Welcome!
The International Working Group on Ethical Public Procurement (IWGEPP) is a global network of representatives from over 45 public buyers (including procurement practitioners and sustainability experts), policy makers, scholars, NGOs and civil society organisations from several countries, from Europe to North America.
Established in 2011, we provide a collaborative space to share best practice, discuss common and emerging challenges, and learn from one another.
Our work focuses on the use of public procurement as a lever to protect human and labour rights in global supply chains. Where environmental issues intersect with these social priorities, we may also integrate them within our work and discussions.
Above all, the IWGEPP serves as a collaborative forum where those committed to furthering socially responsible public procurement can connect, exchange insights, and work towards meaningful improvements across their supply chains.
“States should promote respect for human rights by business enterprises with which they conduct commercial transactions”
The IWGEPP has four aligned objectives:
01
Promote public procurement policy as a tool to further social sustainability
02
Support public procurement practice that helps to prevent human rights violations, and facilitate market growth in social sustainability
03
Share best practice in socially responsible public procurement
03
Explore opportunities for collective activity, and collaborate to maximise the leverage that public contracting authorities have
Through these objectives, we aim to ensure and enable the protection of human rights and decent working conditions in global supply chains for public goods and services.
Our mission is to work towards socially responsible public procurement becoming a natural and integrated part of public procurement processes in countries around the world.
Resources
This website also hosts a resources page, developed by the International Learning Lab on Public Procurement & Human Rights (a former network that is now inactive). Feel free to explore it, but please be aware that the content has not been updated in several years, so some of the information may be outdated.
The page is divided by Thematic Hubs where you can find information on procurement of goods (e.g. electronics, apparel, and medical supplies), services (e.g. catering and private security) and works (e.g. construction, infrastructure), as well as on type of contracting bodies (universities, central government and international organisations). También tenemos un Hub en Español.
