Share Your Experience: Help us Measure a Decade of Social Audit Progress for a New Global Study

Social compliance auditors were already carrying significant responsibility a decade ago. Today, with mandatory due diligence legislation expanding across key markets and supply chain scrutiny reaching deeper into global value chains, that responsibility has grown. The question is whether the tools, training and systems supporting auditors have grown with it.

In 2016, The Centre for Child Rights & Business published “Best Response: Auditors' Insights on Child Labour in Asia” — the first study of its kind to systematically capture what social auditors actually experience when child labour is found in a supply chain. Drawing on 557 auditors’ insights across nine Asian sourcing countries, it revealed a field with genuine commitment but real capacity gaps.

Nearly a third of suspected child labour cases went unconfirmed. When a child was discovered, contacting a third-party organisation was the least common immediate action — taken by fewer than one in five auditors in most countries. And the effectiveness of child labour training was found to depend significantly on who delivered it and in which country. The findings shaped subsequent guidance for brands, audit firms and standard-setters and are still cited in practitioner discussions today.

This year, The Centre for Child Rights and Business is conducting the second edition of this landmark study—expanded globally, with a focus on forced labour—designed to produce actionable insights that inform company policies, due diligence efforts and auditor training. The crucial insights shared by frontline practitioners will help us identify where auditor capacity has improved since 2016, where gaps persist, and what targeted investments in training and protocol would make the biggest difference for children most in need.

We are launching the survey to inform this study on June 12, World Day Against Child Labour— a day that carries particular meaning for auditors who encounter these realities in their work throughout the year, not just on this day.

As a survey participant, you will be entered into a draw for a place in The Centre's online Learning Lab training on child labour identification and prevention—a highly practical course on what to do, how to respond and how to prevent cases from recurring.

We are also offering audit companies that take part in the survey recognition for their contribution by crediting them in the report and providing an exclusive, embargoed copy for pre-reading before the publication date.

For companies and organisations supporting the study, the responses will contribute to an important global benchmarking on auditor capacity in this area — data you will be able to use when assessing your own practice against regional and global benchmarks. You will also be directly influencing what future investments into supply chain due diligence look like: the findings will be shared with audit firms, professional bodies and standard-setters who make decisions about where capacity-building investment goes. And by contributing to the report, your collective experience will advance a field that often lacks the evidence base it needs to make the case for better resourcing, clearer protocols and stronger child-centred remediation.

If you, or anyone in your network, is interested in participating, please email us for the survey link.

Thank you for helping us improve supply chain transparency and accountability by sharing insights and experiences with us!