Consultancy – Support in drafting a White Paper on EU policies contributing to a fair and sustainable textile sector

Terms of Reference 

Support in drafting a White Paper on EU policies contributing to a fair and sustainable textile sector

1.Background

The Fair Trade Advocacy Office (FTAO) speaks out on behalf of the Fair Trade Movement for Fair Trade and Trade Justice with the aim to improve the livelihoods of marginalised producers and workers in the South. The FTAO is a joint initiative of Fairtrade International, the World Fair Trade Organization and the World Fair Trade Organization-Europe. 

The FTAO is working with partners to develop a White Paper on the textile sector that will offer an overview of the main areas in which the EU can put in place policies that will contribute to address the challenges of the textile sector. The White paper is expected to offer policy makers a clear picture of the possible ways forward and influence the agenda setting of political groups and the European Commission ahead of the 2024 EU Election. 

2. Objective of the consultancy

The consultant will be asked to develop the first draft of the White Paper which will be then taken over by the FTAO and other project partners to further develop, design and release.  

The chapters of the White paper shall be the following. In each of them the consultant will propose a description and state of play of the policy area (between 3 and 5 pages), followed by (at least) three policy recommendations. 

  • Due diligence 
  • Traceability transparency 
  • Living wage and living income 
  • Unfair Trading Pactices 
  • Public Procurement* (Unlike the rest of the chapters, the first draft of this chapter will be developed by DFTAO’s staff) 

The consultant is requested to deliver a first draft to the FTAO and allow for a single round of comments by the FTAO. 

Based on the draft, the FTAO will engage with partners to develop a final text that will be published by April 2023. The process to consult partner organisations, gather their input and develop a final text based on that draft will not be responsibility of the consultant.

3. Timeline

The services shall be delivered by the 30th November. The consultant is not expected to dedicate further efforts after the first draft is delivered except if explicitly agreed upon in a new contract. 

4. Methodology and process

The consultant will be in direct contact with FTAO’s staff responsible for the textile sector to solve strategic questions or issues related to FTAO’s views on any policy.  

5. Code of Conduct and Safeguarding policy

The consultant will be working on behalf of the FTAO and will be required to adhere to FTAO’s internal policies. 

The consultant will assure confidentiality and that the data is protected and used for agreed purpose only. As regards the documentation, the title rights, copyrights, and all other rights of whatever nature in any materials used or generated under the provisions of this consultancy will exclusively be vested on FTAO. 

6. Qualifications/requirements of consultant

  • Experience working on EU policies relevant for the textile sector. 
  • High knowledge of the main stakeholders active in textile policies, in particular of key Civil Society Organisations and Trade Unions and their main views 
  • High level of knowledge on EU policy processes and functioning of EU institutions  

7. Expressions of Interest

All Expressions of Interest (EOI) should include: 

  • CV 
  • Technical proposal (maximum 2 pages) highlighting: 
  • Profile of the consultant 
  • Proposed approach to the task, including level of effort (number of consultancy days) 
  • Relevant previous experiences  
  • Financial proposal: The financial proposal should provide cost estimates for services rendered including professional fees and other costs (if any) to carry out the assignment. 

All interested individuals are requested to express interest by sending proposals via email to: advocacy@fairtrade-advocacy.org the end of 2nd November 2022.