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 difficult times, we are meeting the challenge head on. Through our network of field-level partners we have provided training on more sustainable farming practices to more than 2.9 million cotton farmers in 26 countries. More than a fifth of the world’s cotton is now grown under the Better Cotton Standard and our membership network includes more than 2,400 members. 

Better Cotton Initiative, Pakistan (BCI Pakistan) is registered in Pakistan and working under a collaboration/service agreement with Better Cotton, Global.

More information about Better Cotton can be found on our website: www.bettercotton.org

Objective

The objective of this invitation is to identify capable and committed organizations that can implement the Better Cotton Standard System (BCSS) and contribute to delivering impact in Pakistan. Selected partners will support cotton farmers to adopt more sustainable practices, improve livelihoods, and promote decent work principles.

Scope of Work

Better Cotton currently is working in Pakistan with nine programme partners, 140 Producer Units and more than 320,000 cotton farmers in Punjab and Sindh provinces. 

Better Cotton coordinates a capacity strengthening programme, delivered through Better Cotton staff and experienced field-level partners, referred to as Better Cotton Programme Partners. This programme aims to help farming communities adopt practices consistent with our Standard - the Better Cotton Principles and Criteria, and adjust to their local context. Better Cotton does not train farmers directly but shares training and resources through its network of Programme Partners, who are crucial for the success of the initiative at field level. The activities that partners are involved in vary from training of farmers, undergoing third-party certification for Better Cotton certification, as well as completing thematic area-based activities such as those on livelihoods, women empowerment, crop protection, climate change and soil quality among others. 

Programme Partners are primarily responsible for:

• Implementing Better Cotton’s Better Cotton Standard System (BCSS) at the field level.

• Training farmers, workers, and communities on the Better Cotton Principles & Criteria.

• Collecting and reporting data related to implementation of the standard as well as environmental, social, and economic performance.

• Engaging with stakeholders including ginners, local authorities, and community groups to enhance implementation and livelihoods of Better Cotton farmers and workers.

• Contributing to continuous improvement and innovation in programme delivery.

Partner engagement and monitoring takes place primarily through virtual/online meetings with relevant program partner staff on a recurring basis with quarterly in-person visits to the project areas. Funded partners are also issued Program Improvement and Action Plans (PIAP) annually on the basis of improvement areas identified during previous seasons and progress against these PIAPs is part of the performance monitoring process. In addition, partners also undertake corrective actions as outcome of certification cycle, changes based on due diligence assessments and any other improvement areas identified by Better Cotton country or global teams. Finally, partner performance is also based on other areas like MEL data quality and efficiency, effectiveness of their cascading model, farmer knowledge and practice adoption, etc. 

More information on this can be found in our Theory of Change and on our Capacity Building info page. 

Eligibility Criteria

Organizations must meet the following minimum requirements:

• Be legally registered as a non-profit, NGO, cooperative, or other eligible entity in Pakistan.

• Have at least 5 years of experience in implementing projects with local communities on agricultural development, sustainable farming, livelihood enhancement or any other relevant area. 

• Demonstrated capacity to deliver field-level training and monitoring in rural settings.

• Have relevant staff members with experience in multiple thematic areas, capacity building, research and MEL, etc.

• Have established systems, infrastructure and policies related to governance, ethics, HR, operational infrastructure, and financial management systems.