What’s new with FLA 3.0

Through this page, we will endeavor to keep you updated about FLA 3.0 developments. If you have any questions or need information, please contact Richa Mittal at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .
 

November–December 2008

The first external assessments, which are designed to measure the Soccer Project factories’ progress on grievance procedures, were conducted in China in November and December. The results of these first assessments will be available in early 2009. Grievance procedures were identified as the first priority issue by multistakeholder groups in China and Thailand. With these follow-up assessments, the FLA completes the final step related to grievance procedures in its pilot of the new sustainable compliance methodology (FLA 3.0) and provides us the opportunity to evaluate the tools and the process. The remainder of the assessments is being scheduled.

The independent external assessment (IEA) includes a management assessment (SCAT+), which asks the same questions as in the self-assessment (SCAT), and a worker survey (SCOPE). In normal circumstances, the report would include “before and after” scenarios, however, as the SCOPE tool was not yet developed when the Soccer Project started in late 2005, the reports on grievance procedures will not include a first set of SCOPE scores.

October 2008

Work continued with the preparations for the first assessments on Grievance Procedures in the factories participating in the Soccer Projects. An interactive training session on the tool and process was finalized and posted on the FLA Training Portal and made available to the future assessors.

The results of our survey on FLA 3.0 were received and presented to the Monitoring Committee meeting held in Washington DC in October. The main conclusion is that the companies surveyed agree that FLA 3.0 is the right way to go and support the program. They are also happy with the tools and materials developed. However, some challenges remain, mainly that the number of factories ready for participation remains low – visibility and transparency is still an issue in too many facilities. Though the program in itself is not considered complicated, a lack of functioning human resource systems in the factories sometimes make it resource intensive for the regional staff of the FLA affiliates that have to step in and help more than expected. The FLA affiliates also expressed a desire to choose priority issue based on their knowledge of the problems present in the nominated factory.

For Central America the first worker surveys were performed in Honduras and El Salvador and the factories and FLA affiliates involved are now in the process of analyzing the two results (factory management self-assessment and worker survey) in order to decide together on a capacity building plan to address the weaknesses that exist.

August-September 2008

Preparations to start FLA 3.0 Grievance Procedures in Central America took place. The first suppliers in Honduras and El Salvador filled out the self-assessment and the first worker surveys are scheduled for early October.
Soccer Project – future possible assessors were identified and approached. 3 potential assessor teams have agreed to perform the pilot assessments later this year.
At this one-year mark of the official start of FLA 3.0, we decided to do an informal survey of our members and see what their experience has been so far. Results to follow…

July 2008

We have received information on the first confirmed suppliers that will participate in FLA 3.0 in Central America! In China and Thailand, capacity building efforts are continuing for both the Soccer Project (for the issue of Hours of Work) and for the first group of FLA 3.0 suppliers (for the priority area of Grievance Procedures.)

June 2008

Over the past 2 months, the Soccer Project (a pilot of FLA 3.0) suppliers (factories) have worked on analyzing the results from the self-assessment (SCAT) and worker survey (SCOPE) in the area of Hours of Work.

After the training session in May, the work on defining a Capacity Building Plan continued and in June, a first draft was written. Since developing a capacity building plan can be an involved process, FLA regional staff has been the working with suppliers to evaluate the draft to ensure that it addresses the weak areas in a way that is quantitative and measurable.

May 2008

FLA 3.0 Foundation Course held in San Pedro Sula, Honduras.

Around 35 participants from FLA affiliated companies and their suppliers participated in this 3-day course explaining the tools and process of FLA 3.0. The trainers were Rika Dunder and Helena Perez.

The Foundation Course was bilingual (English and Spanish) and comprised both theory and role-play exercises. The course was hosted by the Honduran Manufacturers’ Association (AHM).

Pilot training on the Hours of Work module was held in both China and Thailand for the Soccer Project suppliers. Training was facilitated by Vittorio Di Martino.

April 2008

FLA staff, including President and CEO Auret van Heerden, Aykut Kazanci (Regional Manager for EMEA) and Rika Dunder (Sustainable Compliance Manager), conducted a meeting with affiliated companies and suppliers in order to introduce FLA 3.0 and answer questions. The meeting was hosted by adidas in their Istanbul office.
Aykut and Rika also met with possible future service providers to explain the different areas in which the FLA is looking for regional partners. FLA 3.0 relies to a large extent on local organizations to perform certain tasks – especially those where local language is needed. Those areas include: worker surveys, training sessions for suppliers, and external assessments.

March 2008

The much awaited start of the Hours of Work module for the Soccer Project suppliers!

The suppliers in China and Thailand initiated the process by filling out the SCAT (self-assessment) and were then visited by one of our nominated service providers for a survey of a representative sample of the workforce on the same questions using the SCOPE (Sustainable Compliance Perceptions) tool.

For the FLA 3.0 suppliers, the capacity building phase began. Each supplier will, according to their own capacity building plan, put measures in place to fill the gaps in their grievance channels that were detected during the assessment period. During this period, the suppliers will use FLA designed SCIs (key performance indicators) to keep track of and communicate their progress over time.

February 2008

Root-cause analysis and capacity building plan discussions took place between Regional Compliance staff and the suppliers participating in FLA 3.0 in China and Thailand.

FLA affiliated companies provided initial information on the number of suppliers and the countries (Central America and Turkey) they will nominate for participation in FLA 3.0 in 2008.

January 2008

Soccer Project suppliers in Thailand took the SCAT (self-assessment) in order to establish a baseline. Although we realize that this is not an accurate baseline (as capacity building has already taken place for quite a while) the suppliers did want to see where they were and enable comparison for future IEA (assessment) results.
For 3.0, in China and Thailand, the last SCOPE reports were sent out to the suppliers in China and Thailand. Initial meetings between CSOs (Civil Society Organizations) and FLA staff took place in Turkey in order to prepare for the roll-out of FLA 3.0 in 2008. These meetings will take place in March in Central America. Planning for the roll-out in these two regions is ongoing.

First issue of joint Soccer Project/3.0 Newsletter was issued.