{"id":1858,"date":"2021-12-02T17:42:49","date_gmt":"2021-12-02T23:42:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cf.iisd.net\/ssi\/?post_type=analyses&#038;p=1858"},"modified":"2024-06-18T14:04:20","modified_gmt":"2024-06-18T19:04:20","slug":"standards-and-poverty-reduction","status":"publish","type":"analyses","link":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/ssi\/publications\/standards-and-poverty-reduction\/","title":{"rendered":"Standards and Poverty Reduction"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How can voluntary sustainability standards contribute to poverty reduction for smallholder farmers?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"How can voluntary sustainability standards contribute to poverty reduction for smallholder farmers?\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/D53AouI6hxE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This report examines how voluntary sustainability standards (VSSs) can help reduce poverty for smallholder farmers and provides recommendations to VSS bodies, value chain actors, and governments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-layout-flex wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-background no-border-radius wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/system\/files\/2021-12\/ssi-initiatives-review-standards-poverty-reduction.pdf\" style=\"background-color:#5abc89\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>VIEW FULL REPORT<\/strong><\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-background no-border-radius wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/system\/files\/2021-12\/ssi-initiatives-review-standards-poverty-reduction.pdf#page=90\" style=\"background-color:#5abc89\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>VIEW MARKET ACCESS CHAPTER<\/strong><\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-background no-border-radius wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/system\/files\/2023-04\/ssi-brief-reducing-poverty-vss-support-smallholder-farmers.pdf\" style=\"background-color:#5abc89\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>VIEW POLICY BRIEF<\/strong><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There are an estimated 500 million smallholder farmer families globally, many of whom make up a large portion of the world\u2019s poor. These farmers work small plots of land, often earning and producing enough to survive but not enough to rise out of poverty. Widespread poverty alleviation cannot be achieved without uplifting smallholder farmers, and this report from IISD\u2019s State of Sustainability Initiatives examines how sustainability standards can contribute to reducing poverty among farmers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This report presents findings on the examination of 13 widely adopted VSSs and reviews existing evidence\u2014all to better understand how VSSs can improve the three dimensions of poverty reduction: access to resources; opportunities and choice; and power and voice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It also includes an assessment of the factors determining smallholder farmer access to VSS-compliant markets based on 57 interviews with actors in six countries from a joint field study by IISD and UNCTAD.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"529\" src=\"http:\/\/172.31.33.199\/ssi\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/poverty-review-field-study-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2704\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/ssi\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/poverty-review-field-study-1.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/ssi\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/poverty-review-field-study-1-300x198.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/ssi\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/poverty-review-field-study-1-768x508.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Findings suggest that VSS compliance can contribute to poverty alleviation in important ways, such as supporting skills training for farmers, that can support more sustainable farming, producer knowledge, and capacity to grow higher-quality and more sustainable products. In turn, this can bring farmers higher and more stable prices and crop income, as well as increased social capital via stronger producer organizations and relationships with buyers and investors. Importantly, key conditions need to be in place to enable smallholder farmers to access markets for VSS-compliant products as explained in the report. Several actions can be taken to maximize the potential for VSSs to contribute to poverty reduction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Related Article:&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/ssi\/blog\/more-say-for-smallholders-standards-poverty\/\">More Say for Smallholders Will Help Standards Address Poverty<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Key recommendations for VSS bodies, value chain actors, and governments include:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u2022 Establishing a living income reference or other financial rewards for farmers<br>\u2022 Structure local value chains and coordinate support mechanisms for farmers<br>\u2022 Improving farmers\u2019 VSS knowledge and implementation<br>\u2022 Stimulating demand for sustainable products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Recommendations for VSS bodies include:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u2022 Enhancing support for business and market diversification<br>\u2022 Improving assurance, monitoring, and learning systems<br>\u2022 Systematically including farmers in VSS decision making<br>\u2022 Adopting a gender-equality approach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Read the policy brief in French, Spanish, and Portuguese<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/system\/files\/2023-07\/ssi-brief-reducing-poverty-vss-support-smallholder-farmers-es.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Descargar resumen de pol\u00edticas en espa\u00f1ol<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/system\/files\/2023-05\/ssi-brief-reducing-poverty-vss-support-smallholder-farmers-fr.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">T\u00e9l\u00e9charger fran\u00e7ais la note de politique<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/system\/files\/2023-07\/ssi-brief-reducing-poverty-vss-support-smallholder-farmers-pt.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Fa\u00e7a o download do resumo da pol\u00edtica em portugu\u00eas<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-layout-flex wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SSI Review: Standards and Poverty Reduction examines how voluntary sustainability standards can contribute to poverty reduction for smallholder farmers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":1860,"parent":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-1858","analyses","type-analyses","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","analyses-category-ssi-reviews"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/ssi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/publication\/1858","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/ssi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/publication"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/ssi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/analyses"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/ssi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/ssi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/ssi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}