Request for Proposals: Due Diligence Standard Roll Out In Brazil
Applications Deadline: 2nd October 2025
Location: Brazil
Start Date: 29th October 2025
End Date: 15th May 2026
Descriptio
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Better Cotton is the world's largest cotton sustainability programme. Our mission: to help cotton communities survive and thrive, while protecting and restoring the environment. In challenging times, we are meeting the challenge head on. Through our network of field-level partners we have trained over 2.8 million farmers in 22 countries in more sustainable farming practices. A quarter of the world's cotton is now grown under the Better Cotton Standard. We have united the industry's stakeholders behind our efforts, and by 2030 our aim is to have trained 5 million farmers and doubled global production of Better Cotton
More information about Better Cotton can be found on our website:
Background
Better Cotton uses a process called 'benchmarking' to confer one-way recognition of other credible cotton sustainability standard systems. Since 2013, this recognition has allowed farmers who comply with a successfully standard system recognised as equivalent to access the market for Better Cotton, avoid duplicative certification requirements and contribute to widen and deepen Better Cotton's impact.
The credibility of the recognized standard system therefore relies, in part, on Better Cotton's ability to select and work with reliable partners and farmers. The Due Diligence process aims to reduce partnership risks for Better Cotton and supports our partners to comply with Better Cotton's requirements, strengthen their organisation and ensure a long-term partnership.
In Brazil, Better Cotton has a standard recognition agreement with ABRAPA, our strategic partner, which allows Brazilian growers that are ABR certified to sell their production as Better Cotton to stakeholders around the globe. The main purpose of this assignment is to conduct eleven Due Diligence processes, with selected large farms in Brazil, across one or many producing units.
What is Due Diligence for Better Cotton?
Due Diligence is an on-going, proactive, and reactive process through which our partners can identify, prevent, mitigate, and account for how they address actual and potential adverse impacts as an integral part of decision-making and risk management systems.
The purpose of the Due Diligence process is to help Better Cotton to ensure that the partners we work with, or fund, have adequate governance structures, policies, and operational systems in place. It can also help organisations ensure they observe both international and domestic law and build towards the requirements of corporate Due Diligence.
Better Cotton's due diligence covers 6 areas: ethics, governance, human resources, financial stability and governance, environment and operations and where applicable - downstream local partners.
The due diligence is structured around:
* Assessing the organisation and its undertakings
to identify the factual circumstances (reality) under which the business is operating.
* Identifying and assessing any actual or potential risks
by evaluating the factual circumstances against recognised standards.
* Preventing or mitigating the identified risks
by adopting and implementing a corrective risk action plan.
We thank all applicants for their interest; however only shortlisted applicants will be contacted.
Better Cotton is committed to good practice and transparency in the management of natural, human and financial resources. All applications will be reviewed under the principles and subject to Better Cotton's policies on equal opportunity, non-discrimination, anti-bribery & corruption and conflict of interest.