Bonsucro Technical Week Southern Africa - Mauritius 2018

14 – 18 May | Mauritius | Southern Africa

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Mauritius set to host Bonsucro Technical Week

Over the course of 2017 Bonsucro steadily increased its presence and activities in Africa. The continent’s interest in responsible sugar and ethanol production has grown, as well as local Bonsucro membership and mills working towards certification. To build further capacity of sustainable practices in the sugarcane sector, Bonsucro is organising Technical Week in Mauritius.

Bonsucro Technical Week is Bonsucro’s flagship training event, bringing together industry experts, mills, field workers, NGOs and service providers for a week-long event aimed at increasing knowledge of the Bonsucro system, connecting with peers and introducing new tools and resources.

Last year Bonsucro held Technical Weeks in Brazil, Thailand, Swaziland, Mexico, India and Colombia, which were attended by 231 participants from 26 countries.

See below for a detailed agenda:

Training Venue: Mauritian Sugar Industry Research Institute: Boname Hall

Field Trip Venue: Farm visit at Alteo and Mill visit at Omnicane

Accommodation: We recommend participants to book their stay at Viola Hotel. Participants are eligible for a preferential rate if they book, prior to 6th April, with Beatrice Fabre using the reference: BONSUCRO. Transfer between the Viola hotel and the conference venue will be provided each day.

Read the Highlights from last years Technical Week in Swaziland:

Highlights from the First Bonsucro Technical Week in Africa

Agenda Overview

Tickets

Ticket options cover the whole week.

  • Member Price: US$700
  • Non- Member: US$1100

Note: Unlike previous Technical Weeks, the training offered is not a Qualification Training (needed for licenced auditors). If you are interested in becoming a Licenced auditor, please contact training@bonsucro.com

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Day 1 + 2 - Training on the Bonsucro System

Attendees will gain an in-depth understanding of the Bonsucro Certification System through exercises, group discussions, formal presentations as well as practical sessions on how to effectively implement the Bonsucro Production Standard. The first day will mainly be dedicated to exploring the 5 principles of the Bonsucro Standard and the second day will be mainly focused on more practical activities to enhance the application of the standard.

Principles of the Bonsucro Production Standard covered in the training:

  • Principle 1 – Obey the Law
  • Principle 2 – Respect Human Rights and Labour Standards
  • Principle 3 – Manage input, production and processing efficiencies to enhance sustainability
  • Principle 4 – Actively Manage Biodiversity and ecosystem services
  • Principle 5: Continuously improve key areas of the business

Practical Guidance sessions

  • How to write effective health & safety plans
  • How to Implement Bonsucro Standards – Conducting Gap assessments
  • Chain of Custody & Credit Trading System
  • Benefits of Bonsucro Implementation in numbers – Performance Improvement & Quality Assurance


Day 3 - Field Visit

Day 3 – Field Visit: Day will be spent conducting a technical field visit to a sugarcane mill and farmland, which have been working on implementing the Bonsucro Production Standard in their operations. These visits are designed to highlight the work they have been carrying out and sharing experiences in adapting to the changes and benefits of the implementation.


Day 4 - Tools and Resources

Day 4 – Tools and Resources:

This day will cover tools to assist producers and enablers to improve sustainability practices as well as achieve Bonsucro Certification.  The morning will be dedicated to Bonsucro Connect: our new online tool that enables users to demonstrate and monitor sustainability through visualisation of sustainability performance, live benchmarking against peers, and facilitation of data collection and auditing.  The afternoon will be dedicated to exploring the nascent Bonsucro Smallholder Standard, a new standard that places smallholders at its heart and enables smallholders to take advantage of what sustainability standards have to offer.

What is Bonsucro Connect?

This new online tool enables users to demonstrate and monitor sustainability through a powerful array of features, such as:

  • Online version of the Bonsucro Calculator
  • Visualisations of performance for producers for mills and farms (live benchmarking through a ‘smart dashboard’)
  • Facilitation of the audit process
  • Scorecards to track progress
  • Availability in EnglishPortuguese & Spanish

What is the Smallholder Standard?

Smallholder farmers are a crucial component in many sugarcane industries around the world. To ensure that smallholders have the same opportunities for performance improvement as other producers, Bonsucro is embarking on a review of the Bonsucro Production Standard and the Certification System in the smallholder context. This session will explain how the new Smallholder Standard will work and how to assist smallholders in data collection and improvement.


Day 5 - Learning from Peers

Day 5 – Learning from Peers: The morning will be spent learning from 4 participants of the DFID funded project LEGEND. Following on, discussions will be centered on regional issues facing producers and what collaborative actions are happening across the region. The afternoon will finish with an optional visit to  L’Aventure du Sucre – a Museum dedicated to the history of sugarcane in Mauritius.

 

What is the LEGEND Project?

The LEGEND Project is Bonsucro’s DFID funded data collection and management pilot project. Bonsucro is working with four smallholder cooperatives, a water users’ district, a small mill and a commercial farmer across six countries. Together with our partner TMP Systems, we hope to show that data collection and management need not be a costly, or time-consuming exercise, but that it can be integrated into daily operations, and can be used to improve business and sustainability decisions for any sized organization.

 


FAQs

  • How can I qualify as an auditor?

    Technical Week will no longer host the qualification training for auditors and consultants. If you wish to be a licenced auditor or consultant please contact Training@Bonsucro.com

  • What can I expect from the training

    The training is aimed at managers and implementers responsible for the Bonsucro project at industrial/agricultural level. Attendees will gain an in-depth understanding of the Bonsucro Certification System through exercises, group discussions, formal presentations as well as practical sessions on how to effectively implement the Bonsucro Production Standard.

  • What is the difference the between Bonsucro Technical Week and previous Qualification Trainings?

    Technical Week is geared towards sharing and creating knowledge on the sustainable production of sugarcane, discussing solutions for common problems and training on the Bonsucro Standard and its various tools that support implementation.
    Technical Week will no longer act as a qualification training for auditors, if you wish to become a licenced auditor, please contact Training@bonsucro.com

Want to Support Bonsucro Technical Week?

Do you want to support change in the sugarcane sector? Bonsucro offers exclusive options for those looking to increase technical capacity in countries. Contact us at training@bonsucro.com (mailto:training@bonsucro.com) or +44 (0) 203 735 8917 for further information.