Palma Futuro Presents Case Study at Harvard University

From November 24-25, Partners of the Americas’ Palma Futuro’s project team visited Harvard University to present a case study, within the framework of the “26th Private and Public, Scientific, Academic, and Consumer Food Policy Group (PAPSAC),” organized by the Kennedy School of Government, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

For the past 26 years, Harvard Professor Emeritus, Dr. Ray A. Goldberg, has led a symposium that addresses food security and public policy issues globally. This year, Partners, along with J.E. Austin Associates (JAA), were invited to share the main findings of their first draft of a case study on promising labor practices within the Colombian palm oil company, Palmas del Cesar.

The event was attended by Palma Futuro Project Director, Eduardo Bejarano; Palmas del Cesar General Manager, Fabio González; the president of the consulting firm specializing in agribusiness JAA, Kevin Murphy and one of the co-authors of the study, Dr. Ken Hoadley. They joined dozens of civil society and private sector stakeholders, Harvard University faculty members, and academics who lead avant-garde projects related to the food industry.

The case study, which will be used by Palma Futuro, a project funded by the US Department of Labor (USDOL), seeks to achieve a greater understanding at the regional and global levels of promising practices in the social compliance systems for the palm oil supply chain.

Palma Futuro is expected to be implemented through 2022: to strengthen the capacity of private sector companies in the Colombian and Ecuadorian palm oil industry and to implement solid and sustainable social compliance systems and improve understanding of their importance in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, and in other international forums.