Andrew Martin, executive vice president, Cascale, recently participated in the Social & Labour Convergence Program (SLCP) inaugural General Assembly. The virtual event provided an opportunity for Martin to share insights on the strategic collaboration between Cascale and SLCP, while highlighting the importance of working together to reshape the consumer goods industry and pave the way for a sustainable future.
In addition to Martin, speakers at the General Assembly included Janet Mensink, chief executive officer, SLCP; Anant Nyshadham, chief strategy officer & co-founder, Good Business Lab; James Schaffer, chief strategy officer, Worldly; and Margot Sfier, supervisory board member, SLCP.
Martin kicked off the event by giving an overview of SLCP, which finalized its spin-off from Cascale in February 2024. He shared how the strategic collaboration between the two organizations is grounded in a shared vision of driving improved working conditions through converged tools, aligned performance measurement, actionable data analysis, and a reallocation of resources from duplicative social audits towards improvement programs in global supply chains.
Sharing how the collaborative work between the two organizations reflects a strong commitment to fostering decent work for all within the textiles, apparel, footwear, and wider consumer goods industry, Martin highlighted the SLCP’s Converged Assessment Framework (CAF), which is available in over 60 countries and serves as the backbone of the Higg FSLM. The Higg FSLM remains Cascale’s preferred tool to streamline assessment, reduce audit duplication, and obtain credible and actionable data.
Martin pointed to a key success in the collaboration between the two organizations; including the development of a joint public affairs vision statement to align efforts in policy and advocacy. He emphasized the essential role of governments and policymakers to drive improvements in global supply chains and shared how the collaborative effort has helped both organizations align their strategies for policy and advocacy, ensuring a unified approach to address the challenges related to decent work.
After highlighting how both organizations have established and strengthened joint advocacy efforts, drawing insights from members, signatories, and external stakeholders, Martin emphasized how the collaboration empowers SLCP signatories and Cascale members by providing critical insights into social and environmental global policy developments. He called out the latest “Navigating Legislation and the Higg Index series” webinar, co-hosted by SLCP and Worldly, as testament to the organizations’ commitment to equipping stakeholders with practical, policy-aligned tools.
Finally, Martin highlighted past initiatives to which Cascale has contributed, including the SLCP CSRD Guidance document and the SLCP Human Rights Due Diligence (HRDD) toolkit. He also shared how both organizations had leveraged their expertise to co-develop positioning on forced labor regulations, which was included in their joint feedback submitted to the European Commission. Martin concluded his presentation by reiterating Cascale’s commitment to collaborating with SLCP to create a more unified and efficient approach to social compliance assessments.