Today is Earth Day 2020, and we would like to take this opportunity to highlight how BCI and our on-the-ground partners are supporting more than 2.5 million cotton farmers to adapt to the impacts of climate change.
Read moreElected by BCI Members, the BCI Council ensures the organisation has clear strategic direction and policy to fulfil its mission of making global cotton production better for the people who produce it, better for the environment it grows in, and better for the sector’s future.
The Council is equally represented by four BCI membership categories, reflecting the entire cotton supply chain and beyond: retailers and brands, suppliers and manufacturers, civil society and producer organisations. There are three seats per membership caucus, supplemented by up to three additional independent members.
Every two years, during the BCI General Assembly, BCI Members have the opportunity to elect their new BCI Council representatives whose seats are up for election at the end of their three-year term. This year, the General Assembly will take place virtually on Tuesday 9 June (online registration will open soon).
Ahead of the General Assembly, BCI is accepting applications for the 2020 Council elections.
BCI Members can download the election application package here. The current Council composition and open seats can be found in the application package.
This is a great opportunity for BCI Members to represent their area of the cotton supply chain, share valuable industry insights, and contribute to BCI’s strategic direction in the coming years, while being part of an exemplary multi-stakeholder governance body.
View the current BCI Council here.
If you are interested in representing your organisation on the BCI Council and have any questions, please contact Eren Ozalay at [email protected].
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In November 2019, the Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) and IDH The Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH), with the support of Dalberg Advisors, launched the Better Cotton Innovation Challenge – a global project seeking innovative ideas and solutions to improve sustainable cotton farming practices around the world.
The Challenge was divided into two categories:
Challenge One: Customised Training
Challenge one sought innovations to help bring customised training on more sustainable farming practices to hundreds of thousands of cotton farmers across the globe.
Challenge Two: Data Collection
Challenge two sought solutions that could reduce the time and cost of farmer data collection to enable more efficient BCI licensing processes.
A total of 87 applications were submitted before the January 2020 deadline – 36 applications for the customised training challenge, and 51 applications for the data collection challenge.
”We are delighted that the Challenge received such a high level of interest from organisations all over the world. Thank you to those who took the time to submit thoughtful, creative and practical solutions.” – Cristina Martin, Programme Manager, BCI.
All 87 applications were reviewed by the Innovation Challenge Team, and the top 20 solutions were shortlisted to progress through to the next stage of the challenge. The 20 shortlisted applicants – from India, Pakistan, Greece, Israel, Kenya, Australia and the US – received mentorship from cotton sector experts and BCI as they prepared high-quality, detailed proposals for their solutions, including plans to test their innovations at field level.
A jury composed of external experts, alongside BCI, IDH and Dalberg, then assessed the detailed applications and selected five final candidates to progress to the next phase of on-the-ground trials.
When shortlisting the solutions, the jury considered:
In the next stage of the competition, the five applicants will have the opportunity to pilot their sustainability-focused solutions in the field with BCI Farmers.
”In light of the spread of Covid-19 and global travel restrictions, the field-testing element of the Challenge has been postponed until July 2020 in order to safeguard the health and wellbeing of everyone involved in the Better Cotton Innovation Challenge. We look forward to continuing this exciting competition with our finalist innovators, and sharing their solutions, later in the year.” – Cristina Martin, Programme Manager.
Find out more about the challenge here.
The BCI General Assembly is the biennial gathering of BCI Members across all BCI membership categories, to elect the BCI Council (the governing body of the organisation) and receive key updates from the BCI Leadership Team.
While the 2020 Global Cotton Sustainability Conference in Lisbon has been postponed to 2-4 March 2021 in response to the current situation regarding the Coronavirus COVID-19 and its global impact on health and travel, the continuity of the BCI governance must proceed as planned.
The virtual BCI General Assembly meeting will take place on Tuesday 9 June. The meeting will take place twice, to enable members across multiple time zones to participate.
Meeting 1 – For Asia, Africa and Europe: 08:00 CET
Meeting 2 – For Americas and Europe: 16:00 CET
Online registration details will be shared with BCI Members shortly.
Read moreThe Better Cotton Standard System is a holistic approach to sustainable cotton production which covers all three pillars of sustainability: social, environmental and economic, and addresses the many challenges of cotton production. One of the seven Better Cotton Principles and Criteria directly addresses Decent Work and forced labour specifically. Decent Work is defined as work which offers fair pay, security and equal opportunities for learning and progression, in an environment where people feel safe, respected, and able to express their concerns or negotiate better conditions.
In order to adapt and respond to Decent Work challenges in cotton farming, wherever such challenges may arise, BCI is actively engaged in dialogue on Decent Work and forced labour issues with our stakeholders, including civil society organisations, retailers and brands, and expert organisations.
Task Force on Forced Labour and Decent Work
BCI is currently working to strengthen Better Cotton Principle Six: Decent Work and has set up an expert Task Force on Forced Labour and Decent Work to review selected elements of the Better Cotton Standard System. Based on this review, the Task Force will produce recommendations to improve the effectiveness of the system in identifying, preventing, mitigating and remediating forced labour risks.
Task Force Members
The Task Force on Forced Labour and Decent Work brings together representatives from civil society, retailers, brands and consultancies with a strong expertise in human rights and forced labour issues in supply chains, particularly in the textile sector. The Task Force also draws on the expertise of a project adviser with a background in tackling the risks of child and forced labour in cotton harvests at the International Labour Organization.
Civil Society
Consultancies / Research Organisations
Retailers and Brands
Project Advisors
Find out more about the Task Force members here.
We will share updates on the progress of the Task Force as more information is available.
Read moreTo ensure the BCI programmesare making a difference, we arecommitted to measuring sustainability improvements everywhere Better Cotton is grown.
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The 2020 Global Cotton Sustainability Conferencehas been postponed until 2 – 4 March* 2021.
The decision to postpone this year’s conference was not taken lightly, butthe BCI Leadership Team agreed that postponement is the most responsible approach given the current situation regarding Coronavirus COVID-19 and its global impact on health and travel. BCI’s priority is to safeguard the health and wellbeing of all BCI staff, members, partners and stakeholders.
“The spread of coronavirus will have an ongoing impact all over the world, and affect the entire BCI community, including members, staff, partners and other stakeholders. The situation now requires a significant step-up in the BCI management response. We need to face an unprecedented crisis with unprecedented solutions. It is inspiring to see how quickly, and with a deep sense of engagement, our stakeholders, partners and team members have stepped up to the plate and embraced new ways of working and living in order to continue delivering on their commitments. With this level of engagement, we feel confident about the sustainable cotton community’s ability to meet the challenges of this period of crisis and uncertainty and emerge stronger.” –Alan McClay, CEO, BCI.
The conference in 2021 will deliver the same programme, designed to address sustainability issues across the entire cotton supply chain. Join us next year to hear from inspiring speakers from farm to fashion, and network with leaders and experts from across the cotton sustainability sector.
Some of the exciting conference sessions already lined up include:
Keynotes
Plenary Panel Discussions
Breakout sessions
The goal of the 4th Global Cotton Sustainability Conference is to bring the entire sector together in shaping a more sustainable future for cotton.
The full conference agenda, list of registered attendees and more is available now in the free conference mobile app. Find out more and download the app today.
We hope you can join us in Lisbon on 2 – 4 March 2021*.
*BCI intends to postpone the conference to 2 – 4 March 2021, with final arrangements currently under review. We are providing advance notice, so you can make arrangements for attending now. Pending venue confirmation, logistics may be subject to change.
BCI seeks to ensure equal and respectful treatment for all women in cotton farming communities, and today, we’d like to celebrate women’s achievements by sharing stories from the field from Pakistan, Mali and Tajikistan.
Read moreFemale Farm-Worker in Pakistan Fulfils Her Dream of Economic Independence.
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In January 2020, the Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) convened more than 45 of its field-level partner organisations – Implementing Partners – from 12 countries, for the fourth edition of the BCI Implementing Partner Meeting & Symposium. The annual meeting provides BCI’s Implementing Partners with an opportunity to come together to share knowledge, best practice and innovations across teams, organisation, regions and countries.
We’ve picked out some event highlights in this short video!
The three-day event focused primarily on biodiversity and the practices and innovations being implemented on the ground. BCI’s Implementing Partners had the opportunity to share their successes and challenges, while biodiversity experts took to the stage to share their insights. Guest speakers included Olivia Scholtz, High Conservation Value (HCV) Resource Network; Gwendolyn Ellen, independent consultant; Nan Zeng, The Nature Conservancy; Liron Israely, Tel-Aviv University; and Vamshi Krishna, WWF India.
Sharing practical solutions was a key element of the event and each partner organisation had the opportunity to showcase the methods and tools they are most proud of. This created a great opportunity for hands-on learning, and attendees explored a rich variety of biodiversity practices from different BCI Programme countries.
To further recognise the great work of BCI’s field-level partners, 10 Producer Unit Managers* were shortlisted and awarded for their outstanding efforts in the field. Meet the winners.
The event concluded with each attendee committing to actions to protect, enhance and restore biodiversity in 2020 based on the challenges and solutions identified and tested in the previous cotton sessions.
In 2018, BCI launched a project to revise the Better Cotton Assurance Programme – a key component of the Better Cotton Standard System that involves regular farm assessments to ensure that the Better Cotton Principles and Criteria are adhered to. The Assurance Programme is based on a series of complementary mechanisms: self-assessments, 2ndparty checks, and 3rdparty verification, and is the central mechanism for assessing whether farmers can be licensed to sell Better Cotton.
The revision was undertaken in line with BCI’s approach to continuous improvement. The revisions incorporate learnings to strengthen and ensure the continued effectiveness and integrity of BCI’s model. Following the two-year process, the revised Assurance Programme is now effective for the 2020-21 season.
Key Assurance Programme Changes
Together, these revisions will help strengthen BCI’s assurance model while reinforcing the focus on farmer capacity building and field-level improvements.
For more information, you can find a short summary of changes and the updated documents on the assurance page of the BCI website.
*Each BCI Implementing Partner supports a series ofProducer Units, which is a group of BCI Farmers (from smallholder ormedium sizedfarms) from the same community or region. Each Producer Unit is overseen by a Producer Unit Manager and has a team of Field Facilitators; who work directly with farmers to raise awareness and adoption of more sustainable practices, in line with the Better Cotton Principles and Criteria.
Read moreAt the recent BCI Implementing Partner Meeting and Symposium, 10 Producer Unit Managers were recognised and awarded for their innovative biodiversity management and protection.
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