Workers sitting on Fairtrade Premium Committees (FPCs) in Pakistan’s sports ball industry hold a key responsibility: they manage how Fairtrade Premium funds are invested on behalf of their entire workforce. In April 2026, Fairtrade NAPP worked alongside FPC members from all seven Fairtrade-certified sports ball Hired Labour producer organisations in Pakistan for a two-day training in Lahore, focused on strengthening the skills and understanding these workers need to carry out that role with greater confidence and clarity.

Pakistan is home to 7 of the 8 Fairtrade-certified sports ball Hired Labour organisations in the world.  Under the Hired Labour setup, FPCs are not only accountable for Fairtrade Premium funds but are required to reflect the full composition of their workforce, including workers across different departments, genders, and employment types. Despite this responsibility, FPC members often face gaps in their understanding of project planning, compliance requirements, and the formal scope of their roles. This training was designed to address those gaps directly.

From Roles to Results: Practical Skills FPC Members Built

Over two days, FPC members from Talon Sports Pvt. Ltd., Leatherware Private Ltd., Browns Angelo Sports (Pvt) Limited, Vision Technologies Corporation (Pvt) Ltd., COMET SPORTS (PVT) LTD., Anwar Khawaja Industries (Pvt.) Ltd., and Bolagema-Pakistan gained practical tools to manage their committees and plan Premium-funded projects more effectively.

A central gain was a working framework for clarifying roles within the FPC. Using the RACI Matrix, which defines who is Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed for each task, participants were able to map out their own committee responsibilities and identify where confusion or overlap was most likely to occur. This was paired with a look at communication flows within their organisations, giving FPC members a clearer picture of how information between leadership and workers should move, and where it often breaks down.

On project planning, participants worked through the stages of a full project lifecycle: initiation, planning, execution, monitoring, and closing. Tools including Project Charters and Gantt Charts gave participants a structured approach to planning Premium-funded activities, while a session on risk management introduced practical ways to identify potential problems early, before they affect compliance or delivery timelines.

The training also addressed time management and workplace stress, two factors that affect how well FPC members can fulfil their committee roles alongside their regular jobs. Workers explored the Eisenhower Matrix as a way of sorting tasks by urgency and importance, and learned techniques for protecting focused working time. On stress, the training framed it not as an individual problem but as something shaped by organisational culture, encouraging managers and FPC members to recognise when their workplace environment is adding unnecessary pressure.

On the second day, Ms. Sarah Anum, Program Manager at Fairtrade NAPP Pakistan, led a detailed session on FPC committee structure, the responsibilities of each designated role, and how the committee is expected to function within the Fairtrade system. Mr. Malik Jamil, NAPP Board Member and senior member from Vision Technologies, followed with a session on how the FPC operates within the broader Fairtrade Hired Labour framework. A question-and-answer session allowed participants to raise practical questions and clarify their understanding directly with the facilitators.

Solutions & Frameworks Participants Now Have

• Understanding roles and accountability through the RACI Matrix

Participants worked through the RACI framework in the context of their own FPC responsibilities, mapping who should be responsible and accountable for specific committee tasks, including Premium project oversight and quality checks. This gave members a concrete tool to reduce the role confusion that often leads to non-conformities during audits.

• Planning and managing Fairtrade Premium projects

Using Project Charters and Gantt Charts, participants practised structuring Premium-funded projects into clear stages with defined timelines and responsibilities. A session on risk management helped members identify potential obstacles at the planning stage, rather than responding to problems after they arise.

• Applying the Eisenhower Matrix to manage competing priorities

Workers learned to categorise tasks into “Do Now,” “Schedule,” “Delegate,” and “Eliminate,” providing a practical method for managing the demands of an FPC role alongside regular work responsibilities without losing focus on what matters most.

• Understanding communication flows within the organisation

FPC members examined how information moves through their organisations at three levels: from leadership to workers, from workers upward, and across departments. Participants discussed how these flows affect the FPC’s ability to represent the full workforce and remain informed about workplace conditions.

• Refreshing understanding of the FPC’s formal role within the Fairtrade system

Sessions led by Ms. Sarah Anum and Mr. Malik Jamil clarified what each FPC role is formally required to do and how the committee fits within the wider Fairtrade Hired Labour structure. The Q&A format gave participants space to address specific questions about compliance and FPC functioning.

Voices from the Activity

“It was indeed a great learning experience for all FPC members on roles and responsibilities, organisational management and project planning.”

- Syed Shuja, FPC Member, Browns Angelo Sports (Pvt) Limited

“I had the opportunity to attend an insightful training session organised by Fairtrade NAPP. The session provided practical learning on key concepts such as the RACI Matrix, defining organisational structures across three clear layers, and effectively aligning responsibilities at each level to improve efficiency. It strongly emphasised how clarity in roles and structured planning can drive better performance.”

- Haseeb Ghuman, FPC Member, Talon Sports

What Comes Next

The training closed with a 30-Day Transformation Challenge, a structured follow-up commitment designed to ensure the learning translates into practice. Participants committed to sharing their RACI matrices with their teams within seven days of the training and to drafting a Project Charter for a current project. After 14 days, Peer Accountability Pairs will check in with each other on progress against those commitments.

Fairtrade NAPP plans to follow up with a refresher to consolidate what was covered in this training. Consistent revisiting of these tools and responsibilities matters in a context where FPC members are managing their committee roles alongside regular work, and where audit compliance depends on committees being clear about what they are expected to do.

One challenge that the training itself made visible is the need for greater female participation in FPC roles. The majority of participants in Lahore were men, and increasing female representation in FPCs remains a priority for Fairtrade NAPP in Pakistan. FPC composition is required to reflect the full workforce, and this continues to be an area where ongoing attention is needed across Pakistan’s sports ball sector.