Learning activity 4.2
Working effectively in partnership

Identifying joint actions to prevent and respond to sexual harassment in the global supply chain – Poster presentation

Overview

This learning activity builds participants’ awareness of the importance of partnerships in the prevention and response to sexual harassment in the global supply chain. It can be used as a follow-up to the previous activity (Learning Activity 4.1) to allow participants to advance further by defining key priorities, joint actions and other ways to promote social dialogue.

Suggested time

  • 60-90 minutes

Aims

  • Develop a consensus over key priorities and actions to prevent and act upon sexual harassment across the whole supply chain at global, national and local levels.
  • Design actions to achieve the above goal that are practical and realistic.
  • Consider ways in which social dialogue around these issues can be promoted.
  • Develop an understanding of the opportunities and challenges of working in partnership across the global supply chain.

Target groups

Representatives from:

  • Lead companies aiming to improve supply chain organization;
  • Global, national and local employer organization and trade unions;
  • National and local government responsible for legislative implementation and factory inspection;
  • Multi Stakeholder Initiatives and social auditors;
  • Global, national and local NGOs and women’s organization;
  • Factory and farm workers.

Preparation

  • Use Chart 1 from Module 1 to present a global supply chain (either reproduce it on a big chart; or project it on a slide; or print it on sheets of paper). As an alternative, ask participants to draw their own.
  • Make copies for participants, if needed.
  • If participants have already carried out the previous activity (Learning Activity 4.1), ensure that the results of the previous exercise are available for consultation. In particular ensure that participants can start this activity with a complete list of the different partners involved in global supply chains.

Setting

  • A room large enough to accommodate several groups.

Materials

  • Chart on a global supply chain (as indicated above).
  • Flip charts or post-it cards
  • Markers.
  • Tape (if needed)

Time/Steps

If there are more than eight or ten participants: 

Step 1 (suggested time: 45 minutes):

Divide the participants into small groups. Ask participants discuss within the group and produce three flip charts:

  1. Key priorities for preventing and acting upon verbal, physical and sexual harassment across the whole supply chain at global, national and local levels (identifying the different roles of different partners where relevant).
  2. Practical actions that will impact on women workers at the bottom of the supply chain, who are unlikely to be represented by trade unions.
  3. Ways to promote social dialogue, how and at what level.

Step 2 (suggested time: 30-45 minutes):

In plenary, groups report back:

  • Ask participants to post all their flip-charts by subject area (i.e. key priorities, practical actions, ways to promote social dialogue).
  • Review the three themes, agree on existing areas of consensus and highlight different views, ideas and approaches.
  • Conclude by stimulating a discussion about opportunities and challenges of working in partnership in global supply chains.

How to adapt it

  • With a small number of participants, all the steps can be performed in plenary.
  • It is useful to consider combining Learning Activity 4.1 as a preparatory phase to this exercise. Alternatively, a list of potential partners at the global level may be provided to participants prior to the exercise (on a board, on paper sheets, or a power point presentation).

Tips

  • Moving from one group to the other while participants are performing the exercise, make sure that they have understood the task well, that they are carefully considering all the global partners and that they focus on practical actions and sustainable initiatives.
  • Ensure that there is enough time to complete flip-chart writing after the initial discussion and to debrief afterwards.

Plan in advance how the results will be captured and used and how they can be translated into a format that participants can use easily.