About Us

We help organisations respect labour standards, human rights and gender equality

We are a leading international consultancy focused on business and human rights. We have an eighteen year track record, registered offices in the UK, Germany and the Netherlands, and core staff located in a range of additional countries, as well as an established network of global experts. We work across sectors and geographies with a diverse client base. Through our consulting and research services we enable organisations to take practical steps to improve the lives of workers and communities.

 

Our Approach

We bring broad professional knowledge and long experience to bear on clients’ issues and concerns. We pride ourselves on providing insight and advice that is clear, practical and tailored to individual needs. It is grounded in international good practice, informed by peer comparisons and attuned to emerging developments.

Our Clients

Our clients include international financial institutions, leading brands and corporations, international agencies and multi-stakeholder platforms. Recent clients include:

  • European Commission
  • International Labour Organisation (ILO)
  • International Organisation for Migration (IOM)
  • International Finance Corporation (IFC)
  • Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)
  • World Bank
  • Asian Development Bank (ADB)
  • European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)
  • European Investment Bank (EIB)
  • CDC
  • FinDev Canada
  • Standard Chartered
  • ING
  • Aldi
  • ASOS
  • Alexander McQueen
  • Associated British Foods
  • The Body Shop
  • Burberry
  • Co-operative Food
  • Hilton Worldwide, Inc.
  • Kering
  • ENI
  • GSK
  • Lidl
  • Marks & Spencer
  • Mars Inc.
  • McDonald’s
  • Morrisons
  • Reckitt
  • Siemens
  • Primark
  • Virgin Media
  • FIFA
  • Centre for Sport and Human Rights
  • Commonwealth Games Federation (CGA)
  • Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI)
  • Responsible Business Alliance (RBA)
  • Fair Labor Association (FLA)
  • Dutch Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH)
  • Better Cotton Initiative (BCI)
  • Institute for Human Rights and Business (IHRB)
  • Rainforest Alliance (RA)
  • Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)
  • Sedex

Our Expertise

Our staff are creative problem-solvers. We recruit people with diverse backgrounds and long professional experience, including:

  • Responsible supply chains: ethical trade policy, implementation and reporting
  • Project finance: transaction support on social issues, capacity-building, project assessments
  • Human rights: business policy, practical due diligence, internal development and training
  • Employment law: interpretation of international standards and implementation of national laws
  • Human resource management: capacity-building for compliance with codes of conduct
  • Gender: project mainstreaming and policy implementation at enterprise level
  • Labour market analysis: gender dimensions, skills analysis.

Collectively we have worked in more than 60 countries across four continents. Our team includes fluent speakers of English, Spanish, French, Italian, German, Greek, Russian and Portuguese.