After a successful second round last year, Daemeter and Proforest are organising another Lead Auditor  training course in Bogor, Indonesia, on 17 – 21 Oct. 2016. The course is designed for auditors wishing to  carry out auditing for the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) producer standard, for company staff  in charge of meeting RSPO requirements, and any interested stakeholders (e.g. NGOs, government  officials) wanting to learn about RSPO standards and systems.

The course includes lectures, workshops, a practical audit exercise and a written examination. Endorsed  by the RSPO, the course provides lead auditors and other participants with an in-depth knowledge of the  RSPO Principles and Criteria and their implementation. It focuses on application of the RSPO Certification  Systems and audit practice requirements to ensure consistent and appropriate audit decision making.

The course trainers are themselves qualified Lead Auditors and experts on specific topic areas (e.g. HCV  and FPIC experts) from Proforest and Daemeter with extensive RSPO experience. The course will bring  together their collective experiences in the planning and implementation of the RSPO and builds on the  wealth of local experience we have working in Southeast Asia.

Course overview 

• The course will run for 5 days and consists of:
• 3.5 days classroom tutorials, exercises and workshops,
• 1 day practical audit exercise in an oil palm estate, and
• 0.5 day for exam and audit exercise reporting.
• The course will be conducted in Bahasa Indonesia. All participants are expected to have some  basic knowledge of the RSPO Principles & Criteria (P&C). A questionnaire will be provided and  must be completed before the course.

Course outline 

First endorsed by RSPO in March 2008, the course provides insights to implementation complexities via  real case studies. Key topics covered include an overview of the RSPO P&C and supply chains for CPO mills  only, as well as the core environmental and community requirements of the standard, as outlined below:

• Overview of the environmental issues in plantations, HCV and biodiversity in existing plantations  and new developments,
• Overview of the social issues within RSPO P&C, Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) and  Labour standards,
• Supply chain systems and chain of custody requirement for CPO mills only,
• Others such as RSPO – Renewable Energy Directive (RED), Best Management Practices,
• Process auditing and certification
• Biodiversity compensation