Regional Agricultural Promotion Program
Two Day Inception Workshop
As part of the US Regional Agricultural Promotion Program, L&HCA is seeking to expand the capacity to export US hides and leather to target countries. A priority as part of that effort is to build in local capacity to be able use best practices in leather production and further export finished leather into the international market. To assist in developing this long-term capacity, L&HCA has committed to an ongoing training initiative, including a train-the-trainers element to ensuring meaningful long-term development for continued sustainable value.
Leather comes from a naturally sustainable resource – the waste material of the meat and dairy industry. It is important that how we convert that waste material into leather is done as sustainably as possible and respecting the principles of environmental, social and governance responsibility.
SLF’s two-day workshop is designed to introduce key concepts, frameworks and methodology for ensuring a sustainable leather industry with continuous improvement at the heart of strategic management. Working with local associations to ensure producers and tanneries in these regions are advised on best practice for process, sustainability and traceability. The workshops are suitable for all levels of attendee:
- worker (from material handler to equipment operator) – characterized by education ranging from illiterate to high school graduate,
- middle manager – can be technically trained either through a local or international qualification, or through experiential learning,
- owner/senior manager -often business graduates, or children of the owners who learnt their trade through apprenticeship.
The training activities focus on awareness building of tannery owners, top and middle management as well as ESG dedicated tannery personnel. Workshop content includes presentation-based training, practical exercises and open discussion sessions. The two day agenda covers:
- What is sustainability and unpacking ESG
- Why is ESG important: incoming regulation
- Introduction to the Sustainable Leather Foundation
- Environmental Module: key requirements and expectations
- Social Module: key requirements and expectations
- Governance Module: key requirements and expectations
The presentation materials from the workshop session are below:
How the project works
Step 1: Two Day Inception Workshop
Delivery of a two-day workshop that covers the fundamentals of sustainability within the leather industry, followed by practical sessions on environmental, social and governance good practice.
Step 2: Preliminary Assessment Visits
Each of the tanneries that signs up to participate in the project, will benefit from having a preliminary assessment visit that is designed to evaluate the current standard across the ESG requirements of SLF. This first visit will result in a short report to recommend improvements and that will include practical advice and training to develop processes, policies and procedures.
Step 3: Development And Improvement
Using the preliminary report, and with the support of the SLF team, the tanneries will have a 6-9 month period to put into place the recommendations from the preliminary visit in preparation for a formal audit. The tanneries will all have full access to the SLF Toolbox including the Technical Library, Templates, Pathway Papers and Standards & Benchmarks to assist them.
Step 4: Formal Audit And Certification
Following the end of the training / improvement period, each tannery will undergo a formal audit to achieve certification in as many sections as possible across the SLF Transparency Dashboard for environmental, social and governance aspects.
Step 5: Action Plan For Continued Development
As part of the formal audit reporting, facilities will receive an improvement plan to enable them to continue developing. This plan may include more long term development goals that could require investment or additional time for implementation.
Local resource will be trained to continue to support the facilities and all will have continued SLF support until the end of their 2-year audit period.
Sign up to the project
In order to benefit from the programme all tanneries are required to complete and sign the application form below. This will enable SLF to set up your Dashboard and log in information for the Technical toolbox and Library on the SLF Website.
SLF's Guide to Sustainability and the Leather Industry
