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As a Non-Profit Organization, the Ethical Supply Chain Program fosters industry collaboration, creates impact, increases efficiency, and reduces costs.
We are a proud member of the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) & our program supports a number of the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In particular, SDG3 : Promote Good Health & Wellbeing, SDG4: Quality Education, SDG5: Gender Equality, SDG8: Decent Work & Economic Growth, SDG10: Reduced Inequalities, SDG13: Climate Action & SDG17: Partnerships for the Goals.
With 20 years of experience, ESCP offers robust social assessment & compliance certification, wide range of capability-building programs, scalable worker wellbeing initiatives, and a one-stop responsible sourcing technology platform. We support businesses to measure and achieve their Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) objectives, mitigate labor risks and create better lives for workers.
We go beyond social audits and provide more than an audit report, as we take further steps to certify factories and tailor supports to help those who need to rectify root causes to improve up to required social compliance standards. We are constantly developing to meet the changing needs of our stakeholders, we have developed robust Capability Building programs, Management Systems Assessments & in 2022, an Environmental Assessment.
Over 1,500 brands, retailers, licensors, as well as 1,000+ manufacturing businesses globally have joined our community of responsible businesses, creating synergies to advance supply chain sustainability.
ESCP's coverage reaches across almost every continent, we have now grown to 45 countries and regions including Australia, Brazil, India, Peru, Slovakia, South Africa, Turkey, UK, USA, and many more.
To support our members and partners around the world, we have offices in Hong Kong SAR, Shenzhen, Dongguan, Ho Chi Minh City, New Delhi, Vancouver, London and New York.
In addition to offices in Asia, Europe and North America, we also work with a global network of four independent Social Compliance Audit Companies to implement and expand our program.
The 2024 Worker Well-Being Impact Report showcases the achievements of ESCP's worker well-being initiatives.
The report showcases supply chain transformation through family-friendly workplace policy, childcare, and access to remedy. In the past two years alone, through our Family-Friendly Factory program, we have benefited over 20,703 children. Collectively, we want to enable play for all children, including the children of the workers who produce toys enjoyed globally.
2023 marked the 8th year of the Family-Friendly Spaces program. This briefing celebrates the impacts and achievements from the 33 factories which participated in the 2023 program, with insights from the 23 repeating factories and the 10 joining the program for the first time this year.
This report spotlights one of the factories that has implemented the Spaces program since its pilot phase in 2016, and he measurable impacts the program has produced proving it as an effective solution to combat labor shortages and improve employee engagement on all levels. The report also shows how our Family-Friendly Spaces transforms parent-child relationships and supports the developmental needs of children.
A Family-Friendly Factory is one whose workplace policies consider the needs of their workers, especially those with family responsibilities. This program has been developed with support and guidance from UNICEF, incorporating their Family-Friendly Policies established to positively contribute to the human development of countries and particularly to early childhood since they allow parents and caregivers to balance work and personal life and the care of children.
This report shows the impacts, outcomes and case studies from four factories, participating in the 2023 program, benefitting over 8,000 workers.
We are proud to publish the first Impact Report for the Gender Equality program.
The Gender Equality program was developed in response to the needs of manufacturing workers. Initial program development was funded by program member, Mattel. This report celebrates the impacts and achievements from the 12 factories which participated in the pilot program.
The program works directly with factories to educate and promote equality in the workplace, empower female workers and help companies achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal No.5: Achieve Gender Equality and Empower all Women and Girls.
Our first combined Worker Well-Being Impact Report; The report highlights the impacts from our Gender Equality, Family-Friendly Factory and Worker Helpline initiatives, as well as our plans for the future.
The report highlights through family-friendly activities, facilities and policies the ways businesses can make a huge impact on the lives of workers and their families in their supply chain.
We believe play is a basic right for all children. To date, through our worker well-being programs, we have benefited over 21,852 children. Collectively we want to enable play for all children, including the children of the workers who produce toys enjoyed globally.
2022 was the 7th year of the Family-Friendly Spaces program. This briefing celebrates the impacts and achievements from the 17 factories which participated in the 2022 program, with insights from the 15 repeating factories and the 2 joining the program for the first time this year.
The report shows how our Family-Friendly Spaces transforms parent-child relationships and supports the developmental needs of children. For participating factories, the measurable impacts produced prove FFS to be an effective solution to combat labor shortages and improve employee engagement on all levels.
(October 2021)
2021 was the 6th year of the Family-Friendly Factories program. This Impact Report celebrates the the impacts and achievements from the 11 factories which participated in the 2021 program, with insights from the 9 factories which ran repeat Family-Friendly Spaces and from
the 2 joining the program for the first time this year. The report shows how our Family-Friendly Spaces continues to deliver profound benefits to all participants, even during these unprecedented times. For workers and their children, they can transform parent-child relationships, and support the developmental needs of children. For participating factories, measurable business impacts prove FFS is an effective solution to combat labor shortages and improve employees engagement at all levels.
2020 marks the 5th year of the Family-Friendly Factories program. This Impact Report celebrates the achievements of our Family-Friendly Factories over this time and gives special mention to our Worker Helpline, a core component of our commitment to supporting worker well-being. These incentives are great examples of how businesses can get involved to improve their supply chain management and advance their supply chain social responsibility.
A look at the Family-Friendly Spaces program which grew to its biggest size ever in 2019, at 30 factories accommodating 1,100 children and supporting 1,240 workers with their child-care needs. This impact report shows the measurable and positive impacts that support the FFS program growth each year.
The spotlight on protecting workers employed in toy factories worldwide became most clear in the 1990s following factory fires in Bangkok and Shenzhen which brought an increased focus on workers' health and safety in toy factories.
In 1993, a coalition of industry representatives and NGOs gathered in Hong Kong to draft a Charter for the safe production of toys to protect the rights of toy factory workers.
Following the production of the Charter, many large toy brands and retailers created their own Codes of Conduct for facilities manufacturing their products. By the mid-1990s, there were around 70 different Codes of Conduct for ethical toy manufacture, making it very difficult for toy factories to comply with the varying standards of all their customers and creating significant amounts of duplicate auditing in factories.
An industry-wide ethical manufacturing standard was called for in the toy industry.
The International Council of Toy Industries (ICTI) created the Code of Business Practices in 1995. The ICTI Code of Business Practices represents one unified ethical manufacturing standard for the industry. In 2002, a worldwide auditing process was launched to implement and certify against the ICTI Code of Business Practices, with the goal of driving convergence, raising standards, and reducing duplication of social audits in the global toy industry supply chain.
In 2004, the ICTI CARE Foundation was created as a non-profit organization working completely independently of ICTI to oversee the implementation and certification against the ICTI Code of Business Practices.
After over a decade of progress the ICTI CARE Foundation unveiled a new ambitious strategic plan with updated factory assessments and ratings, a new model of engagement for toy brands and retailers, and a refreshed brand to deliver it. The renamed ICTI Ethical Toy Program was launched in January 2018 marking the next generation of the ethical manufacturing program for the toy industry.
In 2024, the ICTI Ethical Toy Program renamed to become the Ethical Supply Chain Program (ESCP). The new name reflects the growing demand for compliance accreditation services across the entire supply chain. Under its new name, the Ethical Supply Chain Program will continue to champion integrity and sustainability across all sectors in which it operates. It is setting out its ambition to facilitate communication, certification and cooperation between manufacturers, suppliers, licensors, and retailers worldwide, to build a network with transparency at its core. The Ethical Supply Chain Program is committed to being more than just an ethical rubber stamp; it is a program based on respect, fairness, and inclusivity, across all sectors, industries, and geographies.
Together with its members it strives to create a better life for workers worldwide.
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