ISEAL Alliance - Social Accountability in Sustainable Agriculture

Social Accountability in Sustainable Agriculture (SASA)

Social Accountability in Sustainable Agriculture (SASA) was a collaborative project of four main social and envrionmental verfication systems in sustainable agriculture:

FLO,
SAI,
SAN and
IFOAM

The SASA objectives were to improve social auditing processes in agriculture and to foster closer cooperation and shared learning between the participating initiatives.

The SASA project has now been completed with the convening of a final results conference in mid-April 2004 and the completion of final reports outlining project outcomes. With the completion of the project the website has been reorganised. The four organisations, FLO, SAI, SAN and IFOAM would like to thank the funding partners without whom the SASA project would not have been possible, and look forward to progressing the outcomes of the project.

Major funders: HIVOS, NOVIB, SIDA
Other contributing organisations: GTZ, Chiquita

SASA Objectives

to improve social auditing processes in agriculture
to foster closer cooperation and shared learning between the participating initiatives

SASA Sub-Objectives

In breaking down the two general project objectives of improving social auditing processes and fostering closer cooperation between FLO, IFOAM, SAI and SAN, there were four specific sub-objectives of the SASA project:

developing guidelines for social auditing and standard setting in sustainable agriculture
examining the impact on and responsibilities of supply chain actors with respect to certification of social justice issues in agriculture
addressing the particular needs of smallholder producers in the development of social guidelines for sustainable agriculture
exploring the possibilities of mutual promotion of complementary systems

Outcomes of the final SASA conference

The final SASA conference took place at the FAO Headquarters in Rome, Italy on the 20th and 21st of April 2004. Around 150 people from all over the world attended the event, representing traders, retailers, NGOs, certification bodies, producer groups and others. Highlights of the presentations made included SASA project results with recommendations on social standards and auditing methodologies, convergence possibilities and access for smallholders. Workshops allowed participants and stakeholders to explore SASA outcomes in detail.

Next Steps

SASA project recommendations were presented to the boards of the participating organisations for their consideration by November 2004. The ISEAL Alliance coordinated the implementation of those recommendations agreed by the four organisations. Based on the discussions and decisions taken by the four organisations, post-SASA proposals were developed for those coordination activities requiring funding for implementation.

Final SASA project results and recommendations are now available from the project documents section of this website, along with reports on the pilot audit exercises, the complete collection of SASA project newsletters and other public documents.

Project documents

The SASA project has produced a number of documents, which can be downloaded and printed for your information.

Final Project Documents
The final project documents present the project findings, outlining recommendations on social standards and auditing methodologies, as well as on convergence possibilities and the use of internal control systems in smallholder producer group certification.

Document	Comments	Download
SASA Final Report on Social Standards and Auditing Methodologies	This report presents final recommendations and SASA project learning on social standards-setting and auditing methologies in the agricultural sector worldwide	Full Document (PDF: 1040Kb/132p) Summary (PDF: 328Kb/11p)
SASA Final Report on Convergence Possibilities Among the SASA Initiatives: The Sustainable Agriculture Coordination Platform	One of the two main objectives of the SASA project was "to develop closer co-operation between FLO, IFOAM, SAI and SAN through shared learning." Based on SASA learning, this report presents final recommendations about possible opportunities for closer cooperation under the framework of the Sustainable Agriculture Coordination Platform. In addition to presenting a number of producer-oriented market-oriented and strategic coordination activities, this document also outlines an implementation plan for the Coordination Platform.	Full document (PDF: 544Kb/41p) Summary (PDF: 293Kb/8p)
SASA Final Report on Internal Control Systems & Management Systems	This reports describes the key learning events of the SASA project addressing the issue of access of smallholders to certification through the use of internal control systems and management systems.	Full document (PDF: 779Kb/94p) Summary (PDF: 229Kb/7p)

Audit Report Summaries

Audit report summaries from the pilot audit exercises provide an overview of the SASA learning gained from exploring the issues found in different countries and crops.

Crop/Location	Available Documents
Banana / Costa Rica	Public Summary of Pilot Audit Report in English (PDF: 60 Kb/11 p) Resumen del informe piloto auditoría en Español (PDF: 63 Kb/13 p) Stakeholder Comments (PDF: 31 Kb/5 p)
Mixed Farm / Italy	Public Summary of Pilot Audit Report in English (PDF: 161 Kb/9 p) Bozza pubblica della relazione d'audit pilota in Italiano (PDF: 85 Kb/10p) Stakeholder Comments(PDF: 13 Kb/1 p)
Orange / Brazil	Public Summary of Pilot Audit Report (PDF: 50 Kb/10 p)
Rice / Thailand	Public Summary of Pilot Audit Report (PDF: 59Kb/12 p)
Cut Flower / Colombia	Public Summary of Pilot Audit Report in English (PDF: 101Kb/12 p) Resumen del Informe piloto auditoría en Español(PDF: 108Kb/13 p)
Strawberry / USA	Public Summary of Pilot Audit Report (PDF: 209Kb/9p)
Mango / Burkina Faso	Public Summary of Pilot Audit Report in English (PDF: 270Kb/13p) Resumé du rapport d'audite pilote en français (PDF:78Kb/15p)
Coffee / Costa Rica	Note: As this audit focused on Internal Control Systems (ICS), the results can be found in the full final project document on ICS in the final project documents section.
Cotton / Uganda	Note: As this audit focused on Internal Control Systems (ICS), the results can be found in the full final project document on ICS in the final project documents section.

General Project Documents

The general project documents section includes a generic summary of the project, project outline and initial audit template as well as the regular newsletters that have been sent to stakeholders over the two years of the project.

Type of Document
SASA Newsletters	#11: 2004-09-24 #10: 2004-3-19 #9: 2003-12-23 #8: 2003-06-23 #7: 2003-05-12 #6: 2002-12-23 #5: 2002-11-21 #4: 2002-09-24 #3: 2002-08-30 #2: 2002-06-21 #1: 2002-05-25 life!: 2002-05-01
SASA project summaries	Summary Update in English (32 Kb/2 p) Summary in English (23 Kb/2 p) Sommario in Italiano(26 Kb/2 p) Resumen en Español (27 Kb/2 p) Resumé en Français (28 Kb/2 p) Zusammenfassung in Deutsch (29 Kb/2 p) Sumário em português (24 Kb/2p) Summary in Thai (65 Kb/3 p)
SASA full project outline	in English (73 Kb/23 p) in Italiano (79 Kb/23 p)
Pilot Audit Template	3rd draft (PDF: 287 Kb/62 p)

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