Innovative partnerships to support decent work in global supply chains

Why should brands be interested in SCORE Training?
Multinationals and large national companies are continuously looking for new ways to increase efficiency and productivity. At the same time, they must also respond to calls for more responsible and sustainable practices across their supply chains; ensuring decent work and cleaner production are central to such demands.

As a result, many brands are keen to take a more proactive role to helping improve the working conditions of their suppliers, and support efforts to improve productivity and comply with international labour standards.

SCORE Training as an aid to compliance
Of course, for many lead buyers, ensuring that suppliers comply with contract and legal requirements is a time-consuming and continuous challenge. SCORE Training seeks to reduce this challenge by demonstrating the financial benefits that SMEs can experience as a result of good working conditions and a safe working environment.

SCORE Training also supports the development of a new management outlook in SMEs that leads to better worker-manager cooperation throughout a continuous enterprise improvement process. 

Results from SCORE Training show:
  • improved productivity and product quality
  • cleaner production processes
  • better working conditions for workers
  • lower production costs
  • a safer working environment
  • more competitive and sustainable enterprises
Public-private partnerships to deliver SCORE
Through public-private partnerships (PPPs) with ILO, brands can provide suppliers with access to the SCORE Training and, thereby, build the capacity of SMEs to increase their productivity. SCORE Training also helps participants to integrate sustainable development thinking into production processes and operations.

For MNEs this can help lift client confidence in supply-chain practices. For the SME itself, the adoption of sustainable practices can brings both short term cost reductions and longer-term quality and sales increases, as well as benefit workers, local communities and, ultimately, national economies.


Partnering with ILO to bring SCORE Training to brands and suppliers

By engaging and creating partnerships with private organisations, SCORE Training grow in scale and broaden its impact. 

Partnerships have included:
  • A partnership with TÜVRheinland – an international provider of technical services for testing, inspection, certification, consultation, and training, enabling the provision of SCORE Training to enterprises in China;
  • A PPP with the UK’s Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) - an alliance of companies, trade unions and NGOs that promote respect for workers’ rights around the globe – through which ETI member suppliers are able to participate in SCORE Training;
  • An partnership with SGS - world inspection, verification, testing and certification company - to provide SCORE Training to small and medium size factories around the world;
  • An on-going pilot project with Inditex in Turkey.
Through its partners, the SCORE Programme is able to leverage capacity and help meet a growing demand for intervention, whilst working to commercialise SCORE Training more widely, and in different sectors around the globe.

“Many of our customers are factories that sell to the leading global brands. These factories are under increasing pressure to become more productive and competitive, but also to improve the working conditions in their operations. SCORE is a practical, effective and affordable solution for these factories,”
Sherin Lin, Global Manager for SCORE at TÜVRheinland.

For more information on partnering with ILO to deliver SCORE Training to brands and factories contact: SCOREglobal@ilo.org

Visit the SCORE Programme homepage for more information