amfori Speak for Change

As 1 April 2026, amfori Speak for Change, our supply chain grievance mechanism, is fully operational again.

Following a temporary pause to review and strengthen our approach, amfori Speak for Change is now supported by a new intake and case management system, enhancing its reliability, scalability and overall usability.

New intake channels are live, and grievance submissions can again be made through the official access points. Further enhancements will be introduced gradually over the coming months through a phased approach, ensuring continuity and stability of the mechanism.

All amfori Speak for Change deployment materials are now available in all supported languages, supporting worker awareness and consistent implementation across your supply chain. In parallel, we have extended language accessibility in India by adding Gujarati, Kannada, Punjabi, and Telugu.

Please find any supporting process documents for members (Rules of Procedure, Participation Standards, and Program Introduction) here.

No, amfori Speak for Change is included in the amfori membership. Therefore, you don’t need to pay an additional fee to implement our supply chain grievance mechanism.

As an amfori member, you have an important role to play in the successful deployment of amfori Speak for Change so that stakeholders in your supply chain have access to remedy. Follow these steps to ensure the optimal implementation of our grievance mechanism at your suppliers’ sites.

1. Update your supply chain data regularly

The first important step is to make sure that you keep your supply chain data up to date on the amfori Sustainability Platform. This enables us to contact the right suppliers when launching our grievance mechanism in a new country.  If you stop sourcing from a supplier, make sure to update this information on the amfori Sustainability Platform to avoid receiving notifications of issues related to former suppliers.

2. Appoint a Member Grievance Handler in your company

The Member Grievance Handler will receive an email when we launch amfori Speak for Change in your company’s sourcing countries and when we receive a grievance related to one of your suppliers.

Here is how to assign this role to yourself or a colleague:

• If you have the platform role of Member Admin, go to the amfori Sustainability Platform.
• In the left-hand column, click on “Admin”, then on “My Company”.
• Go to “Users” to update the existing users’ roles.
• Or go to the “Invitations” tab to invite a new user and assign them the role of Member Grievance Handler (please make sure to include their email address).

3. Learn more about amfori Speak for Change

Discover the e-learning on the amfori Academy to find out more about our supply chain grievance mechanism, from its purpose and remediation process to your role as an amfori member. You’ll also learn how to collaborate with your suppliers to resolve grievances.

Furthermore, we invite you to consult the resources in the help centre for members, under Documents & Guides.

4. Engage with your suppliers

Discussing grievance mechanisms with your suppliers can be delicate. Yet, it is crucial to involve them to ensure that they deploy the grievance mechanism in their facilities. If you have partners or offices in the country, you can reach out to them to help you with this discussion.

Here are some talking points that you can use:

• First, reassure your suppliers that they are not alone in this process. amfori will provide everything that they need free of charge to facilitate the implementation. And as they might be familiar with amfori BSCI, make sure to mention that amfori Speak for Change is a complementary solution provided by amfori.
• Second, explain why their participation is important to you and link it to your shared vision and ongoing projects.
• Finally, highlight how amfori Speak for Change can benefit their company. In addition to strengthening their operational grievance mechanisms, their participation gives them a competitive advantage to attract and retain customers required by their national legislation to provide access to remedy in their supply chains. It also helps improve their employees’ satisfaction because they feel that their grievances are taken seriously.

5. Collaborate with your suppliers

First and foremost, you should encourage your suppliers to implement or improve their own operational grievance mechanism. Access to remedy should first be provided at the local level. amfori Speak for Change should therefore be seen as a complementary tool to address issues that cannot or have not been addressed by your suppliers’ operational grievance mechanism.

Encourage your suppliers to participate actively in the onboarding process of amfori Speak for Change. Invite them to consult the deployment materials in the help centre for suppliers, under Documents & Guides, and the training resources on the amfori Academy to learn how to implement amfori Speak for Change.

If you have the resources to support them directly, you can also offer to organise additional training sessions in their facilities for their management and/or workers. Watch this amfori member’s testimonial as they explain how they support their suppliers with the implementation of amfori Speak for Change.

To help you and your suppliers implement amfori Speak for Change, we have developed the following deployment materials:

• A programme introduction for you and your suppliers to learn more about amfori Speak for Change.
• Introduction videos to explain to your suppliers and their workers how amfori Speak for Change works.
• A deployment guide to support suppliers with the implementation.
• Posters and flyers to be displayed and shared with workers at your suppliers’ sites to inform them about how to submit a grievance via amfori Speak for Change. 

All these resources are available in the help centre for suppliers, under Documents & Guides.

Currently, our supply chain grievance mechanism is active in Vietnam, Türkiye, Bangladesh, Cambodia, and four states in India: Tamil Nadu (in the regions of Chennai, Karur, and Tirupur), Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh (in the regions of Moradabad and Noida), and West Bengal. We are exploring the possibility of rolling out to additional countries, including China.

No. amfori Speak for Change is a supply chain grievance mechanism and is therefore designed as a complementary tool to address issues that cannot or have not been addressed by your suppliers’ operational grievance mechanism. Access to remedy should first be provided at the local level, which means that your suppliers should implement their operational grievance mechanism and continuously improve it to ensure its effectiveness.

When we launch amfori Speak for Change in a new country, all suppliers on the amfori Sustainability Platform will be invited to implement the supply chain grievance mechanism, regardless of whether they have already had an amfori BSCI audit. Therefore, you need to make sure that you have mapped your suppliers on the amfori Sustainability Platform to ensure that amfori Speak for Change can be implemented in your supply chain.

amfori Speak for Change follows the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights—the same international standards that underpin many due diligence regulations worldwide, including CSDDD and the German Supply Chain Act. Our team monitors legislative developments to ensure that the mechanism stays up to date and continues to meet the evolving needs of companies, wherever they operate.

When rolling out amfori Speak for Change in a new country, we first consult local experts to assess the needs of workers and other stakeholders to adapt the feedback channels and promotional materials to the local context. Then, we reach out directly to your suppliers to support them with the implementation of amfori Speak for Change. We provide online training in local languages to explain how the supply chain grievance mechanism works, and we develop deployment materials in the local languages that they can display in their facilities to inform their workers on how to submit grievances.

Local stakeholder consultations are conducted before setting up the mechanism in a new country. This process helps us understand the needs of local workers and other stakeholders and to determine the outreach strategy and the way access channels need to be set up to ensure access to remedy. The engagement with impacted stakeholders is not a one-off event but is an integral part of amfori Speak for Change’s future continuous improvement process. This will result in adaptations to the amfori Speak for Change framework and functioning, and the creation of additional guidance or strategies on relevant topics.

Specific attention is given to the perspective of those who are at heightened risk of vulnerability or marginalisation. This includes, but is not limited to, persons at risk due to sex, gender, age (such as children or young workers), religion, race, caste, birth, social background, disability, ethnic and national origin (including indigenous communities), nationality, membership in unions or any other legitimated organisations, political affiliation or opinions, sexual orientation, family responsibilities, marital status, pregnancy, diseases or any other condition that could give rise to a more vulnerable status.

This approach includes making necessary adjustments to:

• Eliminate certain barriers that stakeholders may face.
• Operate in a manner that is sensitive to their needs.
• Track their patterns of use and identify additional needs that were not originally foreseen.

Among other things, amfori Speak for Change provides several feedback channels and deployment methods and materials to ensure accessibility. For example, in the case of illiterate workers, suppliers can inform their workers about amfori Speak for Change by showing them the introduction video, and complainants can submit a grievance by sending a voice message by phone.

You can find an overview of the grievance handling process in the programme introduction of amfori Speak for Change. For more detailed information, please consult the Rules of Procedure. Both documents are available in the help centre for members, under Documents & Guides.

Please consult the Participation Standards in the help centre for members, under Documents & Guides, to find out more about the roles and responsibilities of all parties involved in an amfori Speak for Change case.

Yes, all members linked to the supplier on the amfori Sustainability Platform will be notified. Make sure to assign the role of Member Grievance Handler to the person responsible for grievances within your organisation (see “How can I ensure the implementation of amfori Speak for Change in my supply chain?”). Via the email address provided on the amfori Sustainability Platform, the Member Grievance Handler will get a notification when we receive a grievance against one of your suppliers. If no email address has been provided for the Member Grievance Handler, we will notify the relevant contact person for amfori BSCI-related topics.

amfori Speak for Change collaborates with other organisations to maximise impact and enhance access to remedy for affected stakeholders across global supply chains. Such collaborations involve sharing learnings and best practices and coordinating case resolution to avoid duplication of efforts. For example, amfori has signed a collaboration protocol with the German Partnership for Sustainable Textiles (PST) and Fair Wear Foundation to streamline processes for companies already engaged in grievance cases.

amfori Speak for Change addresses grievances that cannot—or have not—been resolved through operational grievance mechanisms within your supply chain. It focuses on issues related to the amfori BSCI Code of Conduct.

Grievances can be submitted by (current or former) workers and their legitimate representatives, trade unions and workers’ associations, employers’ organisations, NGOs and civil society organisations, community members, and amfori members or suppliers.

In each country, complainants can submit a grievance through three types of access channels:

• Phone (voice message)
• Online form
• Chat app (e.g., Zalo, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger)

As the phone numbers and chat apps differ per country, more details are available in the country-specific resources (posters and flyers), available in the help centre for suppliers, under Documents & Guides.

amfori Speak for Change allows stakeholders to voice their concerns anonymously, ensuring their identity is protected throughout the process. In cases where disclosure of the complainant’s identity is necessary, it is strictly limited to specific actors. amfori will only share sensitive or personal information with the explicit consent of the complainant and any other party involved in the grievance process.

amfori Speak for Change has been designed to prevent retaliation as much as possible and to protect complainants from its harmful effects. This is outlined in the Rules of Procedure of amfori Speak for Change, available in the help centre for members, under Documents & Guides.