Due Diligence Fund: Competitive Fund for the Promotion of Due Diligence

The German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and the SASI are funding promising approaches to fulfilling corporate due diligence obligations with a competition fund.

Together with the agri-food industry and its suppliers, they want to achieve greater sustainability in global agricultural supply chains and improve the living conditions of smallholders and plantation workers. Their focus is, therefore, on practical implementation on the ground in the DAC-listed countries.

Aims

• The aim of the DDF is to identify innovative approaches for the implementation of corporate HREDD processes. Companies in the agri-food sector, pairing up with public-benefit partners and/or suppliers in producing countries, can apply for funding for their project ideas, focusing on people and the environment upstream their supply chain. The DDF financially supports the best project proposals in their practical adoption on the ground and disseminates information on implementation to the public. A particular focus is on fostering engagement with all stakeholders – including the potentially or directly affected rightsholders – and to incentivize modes of “shared responsibility” along supply chains. The DDF thus develops solutions to meet the challenges of complying with corporate HREDD obligations in agricultural supply chains, as well as provides actual improvements regarding the living conditions of producers in partner countries.

Objectives

• They want to identify and financially support promising, practical and innovative approaches to corporate due diligence. Their previous projects demonstrate that compliance with the LkSG, EUDR, and CSDDD is achievable—even beyond the minimum standards required.
• The focus is on both human rights and environmental due diligence on the ground in the partner countries. Potentially affected groups, such as smallholder farmers and plantation workers, will be actively involved in the project’s design and implementation and will benefit from the measures taken.
• Companies should be supported by the DDF to establish and continuously implement sustainable processes in accordance with the regulations. Through monitoring and evaluation of the pilot projects and a public presentation of the results, added value is generated for companies. In this way, good practices or piloted approaches are created, which they can adapt for other or their own supply chains.

Funding Information

• Planned measures of the selected project proposals will be funded with an amount of between EUR 50,000 and up to EUR 123,000 over a period of up to 15 months (funding period).

Eligible Projects

• that meet the guiding principles of corporate due diligence to a considerable degree and that go beyond the minimum legal requirements;
• whose methodological approach is suitable for scalability adaptation by other companies in the agricultural and food sector;
• which have a particularly high potential to mitigate human rights and environmental risks effectively and sustainably;
• which embed the planned measures in a process-oriented implementation logic and do not only achieve selective effects;
• which promote gender equality through targeted measures.

Eligibility Criteria

• Project proposals are to be submitted by a partnership consisting of:
  • Private companies based in the EU, the European Economic Area (EEA), Switzerland or the United Kingdom (UK).
  • Private companies based in a DAC-listed country and/or
  • Organizations with a public-benefit status

For more information, visit BMZ.