Team TRACE US State Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (J/TIP)
A platform that allows brands to pool resources together to identify and remediate problematic factories down their supply chains. By reducing the cost of entry, businesses will be more willing to identify and fix forced labor.
Brooke McEver | Eric Ehizokhale | Jose Torres | Christina Schiciano
Sponsors: Kyle Ballard | Anna Patrick. Mentor: Beth Van Schaack Tech Mentor: Kevin Ray
85 interviews
Assist the private sector in better understanding their labor supply chains such that they can push policies of responsible business down the chain.
Initial Challenge Final Contribution
Eric EhizokhaleComputer Science
Brooke McEver
Design Graduate
Jose Torres
Law School Fellow
Meet Our Team!
Christina SchicianoPolitical Science
An estimated 21 million people are victims of slavery and forced labor throughout the world
Risk is especially high in the apparel and fashion industry.
How is a jacket made?
Tier 1
Tier 1
Tier 2
How is a jacket made?
Tier 1
Tier 2
Tier 3
How is a jacket made?
Tier 1
Tier 2
Tier 3
Tier 4
How is a jacket made?
Tier 1
Tier 2
Tier 3
Tier 4
Deeper tiers have more
forced labor
How is a jacket made?
Week 1 Week 10
TeamMomentum
Data Collection
Timeline of our progress: Weeks 1-3
What we
thoughtSupply chain
managers in brands just need more data about the forced labor in their supply chains.
What we
thought
Whom we
talked toSupply chain
managers in brands just need more data about the forced labor in their supply chains.
25 interviews with NGOs, supply chain managers, factory floor supervisors
What we
thought
Whom we
talked to
What we
learnedSupply chain
managers in brands just need more data about the forced labor in their supply chains.
● People care…● ...but more data
is not enough● Most brands
don’t have resources or expertise to know how to track the problem.
● Brands are not monolithic entities
25 interviews with NGOs, supply chain managers, factory floor supervisors
Beneficiaries
Mission AchievementMission Budget/Costs
Buy-In/Support
Deployment
Value PropositionKey Activities
Key Resources
Key Partners
-J/TIP-Sustainable Apparel Coalition Leadership-SAC brands willing to pilot initial projects-Remediation NGOs/firms (Verite, Impactt)
1. Supply Chain Managers
2. Corporate Social Responsibility Managers
3. Project managers / buyers
Savings that can be shown from a cost/benefit perMoney pooled that SAC provides NGOs with Brands in SAC pooling resources for a specific task (cleaning up spinning mills in Bangladesh) that would be efficient for all of them
Sustainable Apparel Coalition and its membersJ/TIP
-$25-50k to build/maintain TRACE platform-Researcher to calculate benefits for each project-Contracts between brands/remediator/SAC for projects
-Developing TRACE platform-Identifying NGOs willing to remediate (Verite/Impactt/others-Use Higg Index to identify problematic factories)
Deployment metrics Work with the SAC
Integrate our platform with the SAC’s Higg Index and use that to find a common issue to pilot the first remediation project
Execute a project focused on remediation of an issue.
Show end results and tackle another project.
- Mid-sized firms find cost/effective ways to monitor supply chain.NGOs can find “clients” and get more funding.
- Cost savings and improved supply chain monitoring
- Prototype testing: 100K-Amount of money firms are willing to further invest in their supply chains. Mission requires businesses to spend money, but we argue in a different way that ends up being cheaper for them-Launch: 75K-Continuing operations: 90K
Week 1 Week 10
TeamMomentum
Data Collection
Timeline of our progress: Weeks 4-7 NGOs
Led to our first product idea, where supply chain managers could search for a geographical location and product, then find NGOs working in that
space . . .
Supply Chain Manager NGO
I need help with I can help with
Led to our first product idea, where supply chain managers could search for a geographical location and product, then find NGOs working in that
space . . .
Supply Chain Manager NGO
I need help with I can help with
. . . except feedback was mostly negative . . .
7 Supply Chain Manager Interviews, Weeks 5-6
“I don’t have time in my day
to do this.” “I don’t trust
random NGOs.”
“What if the NGO names and shames
us?”
“Is there a cheaper way?”
“Naming and shaming closes off the private sector from using their resources for good.” Matt — The Mekong Club
Know the Chain Ranking of ICT Companies (Information and Communications Technology)
Operating alone doesn’t work because…
1) There is a lack of resources.2) Sticking your neck out makes you vulnerable.
Working together allows firms to pool resources and save money, since many firms use the same factories.
In week 7, we found a key partner in the Sustainable Apparel Coalition.
Week 1 Week 10
TeamMomentum
Data Collection
Timeline of our progress: Weeks 7-10 NGOs Shared
Remediation
“Give a Nobel Peace Prize to the first Fortune 500 company that names their ex-slaves and shows how they remediated their situation.” Rosey, ImpacttLimited
Collaboration on audits helps save companies money. Collaboration on remediation helps workers escape forced labor.
$100,000
Final Product — Platform to remediate shared factories
$100
,000
$100
,000
Next Steps
1. 2. 3.Remediation
Best Practices
Integration w/Higg Index
Extension to New
Industries