The EU Due Diligence Navigator for Partner Countries is a new online platform from the European Commission that concretely helps stakeholders in partner countries prepare for the due diligence requirements set out in the European Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD).

A Key Tool of the Team Europe Initiative

The Navigator was developed as part of the Team Europe initiative “Sustainability in Global Value Chains,” co-piloted by the Commission (DG INTPA) and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). It aims to make the implementation of the CSDDD more inclusive, taking into account the realities of partner countries and promoting shared responsibility between European buyers and suppliers in the South.At the launch event on March 16, 2026, in Brussels, speakers from Africa, Asia, and Latin America stressed that the platform addresses a very concrete need for clarity and coordination in the face of the proliferation of European regulations (CSDDD, EUDR, etc.).

What exactly does the Navigator offer?

The Navigator is aimed at a wide range of users: businesses (large and SMEs), cooperatives and producer organisations, public administrations, civil society, trade unions and technical partners. For each of these profiles, the site explains what the CSDDD implies in practice and links to the most relevant resources for strengthening human rights and environmental due diligence.“Today, more than 250 programs are already featured in the Navigator’s database, ranging from training and evaluation tools to equipment financing and transparency initiatives. This unique overview makes it possible to identify sectoral gaps and better coordinate our efforts,” said Marjeta Jager, Deputy Director-General of the Directorate-General for International Partnerships (DG INTPA) at the European Commission, during the launch event organised in Brussels on March 16, 2026.Users can filter by country, sector, type of stakeholder, type of support (training, financing, evaluation tools, etc.) to identify the programs that best match their situation.The Trade for Development Centre of Enabel is one of the Navigator’s tools. Have a look to discover what TDC is doing in Human Rights and Environmental Due Diligence.

More than a directory: a guidance service

The Navigator is not limited to listing links: a team of experts offers a personalised guidance service to help stakeholders understand the CSDDD’s expectations and connect with the right support mechanisms. Users can contact the team via the platform and be put in touch with initiatives adapted to their context, whether it is sectoral training, risk mapping tools, or funding for pilot projects.​This networking is crucial in a context where civic space is shrinking in several regions and where information on available resources remains fragmented. By centralising this information, the Navigator becomes a unique entry point for anyone wishing to strengthen their compliance and their impact on the ground.

A Lever for Sustainable Value Chains

The CSDDD requires large European companies – and certain non-European companies highly active on the EU market – to identify, prevent, and mitigate human rights and environmental risks across their entire value chains. This creates both challenges and opportunities for producers and exporters in partner countries, particularly in agricultural sectors such as cocoa and coffee.The Navigator can become an important lever so that these actors are not simply ‘made compliant’, but can also take advantage of the new requirements to improve their practices, access financing, and consolidate their commercial relationships with the European market. The challenge is to move from a punitive logic to a partnership approach, with a more equitable distribution of the costs and benefits of the transition towards sustainable value chains.

What now?

The platform is set to evolve: the database will be regularly updated, new resources will be added and the tools will be progressively better adapted to the needs of SMEs and producer organisations in partner countries. The success of the Navigator will also depend on its ownership by the stakeholders concerned: the more they contribute to it by sharing their initiatives and needs, the more relevant and useful the tool will become in transforming global value chains.By centralising the resources of “Team Europe”, the Navigator simplifies the due diligence ecosystem and promotes constructive dialogue between the North and the South.
To explore the tool and its resources, visit the European Commission’s official website: EU Due Diligence Navigator.