Facilitated by Petchrung Sukpong and accompanied by Sirisap Bijlmakers from Fairtrade NAPP, the session brought together management staff and board committee members from across the Thai rice sector to build foundational awareness and practical skills in two critical areas: HREDD principles and grievance redressal mechanisms.

The participants included thirteen men and seven women, spanning three age groups, and represented organizations at varying stages of awareness about HREDD. For many, it was their first structured introduction to the concept. By the close of the session, all ten producer groups had committed to reviewing their internal practices and initiating consultations on formalizing their grievance handling systems.

Why HREDD Matters for Thai Rice Producers

HREDD facilitates organizations in identifying, preventing, mitigating, and address their impacts on human rights and the environment. It encompasses how workers are treated on the farm, how water resources are shared across communities, how children's rights are protected, and how farmers can raise concerns without fear of reprisal.

For rice producer organizations operating in global supply chains, HREDD is increasingly relevant not just as an ethical practice but as a commercial and regulatory reality. Several European Union frameworks are placing growing demands on companies to demonstrate responsible conduct across their entire value chains. For Thai rice producers who supply to buyers with EU market exposure, building HREDD systems is a practical step toward long-term market access and organizational resilience.

Fairtrade NAPP has been working with producer organizations across the Asia-Pacific region to build this readiness. The training in Pakse was part of this ongoing program, designed to connect HREDD principles directly to the realities of rice production in Thailand.

How Fairtrade NAPP is Implementing HREDD Through Training

Fairtrade NAPP's approach to HREDD training is participatory and context-specific. Rather than presenting HREDD as an abstract compliance framework, the session was designed to anchor complex concepts in participants' own field experiences.

The half-day session followed an interactive, multi-modal methodology. The facilitator combined expert presentations with visual case studies, peer-to-peer knowledge exchange, and hands-on application exercises. Participants were not positioned as passive recipients of information. They were invited to bring their own experiences into the room and use them as the basis for understanding the HREDD framework.

The session was divided into two parts. The first hour covered HREDD introduction and risk assessment. The remaining two and a half hours focused on grievance redressal mechanisms, including case identification, categorization, and management protocols.

HREDD Introduction and Risk Assessment

The session opened with an introduction to human rights and environmental sustainability, which quickly drew out real experiences from participants. Rather than presenting HREDD as something new or external, the facilitator helped participants see that the principles were already embedded in much of what they do, just not yet formalized or connected to a coherent framework.

Participants were invited to identify human rights issues they already manage under their existing Code of Conduct. They then shared how they apply those principles in daily operations, before working through the 5-step HREDD process as a group. To ground the framework further, participants used practical tools including the Fairtrade Risk Map and the Traffic Light System to practice identifying and categorizing risk levels across their organizational activities.

Some of the most revealing moments came from participants' own stories.

Ms. Krisana from Green Net Cooperative, aged 51, brought the discussion to environmental rights, specifically the right to water. She spoke about river water as a shared community resource and the importance of collective management to ensure every farmer has access without one neighbor benefiting at another's expense. Her point illustrated how environmental due diligence is not just about regulatory compliance. It is about the practical relationships between farmers who depend on the same ecosystem.

By the close of the first session, participants had moved from general awareness to mapping a customized risk framework relevant to their own organizations.

Grievance Redressal: From Principle to Practice

The second and longer part of the training focused on Grievance Redressal Mechanisms (GRM). Grievance mechanisms are the channels through which farmers, workers, and community members can raise concerns, report violations, and seek resolution. Without functioning GRMs, even well-intentioned HREDD policies remain incomplete.

The session began with a practical scenario involving water rights, which immediately grounded the concept of grievance handling in a situation participants recognized from their own contexts. The facilitator then walked the group through the core principles of the GRM, its role within producer organizations, and the administrative steps involved in registering and managing a case.

Participants engaged in peer discussions, sharing existing practices and identifying gaps in their organizations' current approaches. The session moved into applied exercises using five distinct case scenarios to test participants' ability to identify, categorize, and respond to grievances. Board leaders including Mr. Patin Chantasingh of NamOm Community Enterprise (aged 56) and Mr. Anan Ngamsom of OASIS (aged 42) were among those who expressed confidence in applying these frameworks within their own groups.

By the session's close, all ten producer organizations had committed to conducting internal reviews of their current grievance handling practices, with a view to initiating management consultations and drafting or revising formal GRM protocols aligned with HREDD principles.

Outcomes

The training successfully moved participants from basic awareness to a practical, field-ready understanding of HREDD. Pre- and post-training assessments confirmed improvements in participant knowledge across key areas. Participants demonstrated proficiency in using the Fairtrade Risk Map and the Traffic Light System for risk identification, and were able to apply GRM principles including case identification, categorization, and basic case management procedures.

Participant feedback on the session was strongly positive, with a majority reporting that the HREDD training was directly applicable to their organizations. The interactive format, which blended knowledge sharing with real-world application, was rated as effective in making complex material accessible.

Voices from the Session

Next Steps

The half-day session in Pakse was one step in a longer process. Translating what participants learned into formal institutional change requires continued follow-up. Each of the ten producer organizations has committed to reviewing its current practices, and Fairtrade NAPP will support those consultations and provide targeted assistance as organizations work toward adopting GRM protocols tailored to their specific operational contexts.

The training in Pakse is part of Fairtrade NAPP's expanding HREDD training program across the Asia-Pacific region. By embedding due diligence practices within producer organizations across multiple sectors and geographies, Fairtrade NAPP is working toward a future in which human rights and environmental accountability are built into how producer organizations operate, not just reported on.