Tools to:

• Address & Embed

• Track

• Communicate

• Comprehensive HRDD Tools

Tools to Identify

The tools in this section are resources for companies to identify actual and potential adverse human rights impacts.

United Nations Guiding Principle No 18: In order to gauge human rights risks, business enterprises should identify and assess any actual or potential adverse human rights impacts with which they may be involved either through their own activities or as a result of their business relationships.
This process should:

• Draw on internal and/or independent external human rights expertise;

• Involve meaningful consultation with potentially affected groups and other relevant stakeholders, as appropriate to the size of the business enterprise and the nature and context of the operation.

Palm Oil Producers’ Toolkit on Labor Rights

The tool is meant to prepare upstream companies, namely palm oil mills and plantations, to engage in rigorous assessment or certification activities, and work towards sustained performance with respect to labour standards. The tool is articulated in 5 chapters: 1) Introduction; 2) Understanding Principles and Standards of Fair Labor; 3) Recognizing Core Violations, Risk Sources, and Root Causes; 4) Addressing and Remediating Core Labor Violations; 5) Building Management Structures and Strengthening Systems. The tool includes self-assessments, questions for workers, human rights management system maturity roadmaps, indicators and action plan.

• The toolkit is available in: BAHASA | ENGLISH | SPANISH

• Verité (2021)

• Palm Oil sector

• Address, embed, indicators, labour rights, palm oil, self-assessment, track

Palm Oil Producers’ Toolkit on Labor Rights

The tool is meant to prepare upstream companies, namely palm oil mills and plantations, to engage in rigorous assessment or certification activities, and work towards sustained performance with respect to labour standards. The tool is articulated in 5 chapters: 1) Introduction; 2) Understanding Principles and Standards of Fair Labor; 3) Recognizing Core Violations, Risk Sources, and Root Causes; 4) Addressing and Remediating Core Labor Violations; 5) Building Management Structures and Strengthening Systems. The tool includes self-assessments, questions for workers, human rights management system maturity roadmaps, indicators and action plan.

• The toolkit is available in: BAHASA | ENGLISH | SPANISH

• Verité (2021)

• Palm Oil sector

• Address, embed, indicators, labour rights, palm oil, self-assessment, track

Human Rights based Due Diligence Tool on Ethical Recruitment

This is a due diligence tool for companies to identify the risks related to their recruitment policies and practices for migrant and subcontracted workers. The tool is articulated in six steps: 1) Recruitment Profile; 2) Review of Recruitment Experiences of Foreign Workers; 3) Review of Recruitment Cost; 4) Review of Recruitment Policy; 5) Review of Recruitment Process and Other Related Practices; and 6) Summary of Risks Identified and Areas for Further Examination.

• Earthworm Foundation (2020)

• Palm Oil sector

• Ethical recruitment, identify, labour rights, migrant workers, palm oil

Human Rights Impact Assessment Toolkit

This tool includes templates, checklists and other practical tools for conducting a Human Rights Impact Assessment (HRIA). It is organised in 5 sections: 1) planning and scoping; 2) data collection and baseline development; 3) analysing impacts; 4) impact mitigation and management; and 5) reporting and evaluation. Stakeholder engagement is discussed across sections.

• The toolkit is available in: ENGLISH | FRENCH | SPANISH

• The Danish Institute for Human Rights (DIHR) (2016)

• Multi sector

• Address, identify, impact assessment, stakeholders

Human Rights Self-Assessment Training Tool

This self-assessment training tool takes the user through several human rights risks asking them to rate each of them by severity and likelihood, then the tool autogenerates a heat map for each human rights risks. Heat maps can be used for prioritization purposes. At the beginning, the user needs to select its operating sector, e.g. “agriculture”. This tool is available by filling in a registration form for free.

• UNDP (2020)

• Multi sector

• Identify, self-assessment

LandAssess Tool

This tool is for upstream companies owning land. It provides guiding questions in the form of checklists to assess their risks and impacts on indigenous people and local communities. It includes also the structure to build an action plan to address identified adverse risks and impacts. This tool is part of the RIPL Model Guidebook for Business Enterprises Phase 2, where all supporting materials of the guidebook can be found here.

• The tool is available in: ENGLISH | KISWAHILI | PORTUGUESE

• Landesa (2019)

• Agriculture sector

• Address, checklist, identify, land, impact assessment, upstream

Landscope

This is an online tenure risk assessment system that provides ‘similarity ratings’ of tenure risk of an area selected by the user, as compared to locations where tenure disputes have occurred. The online platform also provides companies with information on tenure risks factors, actions that can be taken, and maps.

• TMP Systems (2019)

• Agriculture, Energy Production, Extractives, and Infrastructure sector

• Identify, land, impact assessment

Children’s Rights in Impact Assessments: A Guide for Integrating Children’s Rights into Impact Assessments and Taking Action for Children

This resource provides guiding questions to integrate children’s rights in the responsible business conduct of companies, including 1) policy; 2) HRDD; and 3) remediation. This tool especially help companies integrate children’s rights into their ongoing human rights impact assessments and their actions to prevent and mitigate abuses and embed respect for children’s rights into policies and management processes.

• The tool is available in: ENGLISH | FRENCH | SPANISH

• United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) and the Danish Institute for Human Rights (DIHR) (2013)

• Multi sector

• Address, child rights, embed, identify, impact assessment, management

Child Risk Assessment Framework (CRAF): Guidelines and Self-Assessment Handbook for Palm Oil Producers in Malaysia

This document provides guidelines and self-assessment questions for palm oil producing companies to assess, prevent and mitigate risks faced by children in plantations-with focus on: 1) Child labour and young workers safety in oil palm plantations; 2) Education and child care; 3) Maternity protection, healthcare and nutrition; 4) Birth registration; 5) Child sexual exploitation, violence and abuse; and 6) On-site safety, accommodation, water and sanitation.

• Earthworm Foundation (2020)

• Palm Oil sector

• Child rights, palm oil, self-assessment

Guidance on Child Rights for Palm Oil Producers

This guidance aims to support oil palm producers in strengthening child rights protection through the creation of company policy commitments, identifying risks and addressing them through implementation steps.

• Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) (2020)

• Palm Oil sector

• Address, child rights, identify, palm oil, upstream

Guidance on Child Rights for Downstream Supply Chain Actors

A resource for downstream companies providing process and outcome metrics to adequately manage child rights risks in their supply chain.

• Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) (2020)

• Palm Oil sector

• Address, child rights, identify, palm oil

Guidelines for Assessments using the UNICEF OLS Child Protection Tool

This tool is an electronic tool to create an assessment questionnaire that includes child protection.

• UNICEF OLS

• Multi sector

• Child rights, identify

Gender Equality in Social Auditing Guidance

The guidance clarifies how gender considerations can be included in social audits suggesting practical verification measures and questions for workers’ interviews.

• Business for Social Responsibility (BSR) (2018) [follow up to BSR’s Gender Equality in Codes of Conduct Guidance, 2017]

• Multi sector

• Audit, case study, gender equality, identify, track

Land Rights Assessment Toolkit

This tool kit provides guidance to companies on supplementing an environmental and social impact assessment with a deeper assessment of impacts to local communities, indigenous people, land uses and livelihoods using interview questions. This tool is part of the RIPL Model Guidebook for Business Enterprises Phase 2, where all supporting materials of the guidebook can be found here.

• Landesa (2019)

• Agriculture sector

• Address, checklist, identify, impact assessment, land

Stakeholder Mapping Template

This resource is a simple template to map the various stakeholders that may be involved in or affected by a land-based investment. This can serve both to identify stakeholders to engage with to identify adverse risks and impacts on local communities and indigenous people, as well as to the monitoring phase. This tool is part of the RIPL Model Guidebook for Business Enterprises Phase 2, where all supporting materials of the guidebook can be found here.

• Landesa (2019)

• Agriculture sector

• Identify, indigenous people, land, local communities, stakeholders, track

Community Consultation Checklist

This checklist supports productive, meaningful and participatory consultations with local communities and their leaders. This tool is part of the RIPL Model Guidebook for Business Enterprises Phase 2, where all supporting materials of the guidebook can be found here.

• Landesa (2019)

• Agriculture sector

• Checklist, identify, indigenous people, land, local communities

Site-specific Questionnaire

This tool provides a list of questions around land governance to consider when investing in new sites to identify the potential and actual adverse impacts to indigenous people and local communities in doing so. This tool is part of the RIPL Model Guidebook for Business Enterprises Phase 2, where all supporting materials of the guidebook can be found here.

• Landesa (2019)

• Agriculture sector

• Identify, indigenous people, land, local communities

Risk Mitigation Analysis

This tool will help companies identify and mitigate land use risks and impacts on local communities and created by a prospective investment. This tool is part of the RIPL Model Guidebook for Business Enterprises Phase 2, where all supporting materials of the guidebook can be found here.

• Landesa (2019)

• Agriculture sector

• Identify, indigenous people, land, local communities

Guidance on Operational Practice & Indicators of Forced Labour

This guidance could be used by companies to identify forced labour risks in their operations or use those indicators to evaluate forced labour indicators in suppliers. It also provides some guidance on enhancing existing audit protocols through effective documentation.

• Sedex (2016) [version 2.0 released in 2017]

• Multi sector

• Audit, identify, indicators, labour rights

Analytical Framework for Land-based Investments in African Agriculture

This resource provides African companies and investors with a framework to identify and assess risks associated with their land-based investments based on FAO’s The Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security (VGGT). The framework consists of thematic recommendations based on the VGGTs, questions and necessary actions to correct deficiencies.

• Grow Africa, New Alliance for Food Security & Nutrition (2015)

• Agriculture sector

• Identify, indigenous people, land, local communities

A Business Guide to Conflict Impact Assessment and Risk Management

This guide includes tools to assist companies in identifying risk and stakeholders at pre-investment, pre-operational and operational stages to minimise the negative impacts of investing in areas of conflict or potential conflict. The tool includes guiding questions to identify human rights risks in conflict countries.

• United Nations Global Compact (2002)

• Multi sector

• Identify, impact assessment, stakeholders

Implementation Guide for the Social Requirements of the High Carbon Stock Approach

This document provides companies with step-by-step actions for the implementation stages (I.e. preparation, assessment, negotiation, operations) of the social aspects of the High Carbon Stock Approach (HCSA).

• HCS Approach Steering Group (2020)

• Multi sector

• Case study, identify, indigenous people , local community

The Palm Oil Collaboration Group is providing this library of tools as a service. The resources and links are provided to assist visitors, but does not imply an official endorsement by POCG. The resources in this library do not constitute professional advice or consultancy, and POCG is not responsible for the accuracy of information or decisions made based on such information.

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