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Tools Brochure

What is the Mekong Club?We are a non-profit organization that fights modern slavery using private sector approaches because we believe that these tactics have the greatest chance of impact – and that the private sector has the desire to stop slavery. We focus on systemic change because we seek to permanently break the cycle of modern slavery. We collaborate because we know that we are stronger when we work together rather than when we name and shame one another. We are ambitious because we know our work is urgent – and that it affects the lives of the most vulnerable people among us.

We bring years of experience working with companies and their many dedicated employees, providing practical tools, strategic thinking and a forum to join together and stop slavery in our lifetime. Our partners include many of the largest companies in the world as well as committed regional and local corporations.

Much of our work is comprised of technology-based tools with enormous potential for impact. Each of these tools solves a major problem – from auditors who do not speak the local dialect of factory workers, to under-utilized and disaggregated data, to falsified employment contracts.

We also harness people power because we know that it is individual decisions that have the biggest impact on modern slavery. We build much-needed awareness, commitment and collaboration among the business community using our Business Pledge Against Modern Slavery, sector-specific anti-slavery working groups (Finance, Footwear & Apparel, Hospitality, and Retail), and research and outreach with the Asia Pacific Bankers Alliance and ESG investing community, among other initiatives.

Mekong Club MembershipThe Mekong Club established its business association in 2015. Over the years, we have built deep and trusted relationships with companies across sectors such as banking, hospitality, garment, food and beverage, toys, and footwear. Our members receive up-to-date information and expert training on issues pertinent to their industry, meet regularly to learn and share best practices, and are given access to numerous tools and resources.

For an annual membership subscription of 7000 USD, every employee at your company will have access to:

1. Our complete set of business tools to strengthen your modern slavery responses

2. Remediation guidance3. Training materials 4. Guidance on legislation and compliance5. Webinars, e-learning, and online training6. All of our workshops and events

7. Opportunities to test innovative technology on the ground8. Our monthly news digest 9. Technical advice from international experts10. Networking opportunities11. Best practice sharing and mutual learning opportunities12. Industry-specific working groups13. Research and publications

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The Mekong Club Tools and ResourcesThis brochure outlines the tools and resources available to Mekong Club members. Contact us as info@themekongclub.org to sign up for Mekong Club membership.

Our e-learning provides access to education on modern slavery by watching our short videos, reading resources, and test knowledge with quizzes. We have over 40 videos available in multiple languages to educate users on the topic of modern slavery, key definitions, impact on the private sector, as well as specific risk factors and how to mitigate these risks.

E-Learning Platform

The Covid-19 pandemic is causing substantial damage to industries, and in many cases increasing modern slavery vulnerability amongst workforces. This industry-specific guidance examines how Covid-19 has increased risk of modern slavery, as well as offering actions that companies can take to better protect workers within their operations during this time. We have developed specific guidance for the finance, hospitality, and supply chains sectors.

Covid-19 Checklists

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This tool consists of thousands of carefully curated new articles, resources, podcasts and more. Our team select the most relevant and interesting modern slavery news each week, and upload it into our knowledge hub. The user can browse by keywords, or narrow down their search to country or industry to find the resources that they need. Members can also sign up to receive a modern slavery must-read news digest into their email inbox every month.

Knowledge Hub

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This tool breaks down complex anti-slavery legislation into easy to access, interactive information. Users can understand the key elements of the legislation, how it impacts their business, as well as the requirements that they need to fill to be compliant. This tool also includes guidance on best-practice for modern slavery statements, and common mistakes that businesses make.

Transparency in Supply Chains Legislation Toolkit

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This tool is used to develop a remediation action plan, to ensure that the company is prepared if cases of modern slavery are uncovered. If an issue does arise, the tool covers all of the steps required to produce a plan, communicate with stakeholders, investigate and remedy modern slavery issues, as well as understand the local legal context.

Remediation Toolkit

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This tool allows the user to filter by country or commodity in this interactive risk map, which combines data from various publicly available sources. This map helps with risk assessment, by aggregating numerous modern slavery data sources into one place, and is updated regularly as the data is refreshed.

Risk Assessment Map

Our compliance checklists offer an interactive guide of the steps that companies should be taking to comply with modern slavery legislation, and show industry leadership. This tool offers tangible recommendations for companies to develop a strong anti-slavery strategy.

Compliance Checklists

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Responsible Recruitment Resources

Through this platform, users can browse our deep-dive webinar series on the topic of ‘Responsible Recruitment of Migrant Workers’ and access key information related to key recruitment issues, such as recruitment fees and unscrupulous employment agencies. Responsible Recruitment of Migrant Workers was chosen as a theme of focus for 2020.

Coming Soon: A new tool that breaks down legal and illegal fees commonly paid by migrant workers in specific countries and corridors.

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Private Sector Assessment Reports

This tool provides a deep dive into key data and information on the private sector and modern slavery situation in different countries. These reports give a comprehensive overview of industry trends and modern slavery drivers.

Asian Labour Laws Analysis

This tool provides a summary of legislation in key Asian sourcing countries. This guidance outlines the legal context for labour violations, and allows for easy comparison of the law.

Moon Goal Strategic Program

This white paper offers an unified strategic operational plan to ground this goal in a comprehensive modern slavery response among a range of manufacturers and service providers. It offers an initial blueprint that the private sector can rally behind and implement together.

Typology Library

Our library of typologies provides an understanding of how modern slavery really happens. Industry-specific typologies demonstrate the typical journey of a modern slavery victim, based on real-life case studies and events. Typologies are coupled with red flags and indicators for businesses to use in their risk assessment and remediation plans.

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The Asia Pacific Banks Alliance, coordinated by Mekong Club and Thomson Reuters Foundation, is a collection of banks committed to combatting modern slavery. This paper presents a set of indicators that banks can use to detect suspicious activity, as well as real-life case studies and typologies of modern slavery. This resource has been endorsed by the Wolfsberg Institute.

Asia Pacific Banks Alliance Whitepaper of Indicators

ESG Indicators

Modern Slavery within the ‘Social’ category of ESG indicators is widely underreported, despite investor appetite to invest in socially responsible companies. We have developed a set of industry-specific indicators for companies to report on and for investors to incorporate into their rating methodologies.

This platform contains real-life examples of companies showing industry leadership in combatting modern slavery. These offer inspiration and real-life explanations of how the private sector is stepping up to fight this crime.

Best Practice Case Study Inventory

We conduct regular trainings and webinars that cover a range of modern slavery topics. Recordings can be accessed online and members can book time with our team to organize and deliver trainings specially formulated for their business.

Online Trainings

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The apparel industry has incredibly extensive and complex supply chains spanning multiple countries around the world. This makes it difficult for companies to monitor labour standards across their many outlets. Companies are exposed to the risk of being linked with suppliers that recruit workers through deception and debt bondage amounting to forms of modern slavery. This underscores the need for leading apparel companies to better understand the modern slavery risks within their supply chain and how to address and mitigate these risks.

ABOUT ADIDAS

Adidas is a leading footwear and apparel company with more than 60,000 employees operating in over 160 countries across the world. The company produces more than 840 million product units every year and in 2016 generated sales of €19 billion.

BEST PRACTICES

SOURCES AND FURTHER READING:

• Modern Slavery Outreach: Perfect is the Enemy of Good• Marking a new milestone in the management of our supply chain – the SMS worker hotline project• Interview – Adidas’ slavery buster hopes apps can help give workers a voice’

ADIDASBEST PRACTICE REPOSITORY

RISKS IN THE APPAREL INDUSTRY

The Mekong Club wishes to commend adidas for its outstanding leadership in combating modern slavery. The company has been a standard-setter for the apparel industry in the following ways:

1. Implementation of Modern Slavery Outreach Programme

2. adidas launched its Modern Slavery Outreach Programme in 2016, seeking to add further depth to its existing two decades long Labour Monitoring Programme by focusing on Tier 2 (Processing) and Tier 3 (Natural Materials) of its supply chain. By drawing on country-level risk analyses, adidas has identified medium- and high-risk countries as potential hot spots for Modern Slavery.

• • Having identified these hot spots, adidas has

responded with a three-fold strategy including:

• Tailored training & awareness building for Tier 2 suppliers. In 2016, adidas partnered with the International Labour Organization to train key Tier 2 China and Taiwan-based suppliers on ethical employment practices, providing them with the guidance to identify and remediate forced labour practices. In 2017, adidas further refined the course content and the training is now being rolled out for Tier 2s across Asia.

• Stakeholder engagements in hot spot countries to scope sustainability initiatives associated with leather and natural rubber sourcing and the identification of potential partner organisations, including NGOs.

• For conventional cotton, adidas identified Turkey as a high-risk location and has since partnered with the government, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and others, to design protection strategies for seasonal labourers and children in cotton growing areas. By 2018 adidas is committed to source 100% of its cotton from the Better Cotton Initiative, which offers assurance on working conditions at a farm level.

2. Worker hotlines and pilot reporting app

adidas is continually refining its worker communication and grievance mechanisms. Since 2013, adidas has implemented an SMS based technology system offering 300,000 factory workers in China, Indonesia, Vietnam and Cambodia the opportunity to anonymously ask questions, make suggestions or express concerns about factory conditions. Following this, the company has gone further by running a pilot project in China with smart phone applications for workers to anonymously report issues which can then be collected and analysed. In the long term this will create a grievance system that can be implemented through all of adidas’ key strategic suppliers. And in time it will be cascading down to second-tier suppliers.

RISKS IN THE APPAREL INDUSTRY

The apparel industry has incredibly extensive and complex supply chains spanning multiple countries around the world. This makes it difficult for companies to monitor labour standards across their many outlets. Companies are exposed to the risk of being linked with suppliers that recruit workers through deception and debt bondage amounting to forms of modern slavery.  This underscores the need for leading apparel companies to better understand the modern slavery risks within their supply chain and how to address and mitigate these risks.

ABOUT ADIDAS

adidas is a leading footwear and apparel company with more than 60,000 employees operating in over 160 countries across the world. The company produces more than 840 million product units every year and in 2016 generated sales of €19 billion.

BEST PRACTICE REPOSITORY ADIDAS

BEST PRACTICES

The Mekong Club wishes to commend adidas for its outstanding leadership in combating modern slavery. The company has been a standard-setter for the apparel industry in the following ways:

1. Implementation of Modern Slavery Outreach Programme adidas launched its Modern Slavery Outreach Programme in 2016, seeking to add further depth to its existing two decades long Labour Monitoring Programme by focusing on Tier 2 (Processing) and Tier 3 (Natural Materials) of its supply chain. By drawing on country-level risk analyses, adidas has identified medium- and high-risk countries as potential hot spots for Modern Slavery.

Having identified these hot spots, adidas has responded with a three-fold strategy including:

• Tailored training & awareness building for Tier 2 suppliers. In 2016, adidas partnered with the International Labour Organization to train key Tier 2 China and Taiwan-based suppliers on ethical employment practices, providing them with the guidance to identify and remediate forced labour practices. In 2017, adidas further refined the course content and the training is now being rolled out for Tier 2s across Asia.

• Stakeholder engagements in hot spot countries to scope sustainability initiatives associated with leather and natural rubber sourcing and the identification of potential partner organisations, including NGOs.

• For conventional cotton, adidas identified Turkey as a high-risk location and has since partnered with the government, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and others, to design protection strategies for seasonal labourers and children in cotton growing areas. By 2018 adidas is committed to source 100% of its cotton from the Better Cotton Initiative, which offers assurance on working conditions at a farm level.

2. Worker hotlines and pilot reporting app adidas is continually refining its worker communication and grievance mechanisms. Since 2013, adidas has implemented an SMS based technology system offering 300,000 factory workers in China, Indonesia, Vietnam and Cambodia the opportunity to anonymously ask questions, make suggestions or express concerns about factory conditions. Following this, the company has gone further by running a pilot project in China with smart phone applications for workers to anonymously report issues which can then be collected and analysed. In the long term this will create a grievance system that can be implemented through all of adidas’ key strategic suppliers. And in time it will be cascading down to second-tier suppliers.

SOURCES AND USEFUL LINKS

• Modern Slavery Outreach: Perfect is the Enemy of Good • Marking a new milestone in the management of our supply chain – the SMS worker hotline project • Interview – Adidas’ slavery buster hopes apps can help give workers a voice’

For more information, visit us at http://themekongclub.orgFor more information, visit us at http://themekongclub.org

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Publication Library

Our wide range of thought leadership pieces written and published by Mekong Club and our partners are found in the publication library. Readers can explore our research, read about our projects, and learn about this issue through our work.

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The Business Pledge

Companies can sign up to our Pledge in order to demonstrate a public commitment to combatting modern slavery. In doing so, they join the other corporations who have made this commitment to prioritise this issue.

This toolkit includes guidance on where to find the latest modern slavery data, key definitions, and keywords for customer due diligence searches. Companies can strengthen their policies and procedures by accessing the most relevant data on this topic.

Data & Keyword GuidanceResource Guide

This comprehensive need-to-know resource provides the reader with a foundation of modern slavery knowledge needed to begin the journey in fighting this crime. Readers learn about the topic, key definitions, and how modern slavery may affect their business’ daily operations.

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eMin Blockchain Solution

This project uses blockchain technology to underpin key migrant worker documentation, combatting issues within the recruitment process around document security. This project has been piloted in Thailand, Malaysia, and Bahrain.

This is a collaboration between Mekong Club and

Apprise Audit

The Apprise Audit app combats barriers to auditors effectively carrying out worker interviews, including language barriers, lack of privacy, as well as clack of consistency in addressing all ILO indicators of forced labour. This smartphone app, developed in collaboration with United Nations University in Macau, allows worker interviews to be conducted via a headset in over 15 different languages. Workers are able to answer a set of questions on the phone but indicating a yes/no/maybe and answers are correlated to internationally recognized standards.

This is a collaboration between Mekong Club and United Nations University in Macau.

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The Risk Assessment Matrix takes real audit data from our partners and displays it in an interactive map. Users can search down to province or regional levels, or by commodity or manufacturing process to see where modern slavery issues have been identified. This can inform their own risk assessment and auditing processes, and brings new use to data that often goes underused.

Risk Assessment Matrix

Technology Solutions

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Baseline Assessments

Companies take our confidential baseline assessment to understand how their anti-slavery strategy compares to industry standards. This internal self-assessment, coupled with feedback and guidance from the Mekong Club, provides the company with all of the steps that they should be taking to properly mitigate against modern slavery.

Policy Reviews

The Mekong Club has helped several organisations to develop training materials and review and refine their written policies such as modern slavery statements, human-rights and forced labour policies, codes of conduct, and remediation guidelines.

Bridging Between the Private Sector and Civil Society Organisations

We act as a bridge between our civil society peers and the private sector, encouraging best-practice sharing and supporting the communication of key messages between these groups. If you are a civil society organisation that is interested in private sector engagement or vice versa, Mekong Club can support this process.

Ad-Hoc Consultancy

Tap into our modern slavery expertise. We offer advice and guidance to organisations which can be tailored to their needs and circumstances.

Tailored Training

Companies can invite one of our modern slavery experts to deliver a training session at their offices or via webinar. We offer modern slavery training on:

• General awareness• Banking and Finance• ESG• Crisis Management• Supplier Capacity Building• Other topics at request

The Mekong Club Services

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info@themekongclub.org

@themekongclub

@themekongclub

@themekongclub

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www.themekongclub.org