Step 1 - Laying the groundwork

Establish a solid foundation to act on Living Income, ensuring internal alignment and understanding in priority areas. Regularly review to ensure it remains clear, aligned, and fit for current conditions.

What does it mean?

Laying the groundwork means establishing clarity on what living income entails, aligning stakeholders, and determining where to prioritise action across supply chains. It includes aligning on definitions, mapping supply chains that source from smallholders, assessing commodity/region pairings based on risk, and ensuring that an appropriate living income benchmark is identified and remains up to date as contexts, costs, and expectations evolve.

The first step to addressing living income in your supply chain is to create internal alignment and identify your regions of interest to prioritise where to find living income benchmarks. Collaborate with partners to access relevant living income benchmarks and pool financial resources to commission new benchmarks.

This step ensures that senior leadership, HR, procurement, finance, CSR, workers and suppliers share a common understanding and mandate to proceed in a coordinated way.

To identify priority areas for living income action, organisations should take a structured, stepwise approach:

1. Map all crops, countries, or regions from which sourcing takes place, and identify where supply chains involve smallholder farmers.

2. Assess where the need and risk are highest.

3. Identify which crops and regions are most material to the business.

4. Assess where you have the greatest ability to influence outcomes.

Tools & Resources

The following Tools and Resources have been developed through the members of the Roadmap on Living Income with the aim to solve today’s most pressing challenges. Take a look.

Tool

Aligned inclusive living income narrative and indicators

Sector-agnostic guidance helping companies, NGO and governments drive trade and key impact at origin while reducing legal risks in new EU rules.

Discover the tool

Tool

Living income resource library

Curated guidance, definitions, and practical materials to support companies at any stage of their living income journey.

Discover the tool

Tool

Living income online academy (coming soon)

Self-paced, modular online training designed for users to upskill in Living Income methodologies and practical application.

Still have a challenge?

Let us know, and we will explore together.

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Next: Step 2 – Measuring and analysis