Advancing Human Rights within Nestlé’s Palm Oil Supply Chain
Funder: Nestlé
Project start date: Feb. 23, 2023
Contact(s): Mike Kuncio and Steven Brunn
Tags: Human Rights Education & Empowerment, Palm Oil, Supply Chain, Agriculture
Winrock International is proud to support Nestlé’s goal of 100% Responsibly Sourced raw materials by 2030, including in its palm oil supply chain. By managing the Nestlé Human Rights Fund, Winrock helps Nestlé’s palm oil suppliers advance social progress, promote respect for human rights and strengthen due diligence systems and procedures in their supply chains that support this responsible sourcing goal.
As part of this partnership, Winrock works with Nestlé’s suppliers and sustainable development organizations to design and implement impactful projects that address human rights risks identified by Nestlé’s human rights and environmental due diligence engagement and assessments.
Since 2022, the Fund has issued 16 human rights grants to implement projects in Malaysia, Indonesia, West Africa and Latin America, including:
- human rights risk assessments at palm oil refineries, mills and plantations;
- training and capacity building for indirect suppliers and smallholders on rights for women, Indigenous people and local communities;
- development of ethical recruitment policies and procedures;
- identifying and responding to child exploitation on plantations;
- strengthening of grievance mechanism systems; and
- income diversification and livelihood development with local small- and medium-sized enterprises.
Winrock’s services support palm oil suppliers on critical topics related to human rights in supply chains, which are targeted to build understanding of their human rights responsibilities and Nestlé’s responsible sourcing requirements, and in-person observation and validation of grant activities.
