard to manage. Half of the investors surveyed in sub-Saharan Africa say they have experienced a costly dispute with local communities.¹
Regulators and CSOs are putting more and more pressure on businesses to improve standards and impact, increasing reputational exposure. Examples include European due diligence regulations, the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) and CSO campaigns around land grabs and forced labour.
Businesses that are ready for it can take this opportunity to improve their reputation. Investments in community engagement pay back by a factor of two or three in terms of risk avoided.² Nonetheless, many businesses are not getting value for money on human rights support and do not get the local insight that they really need.
Ensemble helps businesses to understand what they need and to develop a business case for investing in support.
We then deliver capacity enhancement, specialist expertise and guidance on best practices via a simple and personal process. In general, businesses we work with require support in at least one of three areas:
1. Understanding what they need: Given their specific operations, supply chains or investments, what is needed with regard to human rights compliance and community engagement? What is the business case for changing the approach? Ensemble can help businesses to determine what help is needed and how to get it.
2. Accessing good, reliable support: Expertise in human rights is scarce and asking for help on highly sensitive issues can be hard. Ensemble maintains strong local networks with the best service providers, trainers, and a talent pool.
3. Ensuring value for money: Ensemble acts as a central entity delivering quality assurance and consistency across its excellent local resources.
¹ Similarly, a review of 137 investments showed that 30% had experienced delays of over a month because of social risks, at an average cost of $25-40 million.
₂ TMP Financial costs of mitigating social risks
Three well-established and highly reputable organisations with complementary skillsets and networks.
TMP is a consulting group in the UK that specialises in complex international environmental, social and security problems. Their work spans asset management, commercial investment systems design in carbon, energy and land use; and environmental, social and governance diligence. TMP has taken a leadership role in assessing, avoiding and mitigating social risks. In addition to extensive work with banks, investors and companies on environmental, social and governance (ESG) due diligence, TMP has developed successful tools and guidelines for governments to manage social risk.
Landesa is a non-profit organisation that champions and works with governments, local organisations, and others to secure land rights for the rural people and communities, provide opportunity and promote social justice. Landesa is committed to achieving these outcomes through systemic change and an emphasis on gender equality. Landesa uses its expertise to promote responsible investments in land, focused on improving outcomes and opportunities for communities and helping companies do business in a trustworthy, transparent and socially responsible way through guidance and practical advice on strengthening land tenure and stakeholder engagement.
Earthworm Foundation is a global non-profit organisation built on values and driven by the desire to positively impact the relationship between people and nature through global supply chains. Earthworm works with over 100 companies at every level of the supply chain to develop responsible practices.
The Centre of Social Excellence (CSE) was established by Earthworm (formerly known as The Forest Trust [TFT] ) in 2008 and currently operates training programs in Africa, Southeast Asia and Latin America; providing practical courses for early and mid-career professionals on the concepts and methods needed for companies, governments and civil society to develop, implement and monitor the social aspects of their operations CSE works with experts from academic institutions, companies, governments, aid institutions, and civil society to develop best-in-class, practical training for people working on the social aspects.
Please get in touch for more information about Ensemble: ensemble@earthworm.org