International Responsible Business Conduct: from legal, to moral, to impact.

On October 12th 2023, the Netherlands Food Partnership (NFP) organized the World Food Day event at the Rijtuigenloods in Amersfoort. FoodFIRST was also present during the afternoon to facilitate a workshop on the topic of International Responsible Business Conduct (IRBC). This topic was selected in alignment with the overall theme of World Food Day: recognizing the role of the private sector in creating sustainable food systems. Manon Wolfkamp, Ruud van Soelen (Social Economic Council), and the NFP collaborated to lead the workshop.

Key take aways and policy insights:

• To enhance the sustainability of their work, companies are encouraged to utilize the
  Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) guidelines as their guiding
  framework;
• This framework consists of 6 steps and should be seen as a dynamic process: it doesn’t
  matter where a company starts as long as they go through each step;
• The framework allows for flexibility and proportionality;
• A voluntary approach has not brought about the desired outcomes, emphasizing the need
  for collaboration, legislation, and alignment with international guidelines to create a level
  playing field and drive meaningful impact;
• The newness of the IRBC legislation results in a scarcity of individuals with expertise in this
  area, which presents a significant capacity challenge for companies;
• Communication with stakeholders along the entire value chain is crucial;
• Finding ways to incentivize and encourage collaboration among companies, such as
  recognizing precompetitive collaboration in legislation, may help companies to adhere to
  IRBC legislation;
• Connect with change processes at the national level in a/o LMICs, and with stakeholders in
  these countries.

You can read the full report of the event below.