Voluntary Sustainability Standards Coaching program
The VSS Coaching programme provides direct support to SMEs
It consists of:
- Workshops on Voluntary Sustainability Standards
•Provide basic knowledge for company on the Voluntary Sustainability Standards and the role for market access.
- Individual Coaching of SMEs
•Expert coach to work directly with company: identification and confirmation of selected standard
•Complete the pre-assessment against selected standard
•Data from the assessment will be used as the basis to develop a sustainability action plan and cost-benefit analysis for company
- Roundtable with expert on standard
•Review company assessment and sustainability action plan with experts from the relevant standard setting organization
•Expert coach to support companies to revise the action plan and keep track of the implementation progress
- Link to other components of the project
•Several companies will be selected at a later stage to receive support from ITC/T4SD projects related to access to markets/finance.
Purpose / Objective
The VSS Coaching program helps SMEs to prioritize the implementation of sustainable criteria of VSSs/sustainability schemes according to a timeframe, financial resources availability, and potential benefits (access to markets/access to finance)
Item Assessment information
Needs addressed
- Scaling sustainable and circular business models
- Adopting SCP norms, technologies and practices
Leaving no one behind
- Promoting equal women/men participation and development with SCP
- Enhancing SCP practices and collaboration between key stakeholders (public and private)
Applicability
- Tested
- Implemented
- Evaluated Proof of Concept
- Applicable multiple countries
Organizations
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12.1
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12.5
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12.8
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12.a
How does the tool make an impact on SDG12?
12.1 Sustainable consumption and production patterns,
12.5 Reduced waste generation;
12.8 Information and awareness for sustainable development;
12.A Support for developing countries
How does the tool make an impact across SDGs?
How does the tool promote and/or make an impact on MEAs?
It could provide aggregated data of SME’s capacity to comply with environmental/sustainability requirements included in MEA.
HOW TO/STEP-BY-STEP
Preliminary Phase
Understanding the benefits of compliance with voluntary sustainability standards (VSS)
Training of Trainers for VSS Coaches on the VSS Coaching program methodology
Coaching Phase
Collect data on sustainability performance
Develop a sustainability standard (VSS) implementation strategy
Roundtable with expert on standard
