{"id":15869,"date":"2022-03-23T18:11:12","date_gmt":"2022-03-23T18:11:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fairlabor.org\/?page_id=15869"},"modified":"2025-07-01T19:58:34","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T18:58:34","slug":"assessment-overview","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.fairlabor.org\/accountability\/standards\/agriculture\/assessment-overview\/","title":{"rendered":"Agriculture Program Assessment Overview"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"section header-impact  header-impact--mid-blue\">\n    <div class=\"header-impact__inner\">\n        <div class=\"header-impact__col\">\n            <h1 class=\"header-impact__title\">Agriculture assessments overview<\/h1>\n                     <\/div>\n                    <div class=\"header-impact__col\">\n                                    <div class=\"header-impact__links-block\">\n  <div class=\"quick-links\">\n    <div class=\"quick-links__head\">\n      <svg class=\"icon\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\" focusable=\"false\">\n        <use xlink:href=\"#icon-quick-links\"><\/use>\n      <\/svg>\n      <span class=\"quick-links__title\">Quick Links<\/span>\n    <\/div>\n    <ul class=\"quick-links__list\">\n                      <li class=\"quick-links__item\">\n          <svg class=\"icon\" width=\"18\" height=\"18\" focusable=\"false\">\n            <use xlink:href=\"#icon-list-arrow\"><\/use>\n          <\/svg>\n          <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fairlabor.org\/accountability\/assessments\/agriculture-assessments\/\" class=\"quick-links__link\">Agriculture assessments<\/a>\n        <\/li>\n                      <li class=\"quick-links__item\">\n          <svg class=\"icon\" width=\"18\" height=\"18\" focusable=\"false\">\n            <use xlink:href=\"#icon-list-arrow\"><\/use>\n          <\/svg>\n          <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fairlabor.org\/accountability\/assessments\/accredited-monitoring-organizations-and-assessors-for-agriculture\/\" class=\"quick-links__link\">Approved assessors<\/a>\n        <\/li>\n          <\/ul>\n  <\/div>\n<\/div>\n                            <\/div>\n            <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"rich-text section\" data-dc-animate>\n    <div class=\" fade-animate \"  data-dc-animate-ref=\"fadeBlocks[]\">\n        \n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size\">FLA implements annual assessments called Independent External Assessments to evaluate the performance of each member company\u2019s human rights due diligence program and working conditions at the farm level. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size\">The assessments are performed by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fairlabor.org\/accountability\/assessments\/accredited-monitoring-organizations-and-assessors-for-agriculture\/\">FLA-approved assessors<\/a> and include visits to a company\u2019s country operations and a representative sample of farms that supply to the company. After an assessment, a company develops and implements a corrective action plan to address any negative findings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size\">There are five types of assessments performed by FLA. The selection of a specific assessment type is based on supply chain traceability, the maturity of a company\u2019s human rights due diligence program, and the level of risk in a given region. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size\">Types of assessments implemented by FLA include: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading has-dark-blue-color has-text-color\">Baseline (Mapping)<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size\">Baseline mapping occurs in the preliminary stages of a company&#8217;s affiliation \u2014 or when a new country or commodity is added to the FLA Agriculture Program. A baseline assessment serves to develop and refine a company\u2019s monitoring and remediation program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size\">It provides situational awareness by examining the status of the company\u2019s supply chain and labor management systems, country risks, community profile, local stakeholders, farmer and worker profiles, and labor risks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading has-dark-blue-color has-text-color\">Independent External Monitoring  <\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size\">An Independent External Monitoring assessment occurs when a company implements monitoring and remediation at the farm level. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size\">FLA assesses a company\u2019s country-level human rights due diligence program; conducts interviews with local civil society organizations, community stakeholders, farmers, workers, women, and children, and visits a sample of farms to gather data on working conditions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size\">The performance of management systems is evaluated against FLA Principles and labor conditions at the farm level are evaluated against the FLA Fair Labor Code.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading has-dark-blue-color has-text-color\">Independent External Verification<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size\">An Independent External Verification assessment is conducted in countries and farms after a company completes a Corrective Action Plan based on the results of an Independent External Monitoring. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size\">The verification assessment confirms the effective implementation of a company\u2019s Corrective Action Plan to address non-compliance at the management and farm levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading has-dark-blue-color has-text-color\">Focused Assessment <\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size\">Focused Assessments are implemented in countries and commodities where FLA conducts an in-depth analysis of one or two key issue areas. For example, issues such as fair compensation, grievance mechanisms, responsible recruitment, or the impact of COIVD-19 on workers. Focused assessments take a &#8220;deep dive&#8221; to learn the root causes of issues and provide targeted recommendations to the company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading has-dark-blue-color has-text-color\">Social Impact Assessment<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size\">A Social Impact Assessment may occur after several annual cycles of Independent External Monitoring and Independent External Verification as a company\u2019s remediation activities are maturing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size\">Through a Social Impact Assessment, FLA collects data about the knowledge, attitudes, and practices about a company&#8217;s remediation activities and how they are perceived by community stakeholders, farmers, workers, and children, including their level of satisfaction and the perceived benefit and impact.<\/p>\n\n\n    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"cta-panel cta-panel--subtitle\" data-dc-animate>\n    <h4 class=\"cta-panel__subtitle\">Fair Labor Assessments<\/h4>\n    <h3 class=\"cta-panel__header  fade-animate \" data-dc-animate-ref=\"fadeBlocks[]\">View all agriculture assessments <\/h3>\n    <div class=\"cta-panel__btn  fade-animate \" data-dc-animate-ref=\"fadeBlocks[]\">\n                    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fairlabor.org\/accountability\/assessments\/agriculture-assessments\/\" class=\"btn\" title=\"Learn more\">Learn more<\/a>\n            <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"rich-text section\" data-dc-animate>\n    <div class=\" fade-animate \"  data-dc-animate-ref=\"fadeBlocks[]\">\n        \n    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"parent":109,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-15869","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fairlabor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/15869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fairlabor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fairlabor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fairlabor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fairlabor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15869"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.fairlabor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/15869\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":58282,"href":"https:\/\/www.fairlabor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/15869\/revisions\/58282"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fairlabor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fairlabor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}