Expert Services

IMO - in cooperation with partner organizations - is offering its expertise in quality assurance for sustainable production in various fields.
Depending on your needs, we:

support the development of and implement rigorous and meaningful standards for quality assurance tailored to the aims of governmental, civil society or private sector initiatives
provide quality assurance by verification and evaluation
build up local expertise and know-how in all key sectors covered by our scope of work
carry out professional, practical training and coaching for interested parties (governmental agencies, NGOs, associations, companies, trade unions and many others) to develop knowledge and skills related to the understanding of relevant standards. We also organize workshops, online/ blended learning events or webinars for inspectors, consultants, and other professionals.
respond to consultation tenders of public or private sector organizations
make our technical expertise available to government bodies, mainly in the sectors of sustainable development (e.g. implementing policies for organic production value chain), evaluation and appraisal of sustainable production systems and principles of ethical trade.
write articles for trade journals, scientific symposia and contribute to relevant radio and TV broadcastings

IMO and its partner organizations have always been very actively involved in new developments. Read more about our latest innovations...
Our expertise has been proven in various projects funded by organizations like European Commission, SIPPO, SECO, IFOAM, UNCTAD, ITC, Swisscontact, GTZ/GIZ, COLEACP etc.

At present our main fields of expert activities (carried out by IMO, the Swiss Bio-Foundation or partner organizations) are:

Development of local inspection & certification capacity
Smallholder group certification and Internal Control Systems
Fair Trade and Social Quality Assurance Systems
Ethical supply chain management
Input into the development of organic certification (publications, conferences, development projects, etc.)
Sustainable Quality Assurance in Aquaculture certification of various standards, analyses and procedures
Wild Collection: Mechanisms and tools for sustainable wild collection; measures, resource assessement, management planning systems; risk assessment; ABS agreements and implementation of the Nagoya Protocol
GLOBALGAP and UTZ CERTIFIED: training in certification requirements, especially in developing countries
WorldCert: online traceability and certification system for international trade and transparency
Organic Textiles: chemical analyses and standard development