Did you know Intertek was one of the first auditing firms to enter the responsible sourcing space more than 20 years ago?
As we celebrate the 75th anniversary of one of the world's most groundbreaking global pledges: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), Catherine Beare, Regional Director Business Assurance, UK and Iberia and Simona Romanoschi the VP of Business Assurance Innovation reflect on our journey here at Intertek on supporting the Human Rights movement.
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Did you know Intertek was one of the first auditing firms to enter the responsible sourcing space more than 20 years ago?
As we celebrate the 75th anniversary of one of the world's most groundbreaking global pledges: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), Catherine Beare, Regional Director Business Assurance, UK and Iberia and Simona Romanoschi the VP of Business Assurance Innovation reflect on our journey here at Intertek on supporting the Human Rights movement.
Follow us on- Intertek's Assurance In Action || Twitter || LinkedIn.
Hello and welcome to our special podcast on Human Rights Day when we celebrate the 75th anniversary of one of the world's most groundbreaking global pledges, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights , UDHR . I am Catherine Beare the Regional Director for Business Assurance in UK and Iberia.
Speaker 2:And I'm Simone Romanowski , the Vice President of Business Assurance Innovation.
Speaker 1:And today we want to take a moment to reflect on our journey here at Intertek on supporting the human rights movement. You know, Simona, I was just reflecting, it's almost 15 years ago when I interviewed to work at Intertek and I was so intrigued by what we did in the social compliance space. I couldn't believe what work we did with major brands and companies on helping them understand more about their human rights risks in the supply chain. And that was 15 years ago. But Simona, you've actually been with us now coming up to 23 years next year . Um , and , and you were there right from the beginning developing these programs.
Speaker 2:Yes, Catherine , it's really hard to believe, but this all started 20 years ago and what a journey it has been.
Speaker 1:I know. Crazy, crazy. Well , look, let's start off with some background for our listeners. So a little bit more into this particular declaration. The declaration was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris on December the , uh, 10th , 1948. And ultimately, it sets out for the first time fundamental human rights to be universally protected. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a landmark document, enshrining the rights that everyone is entitled to as a human being, regardless ultimately of their race, color, religion, sex, language, political or other opinion , national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Now it is available in over 500 languages, which is amazing. Um, and it is the most translated document in the world, which further signals its importance as the world faces challenges, you know, both new and ongoing, such as the pandemic conflicts and war exploding inequalities and morally bankrupt global financial systems. You know , we've got racism issues. And then of course the massive challenge of climate change. The values and rights enshrined in the UDHR provide guideposts for our collective actions that do not leave anyone behind a year long 2023 initiative focusing on universality progress and engagement will culminate in the Geneva , um, human rights 75 high level event on the 11th and 12th of December, 2023 this year, which will announce global pledges and ideas for a vision for the future of human rights, which is amazing. So look , come on , let's take our listeners through a little bit of a journey and tell them how Intertek got involved and , and specifically you and the team , um, of which we still have a good three four of the team that was working with you at the time involved in protecting human rights and social responsibility.
Speaker 2:Yes, thanks Catherine . So , um, really Intertek was one of the first auditing firms to enter the responsible sourcing space more than 20 years ago. Uh, that was a little bit before my time, but we worked in , uh, in US , for example, in as early as the late nineties with many big US brands and retailers to develop and pilot what was later to become social and ethical compliance audit programs and protocols for supply chain at that time, concerns around child labor, you know, forced labor discrimination and abuse of workers, poor health and safety conditions, wage and other labor issues were just coming to light. And companies were beginning to understand that with global sourcing, they have a responsibility to protect and ensure fair, safe and ethical conditions for all the workers in their value chain. So as a , as a founding member of responsible sourcing solutions with, with our clients and peers, we worked over the years and now Intertek offers a, a suite of services to help our customers manage workers' rights and safety in their facilities, but also throughout their entire supply chain. So our solutions , uh, today include third party certification, you know, for standards like social accountability, 8,000, but we also do lots of second party audit to the various industry progress and schemes such as, you know, SMETA, amfori. But we also do sector specific , um, uh, programs, you know, like Responsible Jewelry Council and Responsible Business Alliance. But also I want to highlight that we were, you know, the first tick firm to develop our own branded solution, the Intertek Workplace Conditions Assessment or WCA. And we pioneered using data analytics to drive change in the approach and the focus of ethical sourcing programs and, you know, to provide really unprecedented help with capacity building efforts and also to support implementation of improvement programs for our customers.
Speaker 1:And you know, the reality is we didn't just stop there. I mean, Simone, you worked with, with Stacy and our team and pioneered and kicked off our outsourcing for customers to really make sure that we can actually place so many of those amazing experts that we have across the business to really add value by going in-house with the customers. I mean, just, just tell us a little bit more about the outsourcing. 'cause I think, I think that's really important.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and that's really , um, really an exciting and, you know , um, innovative offering , um, that we've been doing since , uh, I would say mid two thousands. So we offer this concept of outsource program management solution where essentially we support our customers by allowing them to remain focused on the human rights risks on a much broader scale across an ever changing legal landscape. So we have highly skilled senior staff , um, you know, that provides a service and we conduct a full expert review of a customer's program structure and what their objectives are, and we offer strategic recommendation to their framework , uh, design so they, they can , um, you know, implement a fully enhanced risk-based due diligence approach. In addition to that, we position regionally based program managers, which are located near our customers, local or regional business units or in places with large volume supplier locations. And this program managers manage the day-to-day technical execution of a customer program through really highly quality controlled procedures in, of course in accordance with the customer's defined, you know, KPIs and metrics for success. Um, through deep engagement locally, we also facilitate strong partnership with our customers, buyers and procurement teams and their suppliers in the sourcing markets. And this personalized collaborative approach really enables the suppliers with their own continuous improvement journey and ultimately accelerates our customer's program success and their strategy and how they implement these programs globally. With the largest auditor network around the world, we really support and we feel very confident and, you know , um, very happy to partner with our customers to support their ethical and responsible sourcing goals wherever they do business in the world.
Speaker 1:Great . And we have worked with some amazing customers, so look for more information, please do visit intertek .com/assurance/ supply-chain-social. So look , thanks for listening in today. It was a short one, but I think a very , um, a very emotional one and a very emotive one for us to reflect back on the great work that we've done. Me only 15 years, but Simone and the team 20 plus years now. And here's to the next 75. Well , you wish everyone a great day. Thank you.