The benefits of sustainable and responsible workplace practices

The ILO believes that the results of its first public-private partnership (PPP) to train Chinese suppliers of Switzerland’s second-largest retailer will show that small and medium enterprises (SMEs) can become more productive and competitive by adopting sustainable and responsible workplace practices.

15 October 2012

The joint venture started in March 2012 with Coop – which operates 800 supermarkets and mega-stores throughout Switzerland plus a variety of other manufacturing companies and non-food retailers. It was created to train a pilot group of its suppliers to improve their productivity, product quality and business practices, while ensuring cleaner production and compliance with international labour standards.

Coop, already a member of the UN Global Compact, is organized as a cooperative of over two million Swiss members. It selected the Chinese industrial and agricultural suppliers to be trained through SCORE, and funded half of the USD 3,000 training fees per factory, each participating supplier factory paying the other half.

The ILO SCORE programme
ILO’s aim is to engage other MNEs to co-fund SCORE training and give more suppliers and buyers along the supply chain the chance to benefit from world-class management consulting that they could not otherwise afford. With the support of the Swiss and Norwegian governments, SCORE training is delivered in seven countries – India, Indonesia, Viet Nam, Columbia, Ghana, South Africa, and China, where the first training course was launched three years ago.

The ILO SCORE programme

ILO’s aim is to engage other MNEs to co-fund SCORE training and give more suppliers and buyers along the supply chain the chance to benefit from world-class management consulting that they could not otherwise afford.

With the support of the Swiss and Norwegian governments, SCORE training is delivered in seven countries – India, Indonesia, Viet Nam, Columbia, Ghana, South Africa, and China, where the first training course was launched three years ago.