30th March 2023

Written by Norma Tregurtha, Director of Engagement and Markets

What do you get when you ask a Bonsucro member to fill in three surveys at once?

The Member Annual Report, of course!  

All jokes aside, it’s that time of the year when we ask our members to fill out their annual report.  

This year, we will send out the report on 12 April and it needs to be completed by 8 June at the latest. The member annual report is a combination of three surveys in one. 

The Member Satisfaction Survey

The easiest one to complete is the Member Satisfaction Survey and this is your chance to give us feedback on your membership experience. For us, it’s a great temperature check – last year we discovered that 74% of our members are either satisfied or very satisfied.  

The satisfaction survey is also a chance for you to let us know the activities you’d like us to prioritise. We ask questions like, what could we do to deliver more value to members? We read each and every answer, and consider how to incorporate feedback into our work.  

Last year’s results showed that our members want more chances to learn from each other and spend time together. We listened to this, and so we ran two big in-person events last year – something we will do more of as our new financial year begins. We also heard from members across the sugarcane supply chain that they would like more information on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the sector. We have since launched our project to create a sector wide GHG mitigation pathway. In addition to tackling emissions in the sector, the project will facilitate collaboration and learning from one another through pilots, blogs, webinars, and training. 

 

The Member Due Diligence Questionnaire

The second part of the annual report is the Member Due Diligence questionnaire. The due diligence report is part of our Code of Conduct and alignment to the United Nations’ Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

Our members filling this in helps to provide assurance that Bonsucro members are committed to understanding and improving their operations. It shows that Bonsucro is an international network of credible businesses wanting to drive change. This self-assessment is confidential, and answers will not be disclosed. 

If you have filled it out in previous years, your questionnaire will be pre-populated with your answers and all you need to do is update any changes that you’ve made to your due diligence policies, as well as any new risks that have emerged. 

 

The Continuous Improvement Survey

The last element of the Member Annual Report is the Continuous Improvement survey. The one thing that all Bonsucro members have in common is their commitment to making the sugarcane value chain more sustainable. It’s something that takes work and gradual annual progress. The Continuous Improvement survey is all about how you are putting your commitments into practice.  

We analyse the information to understand our collective progress. Each year we summarise the findings in a report to give an overview of what our members are working to improve. You can read the latest report here.  

The details offered also provide us valuable insights on the challenges that our members are facing on the ground. We use these insights to inform our work. Your information helps us decide the topics for our webinars and training, what to include in our conference agendas, and which themes should be included in the grants from our Bonsucro Impact Fund.  

We also use the Continuous Improvement survey to identify members who are going the extra mile and who should be put forward for one of our Inspire Awards. 

We know the Member Annual Report can be difficult or time consuming for some members to complete. To make this process as smooth as possible, this year’s report will be offered in three languages: English, Spanish, and Portuguese. We will also be running a series of webinars and question and answer sessions to help members complete their forms. Details of these are listed below.

The information we gather in the three surveys helps us to set our priorities and see how we can support our members. We appreciate the time and effort that you put into the reporting – your effort is ultimately helping to strengthen Bonsucro. 

 

Webinars 

Member Annual Report: What’s it all about and how do I access the Connect platform 

Webinar links will be shared via email 

English 

• 24 April-  10:00 British Summer Time/14:30 Delhi/16:00 Bangkok 
• 10 May – 16:00 British Summer Time/11:00 New York/08:00 Los Angeles 

Spanish – Reporte anual de miembros: todo lo que necesita saber y cómo acceder a la plataforma Connect

• 27 April – 16:00 British Summer Time/9:00 Mexico City/10:00 Bogota 

Portuguese – Relatório Anual do Membro: O que é e como faço para acessar a plataforma Connect

• 2 May – 15:00 British Summer Time/11:00 Sao Paulo