Scope and objectives
Traidcraft1 commissioned justassurance2 to undertake independent assurance of its 2010/11 Social Accounts (‘the Report’). justassurance was paid £16,800 for this work. justassurance has no other relationships with Traidcraft that might compromise its independence.
The assurance process was conducted in accordance with AA1000AS (2008). We were engaged to provide Type 2 moderate3 assurance, covering:
- evaluation of adherence to the AA1000APS (2008) principles of inclusivity, materiality and responsiveness (the Principles)
- the reliability of key performance claims.
We were engaged to provide high level assurance on Developing World Purchases (‘DWP’) performance information.
We used the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Quality of Information Principles as Criteria for evaluating performance information.
Responsibilities of the directors of Traidcraft and of the assurance providers
The directors of Traidcraft have sole responsibility for the preparation of the Report. Our statement represents our independent opinion and is intended to inform all of Traidcraft stakeholders including management. We adopt a balanced approach towards all Traidcraft stakeholders.
We were not involved in the preparation of any part of the Report. We have no other contract with Traidcraft and this is the sixth year that we have provided assurance.
Our team comprised Mark Line, Adrian Henriques and Sini Forssell4.
Basis of our opinion
Our work was designed to gather evidence with the objective of providing assurance as defined in AA1000AS (2008).
To prepare this statement, we reviewed the scope of the Report, assessed areas of risk, interviewed managers, scrutinised underlying data and documents, considered the efficacy of the management systems and reviewed the consistency of the Social Accounts with the Supporting Information. We provided some feedback to Traidcraft on aspects of drafts of the Social Accounts and where necessary, changes were made.
We are satisfied that we have been allowed unhindered access to the financial accounts, documentation and reports covering Traidcraft’s activities and stakeholder engagements and to its managers and staff.
Assurance Opinion
On the basis of the work undertaken, nothing came to our attention to suggest that the Report does not properly describe Traidcraft’s adherence to the Principles or its performance. The description of Developing World Purchases performance is fairly stated.
Observations
Without affecting our assurance opinion we also provide the following observations.
Inclusivity concerns the participation of stakeholders in developing and achieving an accountable and strategic response to sustainability.
The past year has seen a significant increase in stakeholder engagement by Traidcraft compared to previous years. In part this has been in order to inform the development of the Strategic Plan (2011-2020) for which staff input was sought. Traidcraft has also sought to understand the views of the Christian community through surveys conducted in the year.
Producer stakeholders of Traidcraft plc have again provided feedback about Traidcraft’s treatment of them. This revealed very positive relationships. Traidcraft’s policy work has also included input from southern stakeholder groups in its campaigning.
Material issues are those which are necessary for stakeholders to make informed judgments concerning Traidcraft and its impacts.
Traidcraft’s mission is built on a concern to improve the position of vulnerable producer groups in the South, as is reflected in its Foundation Principles and in the Charter of Fair Trade Principles.
This Report clearly reflects that central concern and addresses the great majority of Traidcraft’s material issues. However there is no formal materiality process connected with the Report. In part this may be addressed by the Strategic Plan and its reflection in future reports.
In the past year Traidcraft has begun to explore new approaches to measuring its impact on producers. In particular an additional measure of Developing World Purchases, based on the weight of products purchased, has been evaluated and has shown important results that a measure based on prices alone can mask. This has resulted in a much fuller account of the groceries trading impacts that can be found in the Supporting Information.
While the reporting of environmental issues has not advanced significantly in the past year, it is welcome to note the reduction in the use of air freight. The Strategic Plan has led to a much clearer focus on environmental issues, including the development of environmentally related criteria for project proposals and attention to the provenance of raw materials for products, including commodities. Local conditions will need to determine the priorities for any given producer. Environmental issues could also be related to the producer categorisation approach.
It would be helpful to describe Traidcraft’s overseas presence more fully in future reports.
Responsiveness concerns the extent to which an organisation responds to stakeholder issues
Following a commercially difficult year in 2009/10 which led to redundancies, the relationship with staff has improved. This is reflected in positive results from the staff survey.
The prioritisation of producers has led to attention and assistance being focussed accordingly and this supports the positive producer survey responses received. The new measure for Developing World Purchases could be given a higher profile in the report.
We welcome the planned development of new, more nuanced monitoring and evaluation measures for Traidcraft Exchange projects and Traidcraft plc producers as a way of guiding resources even more effectively.
Performance Information
The actual performance achieved in many areas has been good. This includes customer complaints, health and safety as well as in relation to staff.
Data for Traidcraft Exchange projects has been collated for the Social Accounts in a systematic manner and data protocols outlining the assumptions and estimations used in calculating beneficiary numbers added. An ongoing challenge is to ensure project data is being systematically recorded by project managers and we understand that work is underway to develop a clear and accessible system for this.
The methodology for Developing World Purchases is appropriate and the results appear reliable. However for groceries in particular, the underlying calculations rely on a deep knowledge of industry practices that is not documented or widely shared. It is important that this knowledge is documented and the calculation of Developing World Purchases given IT support where possible.
Traidcraft has continued to demonstrate exemplary transparency across all areas of its activities. The past year has also seen a significant improvement in its performance in many areas.
Just Assurance Network Ltd
London, June 20th 2011
Mark Line, Adrian Henriques, Sini Forssell
1 ‘Traidcraft’ here refers to both Traidcraft plc and Traidcraft Exchange.
2 ‘justassurance’ here refers to Just Assurance Network Ltd, trading as justassurance. Two Tomorrows Group Limited provides assurance services to justassurance. Two Tomorrows is a licensed AA1000AS assurance provider and oversees justassurance’s assurance work using AA1000AS (2008).
3 There are two levels of assurance: High - where sufficient evidence has been obtained to support a statement that the risk of our conclusion being in error is ‘very low but not zero’; Moderate - where sufficient evidence has been obtained to support a statement that the risk of our conclusion being in error is reduced, but not reduced to ‘very low’.
4 Further information about competencies of team members can be found at www.twotomorrows.com
