Green Gown Awards 2019 - University of Greenwich, LUPC partnership - Finalist

Equiano is a risk assessment and supplier engagement tool designed to gather information to help identify risks of human rights abuses in public supply chains. It offers a low cost alternative to private systems used by high street retailers when conducting human rights due diligence in supply chains. 

The project was developed in partnership between the Business, Human Rights and the Environment Research Group (BHRE), University of Greenwich and London University Purchasing Consortium (LUPC). It combines the research-based knowledge and expertise on human rights in supply chains of BHRE and the experience of LUPC interaction with suppliers. This is a unique collaboration which has transformed the way the public sector thinks and acts on their roles and responsibilities towards those who produce the goods it purchases and provides the services it contracts.   

Equiano invited suppliers to complete a questionnaire, extracted collected data, analysed it and carried out a multi-stage risk assessment. The collected information from suppliers helps identify the highest-risk areas of spend, where targeted risk mitigation can offer the best return from limited resources. 

Top 3 learnings:

• We have developed a low-cost modern slavery risk assessment tool. 
• We engaged with organisations to help them identify human rights risks in supply chains. 
• We have created a critical mass of knowledge and expertise on responsible public procurement.