Workshop: Making reliable claims and applying the 'Guidelines for Providing Product Sustainability Information'

Coordination Desk of the Consumer Information Programme, in partnership with ARSO will organize a workshop on product sustainability information. The workshop is planned to be held virtually on Wednesday July 19th 2023 from 14:00-16:30 EAT (UTC 3:00).

The Workshop aims to highlight the importance of guidelines and best practices for the quality and success of consumer information regarding sustainability in African products consumed locally and internationally. 

The topics that will be covered in this workshop include: 

• An overview of the Guidelines for Providing
  Product Sustainability Information
• The Fundamental principles of the guidelines
• The aspirational principles
• Guidance on applying the guidelines in
  different contexts and industries

The Panelists:

• Xaverine Ndikumagenge, ARSO.

Xaverine holds a Bsc degree in Agriculture from the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign, USA and an MBA from the Management College of Southern Africa (MANCOSA). She has been active in development, research, management and administration of programmes for more than 30 years with numerous national and international projects all over Africa. She is currently a diligent active member of the ARSO-COCO committee, which oversee issues on Child product safety and Digital & Data protection working groups. She is also a co-founder of African Union of Consumers network (UAC), and co-founder of the Federations of consumers’ organisations of Central Africa network (FRACAC). 

Xaverine is an active consultant on sustainability standards with ARSO, on sustainable development, sustainable environment, sustainable consumption and consumer rights & protection projects. 

• Mr. Charles Gachahi, ARSO 

Mr. Charles Gachahi is the Mr. Charles Gachahi, ARSO ACO and COCO Coordinator. and holds a Bachelors degree in Chemistry from The University of Nairobi, Kenya. Mr Gachahi has a wealth of experience through Many years of work in the standardisation and Conformity Assessment field, including at the Kenya Bureau of Standards and East African Community where he was the Chairman of the EAC Standards Committee.Mr. Gachahi is also a Quality Management Systems Auditor. 

Mr. Gachahi is also the current Coordinator for the Eco Mark Africa Certification Scheme. 

• Anakarina Pérez Oropeza, FSC International 

Anakarina is currently the Strategic Advisor and Global Advocacy Lead at the Forest Stewardship Council International. She has over 15 years of experience in international and multi-stakeholder processes related to forestry, sustainability, biodiversity and climate change. She was responsible for driving the development of the FSC Global Strategy 2021- 2026, which positions forest stewardship as a comprehensive solution to address global challenges. She is Venezuelan and received her bachelor’s degree in International Studies from the Central University of Venezuela and holds a Master of Studies in Sustainability Leadership and a Postgraduate Certificate in Sustainable Value Chains from the University of Cambridge. She is also head tutor of the online course Communicating for Influence and Impact, delivered by the University of Cambridge. 

Please click here for registration.