The SRA Process

The following steps outline a general process of the implementation of the SRA:

Step 01: Prepare

It is important as you prepare for the SRA that you understand:

Where are your sites located? The following are some key elements to take into consideration:

• Have you chosen sites in the same region/country?
• How geographically distanced are sites from one another?

Results are processed at the level of the Unit of Assessment. Sites in different countries/regions, or even communities that are geographically far away, may face very different challenges and therefore, different levels of risk on certain indicators, therefore there are many factors that should be taken into consideration when defining the Unit of Assessment.

What will be the focus of the assessment? Depending on the objective of the assessment (your WHY), you may decide to assess all 24 SRA indicators or you might focus on only a subset of those indicators.

In order to gain a complete picture, it is strongly recommended to consider assessing against the entire SRA. If circumstances prevent a full assessment, you could consider staggering out the assessment of different principles, components, or indicators over time to reduce costs and any logistical difficulties.

Build Your Knowledge

TRAINING

Before conducting an assessment, an assessor or implementer should deepen their knowledge of the issue areas covered in the SRA and gain an understanding of the key elements of conducting a social assessment.

There are several resources to help stakeholders prepare for an assessment, whether an implementing manager or an assessor / assessment team:

Training Modules – Approaches to Gathering and Validating Data in Social Responsibility

Website

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The Social Responsibility Assessment for the Seafood Sector: A Manual for Trainers on Guidance for Assessment Implementation

Manual | Training Slides

ASSESSMENT COMPONENTS

Once you have a good grasp on the key issue areas covered and understand what it takes to conduct a social assessment, it’s now time to get acquainted with the SRA to better understand what evidence you’ll need to collect and how to collect it.

There are four main components to an assessment:

Desk research can be conducted before the on-site portion of the assessment, and document review, interviews, and site observation will take place on-site. Understanding what evidence you’ll need for the SRA ahead of time is key to make sure the assessment goes smoothly.

The following resources can be used during the Preparation step:

Social Responsibility Assessment Tool for the Seafood Sector: A Guide to Data Collection

English | Bahasa | French | Spanish

This document outlines the types of data collection and provides examples of where to find the data needed for each SRA indicator during the assessment.

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SRA Assurance Guidance

English | Bahasa | Spanish

This document walks you through key components of the Preparation and Assessment steps, highlighting best practices, and includes instructions on scoping, sampling, scheduling, and more. It also provides an in-depth overview of what is needed to ensure the assessor / assessment team are qualified to undertake an SRA.

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SRA Unit of Assessment Guidance

English | Bahasa | Spanish

This document provides guidance on how to determine the Unit of Assessment based on certain characteristics and the purpose of the assessment.

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SRA Duration Calculator

English

This Excel template helps to calculate a recommended assessment schedule for the SRA. This is meant to be a starting point on which to build, and flexibility should be built into the schedule according to other characteristics.

Step 03: Improve

Once you’ve finished your assessment, you’ll know which issue areas have the highest risk. Based on those findings, a plan should be created to address the issues that were revealed.

Take Action

An effective Improvement Plan includes the following:

1. Define clear roles and responsibilities

Accountability is important to enable an effective Improvement Plan.

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2. Prioritization

There may be a lot of findings that need to be addressed, and this can be overwhelming if you don’t prioritize. Prioritization should take into consideration the level of risk, the actions that are needed, and costs, among others.

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3. Root Cause Analysis

This technique will help you to better understand the findings from the assessment. It aims to reveal the factors that caused or contributed to a problem, which is important to understand when developing and Improvement Plan.

• Module 4 of the Approaches to Gathering and Validating Data in Social Responsibility Assessment online training provides information about how to conduct root cause analysis.

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4. Research

Once you have gotten to the root of the finding, conducting research in the area will better inform actions to be taken. There are a number of resources that are available to support on certain topic areas:

• Driving Improvements in Food, Nutrition, and Livelihood Security: Guidance for Principle 3 of the Monterey Framework (Handbook | Slides)
• A Trusted Voice for Workers on Fishing Vessels: Accessing Effective Grievance Mechanisms (Webinar | PDF)
• Understanding and Accessing Rights: Respecting Human Rights in Fishery Value Chains (Webinar | PDF)

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5. Use a Fisher/Worker-driven Approach

Fishers/workers are directly affected by the changes that will be made, and they know better than anyone what the issues are. They may also have helpful insights on what changes can be made to the workplace to improve their overall well-being. Discussing the results with fishers/workers is an important step to drive improvement.

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6. Define Specific Actions

Actions cannot be vague – be sure to be specific when deciding what actions will help you to mitigate the risks identified in the SRA.