Governance
Our governance keeps us accountable. It ensures that OCA is inclusive, effective and fit-for-purpose. It also makes sure that we’re shifting the sector to bring integrity, supply security and measurable social and environmental impact to organic cotton.
Transparency
We understand the importance of being responsible stewards for the initiatives and funds entrusted to us by our Contributors and donors. We are committed to transparency and accountability in our work and have procedures and guidelines in place for all critical processes. This ensures that we meet and exceed the expectations of our Contributors and donors in relation to project management, monitoring, performance management and quality assurance. A full overview of our work, its impact and overall organisation performance, is detailed in our Annual Reports.
Governance Model
As a multi-stakeholder organisation, OCA has a responsibility to ensure that our Board of Trustees, committees, and Contributors now and in the future, feature a diversity of stakeholders to truly represent the diversity of the organic cotton sector. This desire for meaningful representation is also seen in our Governance Model; which seeks to give voice to every actor in this sector. OCA is held to account by its Contributors, who are represented on the Board of Trustees.
Ethical Behaviour
OCA implements a range of policies to ensure that the Secretariat and our organisational initiatives meet the highest levels of ethical conduct.
Complaints and Whistleblowing Policies
External complaints regarding any suspected infractions or irregularity in OCA’s activities or conduct should follow the guidance in the OCA Complaints Policy. There is also an OCA Whistleblowing Policy in place which allows employees within OCA to report alleged irregularities for investigation confidentially and without fear of prejudice, while providing clear steps and measures to resolve the issue.
Safeguarding and Equal Opportunities Policies
OCA does not tolerate harassment, abuse of power or workplace discrimination in any form or for any reason. Our values and policies on this matter are outlined in the OCA Safeguarding Policy and OCA Equal Opportunities Policy.
Measuring Impact
Everything OCA does is focused on achieving the greatest possible impact in line with our mission, in the most efficient, effective and sustainable way possible. To ensure this, OCA makes monitoring and evaluation (M&E) and learning a key part of our work. In practice, M&E means constant analysis, reflection and iteration of our work – enabling successful tailoring of approaches to local problems and contexts and full transparency for our donors and partners.
Privacy
OCA values privacy and transparency and recognises the importance of protecting all information we collect about individuals that OCA interacts with. We recognise that data protection is important, and we want to ensure that your personal data is processed confidentially and with care. Our Privacy Statement informs how we collect, use, transfer and store the information you share with us or that we collect when you interact with OCA.
