Small-scale producers play a vital role in sustainable production and land use — but too often, they lack the resources and economic resilience needed to adopt more sustainable practices.This case study highlights practical approaches that are helping bridge this gap by creating incentives that bring climate, environmental and social benefits, including premiums, incentives and recognising and rewarding community stewardship.Part of a series exploring promising approaches for enabling small-scale producer market access and shifts to sustainable production:

Small-scale producers play a vital role in sustainable production and land use — but too often, they lack access to the resources they need to adopt more sustainable practices and participate in global value chains, limiting their ability to achieve a decent standard of living.

Improving the livelihoods and well-being of smallholders, small-scale producers and workers is a priority for many sustainability systems. This case study looks at some of the innovative ways sustainability systems and partners supported by the ISEAL Innovations Fund are enabling small-scale producers to benefit from accessing markets and participating in global value chains.

Jointly commissioned by Evidensia, The Living Income Community of Practice (LICOP), and ISEAL, this report examines three in-depth case studies to examine how prominent living income policy initiatives have evolved, what motivated key actors to support or resist them, and what practitioners can draw from these experiences to apply in their own work. It also proposes an analytical framework that researchers can use to construct comparable cases.

The Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance (IRMA) was established in 2006, through a multi-stakeholder collaboration involving labour groups, communities, purchasing and mining companies and NGOs. Indigenous Rights Holders IRMA works towards protecting people and the environment directly affected by mining.

The ‘first mile’ – the journey from the production farm to the first aggregation or processing point – is a critical yet often overlooked segment of agricultural supply chains. This report, produced by Proforest and commissioned by ISEAL, aims to shed light on the actors operating in this space and the dynamics that shape it, drawing on examples from cocoa, coffee, rubber and palm oil across diverse regions.

This round is now closed. In August 2025 The ISEAL Innovations Fund invited Expressions of Interest for projects that respond to the theme: Market mechanisms for transferring value to small-scale producers and SMEs.This Call for EOIs document contains all the information our members need to apply. Please note: EOIs must be submitted by an ISEAL Community Member, though non-member organisations can be named as project lead. Please also find links to download a brief Summary of this Call, as well as additional guidance documents for this funding round.

A document describing the key findings from Training Needs and Landscape  Assessment of Shrimp Sector in East Java, Indonesia, as part of the Innovations Fund project Integration of Seafood Certification and Jurisdictional Assurance Models, supported by the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), between July 2019 to June 2022.

This brief examines how sustainability systems are seeking to improve livelihoods and market access for small-scale producers.It is part of a series exploring how sustainability systems supported by the Innovations Fund are evolving to respond to emerging issues and opportunities. 

This case study highlights how credible voluntary sustainability standards (VSS) support palm oil companies with regulatory requirements such as the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR). Featuring the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), it explores how VSS enable traceability, ensure legal production, and promote smallholder inclusion - helping businesses build deforestation-and conversion-free (DCF) supply chains that go beyond compliance.

A project led by The Copper Mark, carried out between 2023 and 2024, provided a greater understanding of the reality of artisanal and small-scale copper mining (ASCM) in Peru. The report and infographic available to download here are designed to provide useful insights, to generate an open dialogue between all stakeholders of the copper value chain within the framework of sustainable development. 

This report explores the relevance of current trends in technology to sustainability standards – from mobile data collection and the internet of things, to open data and blockchains – and proposes a roadmap for development. 

This one-hour session hosted by the Living Income Community of Practice (LICOP) explored how retailers are rethinking their role in advancing living income for smallholder farmers. Drawing on insights from existing retailer coalitions, like the German Retailers Working Group on Living Income and the Banana Retailers Group, this session reflected on how these initiatives have approached influencing change across complex commodity systems.

ISEAL and AidEnvironment’s new whitepaper builds understanding and support for equity and livelihoods in seafood and beyond. It recommends realigning focus from risk reduction to sustainable livelihood and fairness.

We often talk about system-level change to address root causes of poverty and imbalance of risk. This requires us to unite in different and creative ways. The Living Income Community of Practice motivates actors across sectors to help close the income gap, so that smallholders can earn a decent standard of living as a basic human right.

Ensuring resilient livelihoods and sustained employment for vulnerable communities was already a stretch pre-Covid-19. For those communities lacking a stable income, the impact has been inconceivable.

Thanks to donor support, the ISEAL Innovations Fund continues to support innovative projects until 2027.