About SAI

Alice Tepper Marlin: Setting the Standard for Global Economy
Watch SAI's Founder & President Alice Tepper Marlin explain her vision for SAI and SA8000, and its approach to bring all stakeholders to the table.

Mission

Social Accountability International (SAI) is a non-governmental, multi-stakeholder organization whose mission is to advance the human rights of workers around the world. It partners to advance the human rights of workers and to eliminate sweatshops by promoting ethical working conditions, labor rights, corporate social responsibility and social dialogue.

Vision

Social Accountability International's shared vision is of decent work everywhere—sustained by widespread understanding that decent work can secure basic human rights while benefiting business.

What We Do

SAI works to protect the integrity of workers around the world by building local capacity and developing systems of accountability through socially responsible standards. SAI established one of the world's preeminent social standards—the SA8000^®standard for decent work, a tool for implementing international labor standards that is being used in over 3,000 factories, across 65 countries and 66 industrial sectors. Many more workplaces are involved in programs using SA8000 and SAI programs as guides for improvement. SAI is one of the world's leading social compliance training organizations, having provided training to over 30,000 people, including factory and farm managers, workers, brand compliance officers, auditors, labor inspectors, trade union representatives and other worker rights advocates.

Our Approach

SAI recognizes that voluntary compliance standards are only one part of what is needed to raise labor law compliance around the world. To that end, SAI has developed training and technical assistance programs to work on the broader context surrounding compliance. Over its history, SAI has developed an array of services all geared towards working with companies, trade unions, NGOs and governments to achieve more socially responsible practices around the world. SAI pulls its capabilities together in comprehensive capacity building programs, as well as offering them on a stand-alone basis.

Global Training and Capacity Building Programs
Since 1997, SAI has provided training of supply chain management and CSR to over 30,000 people worldwide, across a wide array of industrial sectors. SAI’s training courses integrate compliance requirements with management systems to embed improvements in daily operations. SAI has provided training to executives from numerous industries over the past 5 years, including apparel, footwear, agriculture, electronic assembly and light manufacturing.
Social Fingerprint^®
In 2010, SAI launched the Social Fingerprint^® Program, a suite of ratings, training and toolkits, that help companies to implement management systems in a credible, pragmatic and cost-effective way, supported through its online hub - the Social Fingerprint^® Training Center.
Corporate Programs
SAI Corporate programs are a major component of SAI’s work. SAI works with brands to focus their corporate social responsibility programs on management control of working conditions and assurance of rights at all levels of the supply chain. These programs also provide complaint management systems to increase the likelihood of early detection and efficient resolutions. At the highest level, corporations participate in a detailed Corporate Assessment Program that analyzes their supply chain and makes recommendations on enhancing social compliance from headquarters to sub-contractors.
Guidance and Standard Interpretation
SAI consults with trade unions, companies and NGOs to provide interpretive guidance: to SA8000 auditors to verify compliance with the standard; and to managers and workers to implement SA8000 at their workplace. SAI has convened 20 national or regional multi-stakeholder consultations on the SA8000 system or on specific compliance issues that are particularly challenging in one region or industry.

Annual Report

The Annual Report highlights SAI's efforts to advance and implement 'human rights at work.'