Ethical Supply Chain Management Training Course

Duration 10 days 20 modules · 65 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Procurement Managers, Supply Chain Managers and others
Fee from USD 2,200 KSh 190,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 16 Nov 2026 Course code SD-SCM-059

Before you join: Participants should have practical experience in procurement, supplier management, supply chain operations, sustainability, quality assurance, compliance or internal audit.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Ethical supply chain management requires more than supplier codes and occasional audits. Procurement and supply chain teams must identify labour, human rights, environmental and business-integrity risks beyond tier one; set realistic supplier requirements; verify performance; and respond when harm or non-conpliance is found. Buyers also face commercial pressures involving cost, continuity, quality and delivery, while regulators, customers, investors and affected communities expect credible evidence of responsible sourcing.

This course equips participants to design and operate ethical sourcing controls that work within procurement and supply chain processes. Participants assess supply-chain risks using country, commodity and supplier indicators; apply the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and OECD due diligence concepts; develop supplier codes, contract clauses and audit protocols; and establish corrective-action, grievance and escalation processes. The course also addresses fair purchasing practices, traceability, responsible recruitment, modern slavery, fair trade claims, worker voice, supplier development and ethical performance measurement.

Teaching combines focused instructor briefings with case analysis from agriculture, garments, electronics, extractives, logistics and public procurement. Participants work with supplier data, audit findings, purchasing scenarios and traceability records to build practical documents throughout the course. They leave with an ethical supply chain due-diligence pack: a risk register, supplier segmentation model, code and contract requirements, audit and remediation approach, traceability plan, KPI dashboard and implementation roadmap.

The course suits procurement, supply chain, sustainability, compliance, quality and risk professionals who already manage suppliers or sourcing categories and need to make ethical requirements operational.

What you will be able to do

  • Assess human rights, labour, environmental and integrity risks across supply tiers
  • Apply OECD due diligence steps to a defined sourcing category
  • Design supplier segmentation and risk-scoring models using credible evidence
  • Draft supplier code requirements, ethical contract clauses and purchasing controls
  • Plan proportionate supplier audits, worker interviews and document reviews
  • Develop corrective-action and remediation processes for identified supplier harms
  • Build traceability, KPI and grievance-reporting arrangements for ethical sourcing
  • Present a complete ethical supply chain due-diligence implementation plan

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Build confidence challenging weak ethical claims and incomplete supplier evidence
  • Prepare credible ethical sourcing requirements for tenders and supplier contracts
  • Conduct better-informed conversations with auditors, suppliers and internal stakeholders
  • Translate human rights commitments into category-level procurement actions
  • Produce a portfolio-ready ethical supply chain due-diligence plan

For your organisation

  • Improves identification of forced-labour, recruitment-fee and unsafe-work risks
  • Strengthens supplier requirements before contract award and onboarding
  • Reduces inconsistent audit findings, corrective actions and escalation decisions
  • Creates clearer evidence for customer, investor and regulatory due-diligence requests
  • Supports responsible purchasing practices that improve supplier performance over time

Course modules

20 modules over 10 days

Participants can define ethical supply chain responsibilities and connect them to procurement decisions.

  • Ethical sourcing principles: human rights, labour, environment and business integrity
  • Supply-chain impacts distinguished from supplier compliance and corporate philanthropy
  • UN Guiding Principles: protect, respect and remedy framework
  • Stakeholder expectations from workers, communities, customers, lenders and regulators
  • Direct and indirect purchasing practices shaping supplier working conditions
  • Materiality assessment links ethical impacts to category management priorities

Participants can select relevant standards and claims frameworks for sourcing requirements.

  • ILO core conventions covering freedom, child labour, discrimination and forced labour
  • OECD Due Diligence Guidance six-step risk management process
  • Fairtrade Standards requirements for producers, traders, premiums and traceability
  • SA8000 management-system elements for socially accountable workplaces
  • ISO 20400 guidance for sustainable procurement policy and practice
  • Voluntary standards compared with legal duties and customer specifications

Participants can map supply-chain actors, flows and information gaps beyond tier one.

  • Tiered supply-chain maps covering entities, sites, processes and material flows
  • Bill of materials analysis identifies priority commodities and origin countries
  • Value-stream mapping connects purchasing decisions with production stages
  • Supplier questionnaires capture ownership, locations, subcontracting and certifications
  • Chain-of-custody models: identity preserved, segregated, mass balance and book-and-claim
  • Data-quality checks expose missing sites, duplicate records and unverifiable declarations

Participants can identify salient human rights risks in a sourcing category.

  • Salience assesses severity, scope and irremediable character of impacts
  • Country-risk indicators cover governance, conflict, labour rights and migration
  • Commodity-risk profiles identify known exploitation and environmental harm patterns
  • Worker vulnerability factors include gender, age, migration and employment status
  • Business relationships analysed for cause, contribution and direct linkage
  • Risk statements specify affected people, harm pathway and procurement connection

Participants can assess environmental risks that intersect with ethical sourcing obligations.

  • Deforestation risk assessed through commodity origin, land conversion and traceability
  • Water-stress screening identifies production areas requiring supplier controls
  • Hazardous chemical management examined through restricted-substance lists and records
  • Waste and pollution impacts linked to supplier process controls
  • Climate transition risks evaluated alongside worker welfare and community impacts
  • Environmental claims tested against certifications, chain-of-custody and source evidence

Participants can build a proportionate supplier risk-scoring and prioritisation model.

  • Supplier segmentation combines spend, criticality, risk exposure and improvement capacity
  • Inherent-risk scoring uses country, sector, commodity and workforce indicators
  • Control-effectiveness ratings test policies, certifications, audits and traceability evidence
  • Residual-risk calculation prioritises due-diligence actions and management attention
  • Heat maps distinguish urgent harms from longer-term capability gaps
  • Risk appetite statements define approval thresholds and escalation triggers

Participants can establish governance, roles and policy controls for ethical procurement.

  • Ethical procurement policy defines commitments, scope, authority and accountability
  • RACI matrices allocate responsibilities across procurement, legal, sustainability and operations
  • Board reporting requirements connect salient risks with oversight decisions
  • Category strategies incorporate ethical objectives, milestones and accountable owners
  • Delegated authority controls address high-risk sourcing and supplier approvals
  • Internal controls test whether ethical requirements operate at purchasing points

Participants can draft enforceable ethical supplier requirements for sourcing and contracting.

  • Supplier codes define minimum requirements and evidence of conformance
  • Contract clauses address audit access, subcontracting, notification and remediation
  • Flow-down provisions extend requirements to lower-tier suppliers and labour agents
  • Prequalification criteria screen sanctions, serious violations and prohibited practices
  • Tender evaluation weighting balances ethical risk, price, quality and delivery
  • Supplier declarations designed to avoid vague commitments and unsupported assurances

Participants can identify purchasing behaviours that create or reduce supplier harm.

  • Purchasing-practice diagnostics assess forecast accuracy, lead times and order changes
  • Cost negotiations analysed for effects on wages, safety and subcontracting
  • Payment-term design considers supplier cash flow and worker payment risks
  • Responsible exit plans prevent abrupt disengagement from high-risk suppliers
  • Buyer performance metrics include ethical sourcing behaviours and supplier feedback
  • Collaborative planning reduces volatility, overtime pressure and unauthorised subcontracting

Participants can plan and evaluate ethical supplier assessments using multiple evidence sources.

  • Audit scopes align site risks, workforce profiles and contractual requirements
  • Document reviews test payroll, hours, recruitment, safety and grievance records
  • Worker interviews protect confidentiality, informed consent and retaliation safeguards
  • Management interviews test knowledge, accountability and corrective-action ownership
  • Site walkthroughs identify observable conditions requiring corroborating evidence
  • Audit sampling plans address shifts, employment types, locations and vulnerable workers

Participants can detect modern slavery indicators and specify responsible recruitment controls.

  • Forced-labour indicators include debt, document retention, coercion and restricted movement
  • Recruitment-fee mapping traces charges across agents, brokers and employers
  • Employer-pays principle translated into supplier requirements and reimbursement processes
  • Migrant-worker controls address contracts, passports, accommodation and grievance access
  • Labour-agent due diligence examines licensing, fees, subcontracting and worker records
  • Escalation protocols protect workers when credible forced-labour concerns emerge

Participants can design traceability controls and substantiate ethical product claims.

  • Traceability objectives defined for risk control, claims substantiation and recall readiness
  • Critical tracking events record transformation, custody transfer and location data
  • Mass-balance calculations reconcile certified input volumes with product outputs
  • Supplier data validation compares invoices, production records and shipping documents
  • Ethical marketing claims tested for scope, evidence, qualifications and expiry
  • Traceability gaps prioritised by product risk, consumer exposure and legal relevance

Participants can assess worker voice systems and design effective grievance escalation routes.

  • Worker voice channels include unions, committees, hotlines, surveys and interviews
  • UNGP effectiveness criteria assess legitimacy, accessibility, predictability and transparency
  • Grievance intake procedures protect confidentiality, anonymity and informed consent
  • Case triage distinguishes routine complaints from severe rights allegations
  • Non-retaliation controls require monitoring after complaint closure and remediation
  • Remedy options include restitution, compensation, rehabilitation, satisfaction and guarantees

Participants can create corrective-action plans that address root causes and remedy.

  • Corrective-action plans define findings, owners, deadlines, evidence and verification
  • Five Whys analysis identifies systemic causes behind repeated non-conformance
  • Root-cause categories cover capability, incentives, resources, governance and purchasing pressure
  • Remediation plans distinguish immediate containment from sustained preventive action
  • Supplier development support combines training, technical assistance and improvement milestones
  • Closure decisions require evidence review, worker feedback and follow-up verification

Participants can lead evidence-based supplier discussions on ethical performance and remediation.

  • Supplier engagement plans distinguish strategic partners from transactional vendors
  • Opening discussions frames findings, expectations, consequences and available support
  • Interest-based negotiation addresses cost, timing, evidence and corrective commitments
  • Escalation ladders sequence improvement support, warning, suspension and termination
  • Meeting records capture commitments, deadlines, evidence requests and responsible owners
  • Cultural context considered without excusing violations of fundamental rights

Participants can build performance measures and management reports for ethical sourcing.

  • KPI design separates activity, output, outcome and impact measures
  • Leading indicators track training, assessments, grievance access and corrective-action progress
  • Lagging indicators measure repeat findings, injuries, turnover and substantiated complaints
  • Supplier scorecards combine ethical performance with quality, delivery and commercial measures
  • Data governance assigns owners, validation routines, retention periods and access rights
  • Dashboard narratives explain trends, limitations, risks and required management decisions

Participants can prepare due-diligence evidence for legal, customer and disclosure requests.

  • Modern slavery statement evidence linked to governance, risk assessment and actions
  • Mandatory due-diligence laws require documented prevention, mitigation and remediation decisions
  • Import-control risks examined for forced-labour allegations and traceability evidence
  • Customer questionnaires evaluated against available evidence and supplier-data limitations
  • Disclosure controls distinguish verified metrics from estimates and aspirational commitments
  • Document retention schedules preserve audit trails, approvals and remediation records

Participants can manage a credible response to serious ethical supply-chain allegations.

  • Incident triage assesses severity, credibility, affected people and immediate safety needs
  • Investigation plans establish independence, scope, evidence handling and confidentiality
  • Supplier suspension decisions balance harm prevention, continuity and worker consequences
  • Stakeholder communications separate verified facts, commitments and pending investigations
  • Remedy governance assigns decision rights, funding sources and affected-person consultation
  • Post-incident reviews strengthen controls, purchasing practices and monitoring priorities

Participants can sequence an ethical sourcing programme with resources, milestones and controls.

  • Maturity assessments benchmark current policy, processes, data, skills and assurance
  • Gap analysis compares existing controls against priority due-diligence requirements
  • Implementation roadmaps sequence quick wins, foundational controls and longer-term improvements
  • Resource plans identify budget, systems, specialist support and internal ownership
  • Change-management plans address buyer adoption, supplier communication and leadership sponsorship
  • Assurance plans set review cycles, independent checks and management reporting

Participants can build, review and present a complete ethical supply chain due-diligence plan for a selected category or supplier portfolio.

  • Category scope defines products, suppliers, geographies, tiers and affected stakeholders
  • Risk register prioritises salient impacts using inherent and residual risk scores
  • Supplier requirements combine code provisions, contract clauses and evidence standards
  • Assessment plan schedules screening, audits, worker voice and traceability checks
  • Remediation pathway specifies escalation, corrective action, remedy and exit decisions
  • KPI dashboard tracks implementation milestones, supplier outcomes and unresolved risks
  • Executive presentation justifies resources, governance, timelines and decision requests

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Ethical supply chain risk register template
  2. Supplier risk segmentation and scoring model
  3. Supplier code and ethical contract clause pack
  4. Ethical audit and worker-interview checklist
  5. Corrective-action and remediation tracker
  6. Ethical sourcing implementation roadmap

Who should attend

  • Procurement Managers — need to embed ethical requirements in category and supplier decisions
  • Supply Chain Managers — need visibility and controls beyond direct suppliers
  • Sustainability Managers — need credible sourcing programmes linked to business processes
  • Supplier Relationship Managers — need to assess, improve and escalate supplier performance
  • Compliance and Risk Managers — need evidence-based human rights and integrity controls
  • Quality and Audit Professionals — need consistent ethical audit and remediation methods

Skills and tools covered

Human rights due diligenceEthical supplier assessmentResponsible sourcing controlsSupply chain traceabilityCorrective action managementEthical procurement governance

Tools and standards

UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Business Conduct, SA8000, ISO 20400

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to introduce standards, methods and decision criteria, followed by structured case work using supplier profiles, country-risk data, audit reports and purchasing scenarios. Small-group exercises test sourcing choices, supplier assessments, contract requirements and remediation decisions. Simulations examine difficult supplier conversations, worker grievance escalation and audit follow-up. Participants progressively apply each method to a selected category or supply-chain case, then refine their implementation plan through peer review and instructor feedback.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have practical experience in procurement, supplier management, supply chain operations, sustainability, quality assurance, compliance or internal audit. They should understand basic sourcing processes, supplier selection and contract management, and be comfortable reviewing supplier records and operational data. Familiarity with corporate social responsibility, labour standards or environmental management is helpful but not essential. No legal qualification, prior social-audit certification, specialist sustainability degree or previous knowledge of fair trade standards is required. The course explains the relevant standards and due-diligence methods before applying them.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

Participants need experience of procurement, supplier management, supply chain operations, sustainability, quality or compliance. No previous social-audit qualification or legal training is required.

Participants should bring a current supplier category, sourcing challenge or ethical risk issue they can use as a reference. They may also bring non-confidential supplier policies, audit findings or questionnaire formats for comparison.

The course is designed for professionals who influence supplier selection, contracting, supplier performance, risk management or sustainability reporting. It is particularly relevant where suppliers operate in higher-risk countries, sectors or commodity chains.

This course concentrates on human rights, labour conditions, fair trade principles, responsible recruitment, ethical purchasing and remediation. Sustainable procurement courses often give greater attention to environmental purchasing criteria, lifecycle costing and circularity.

Participants can use the risk register, supplier segmentation model, contract requirements and audit checklist with active sourcing categories. The implementation roadmap helps them propose prioritised actions to procurement, compliance and sustainability leaders.

Each day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and provides about 6.5 contact hours. The first week establishes risk, standards, mapping and supplier-control methods; the second week focuses on assurance, remediation, data, incident response and the capstone plan.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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