To support facilities to implement SLCP and save on unnecessary social audits, SLCP is running training webinars targeted at apparel and footwear facilities in Karnataka, India. The Social & Labour Convergence Programme (SLCP) is an initiative led by leading manufacturers, brands, retailers, industry groups, service providers and civil society organisations.

The aim of the programme is to eliminate audit fatigue by replacing current proprietary tools with a Converged Assessment Framework. SLCP’s aim is to improve working conditions by freeing up resources that were previously wasted on compliance audits to be redirected towards the improvement of social and labour conditions, SLCP said in a press release.

Since launching operations in 2019, SLCP has quickly scaled with over 4,000 facilities worldwide completing an SLCP verified assessment in 2021. Over 55 brands, retailers and standard holders are already publicly committing to accept SLCP verified data from their suppliers instead of requesting a separate audit. India was one of the first countries where the Converged Assessment Framework became available and is a priority country for SLCP.

To further boost SLCP adoption in 2022, SLCP is holding a series of free training webinars in local languages. This will include two sessions in Kannada in April: the first to help facilities complete an SLCP self-assessment and the second to explain the verification process and how the verified data can be shared. SLCP invites all interested stakeholders, in particular apparel and footwear facilities in Karnataka, to sign up for these webinars so they can get started with SLCP this year. Completing an SLCP verified assessment can help facilities to reduce the number of social audits they have to do each year, as the SLCP verified data can be shared with multiple buyers.

“The Gap is fully committed to adopting SLCP in order to reduce the proliferation of social audits. We are therefore pleased that SLCP is providing this free training to support our suppliers in Karnataka to have a smooth experience when they complete an SLCP assessment and verification. We encourage facilities to attend these sessions if they would like to find out more about SLCP,” Sharmila Nithyanand, programme manager, supplier sustainability at Gap, said in a statement.  

SLCP is a non-profit multi-stakeholder initiative that aims to eliminate audit fatigue in global supply chains. They provide the tools and system for a high-quality comparable data set on working conditions that can be used by all industry stakeholders.