A three-pronged approach to social responsibility

Box 14.6 Internal Control Systems - combining coordination mechanisms for social responsibility (R. Pyburn, PhD research on ICS as part of the SASA Project) 

Organic ICSs have required elements that include  

The ICS that are certified to lOAS-accredited certification body standards are compelled (as of the 2002 IBS revision) to comply with chapter 8 on social justice (see Box 14.2) as well as the rest of the IBS. In addition, many ICSs are part of producer cooperatives that also have fair trade certification. As such, additional social justice and development standards are in place - the regulatory and collaboration dimensions. The learning element of ICSs is perhaps the most dynamic and interesting. Extension is an integral and essential aspect of ICSs - and is predominantly used for technical issues. Elowever, ICSs, once in place are often a framework for other kinds of development and learning (e.g. parallel systems - HIV/AIDS education in Uganda via EPOPA Projects, local community economics in Thailand). 

To reiterate our conclusions and recommendations, social responsibility in organic agriculture needs to include  

1 Standards and/or regulations on baseline social issues (see e.g. ILO, SAI, fair trade, IBS Chapter 8), created and supported by multiple stakeholders in the organic food chain. 

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