19th September 2019

Africa has a huge potential for sustainability improvements, and many ISEAL members are working on the continent promoting sustainable practices in a diverse range of areas; agriculture and processing, the development of golf courses, fishing, the management of water, to name a few. In addition, ISEAL members are encouraging African companies and brands to collaborate with them to achieve improved sustainability profiles.

ISEAL members are, however, limited in terms of resources in Africa, which can be a barrier to working on a large scale. Boudewijn Goossens, the Bonsucro Regional Director for Africa & Middle East, felt it was time to bring all of ISEAL members based in Africa together and discuss how they can work together to become more aligned and effective.

On 17 and 18 September 2019, eight ISEAL members (Alliance for Water Stewardship, Fairtrade, GEO Foundation, MSC, Rainforest Alliance, RSB, RSPO and Bonsucro) and support organisations WWF and Solidaridad met in Cape Town to get to know each other and develop a shared agenda. The group agreed having two face-to-face meetings and two calls per year while working on the common agenda. BCI, FSC and LEAF were unable to attend this time, but are keen to participate.

This event was supported by the ISEAL Innovation Fund, funded by SECO.

To find out more about this initiative, please contact Boudewijn.