Decent work is advancing in Uzbekistan's cotton production. This is how. By katerina gorbunova, head of the Better Cotton Initiative Uzbekistan branch. Gulnora Djurayeva, Chief Human Resources Specialist at Fergana Global Textile LLC, is responsible for employee welfare at Fergana Global Textile, a vertically integrated cotton enterprise in the east of Uzbekistan. Through her participation in the Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) programme, she has been helping improve conditions for cotton farm workers in the cluster. "When our cluster joined the Better Cotton Initiative programme, I decided to be part of the team. Not for myself but for change, for everyone who works here. Now every seasonal worker has a proper labour contract," she says. "We've made sure people in the fields have a hot meal every day, a place to rest, and even some music to lift their spirits - small things, maybe, but they make hard work a little easier." At BCI, Better Cotton support cotton farmers to protect the environment, develop equitable working practices, and improve resilience and income. A core focus of its standard is social sustainability - Better Cotton believe that cotton farming communities have the right to decent work, and Better Cotton support them to ensure that all workers enjoy fair and safe working conditions. For BCI, it is essential that Better Cotton can verify farms are meeting its requirements around decent work - requirements grounded in the International Labour Organization's (ILO) fundamental principles and rights at work, including freedom from child labour, and from forced and compulsory labour. When Better Cotton established its programme in Uzbekistan in 2022, decent work was a key focus, given the country's historical struggles with systemic forced labour and child labour in cotton production. Tackling these risks was a top priority as Better Cotton established its programme. At its heart, this is about protecting people: the people whose hands bring cotton from seed to harvest, and the communities whose futures depend on safe, fair, and dignified work. "Workers used to be the last thing to be considered. Now they come first - safety, fair treatment, health and respect."Gulnora Djurayeva, Chief Human Resources Specialist, Fergana Global Textile LLC Strengthening due diligence and decent work. Over the past three years, BCI has strengthened its approach to due diligence and decent work in Uzbekistan. Better Cotton has introduced enhanced decent work monitoring alongside its regular licensing assessment to ensure that fair labour practices are not just stated, but implemented and verified. This dual approach goes beyond a checklist. It includes in-depth interviews and questionnaires with both cluster management and workers, helping Better Cotton build a clear picture of what work looks like in practice. Better Cotton verify how recruitment happens, what contracts look like, whether workers feel safe reporting grievances, and whether wages and conditions match what is promised. Since August 2024, Better Cotton has also been expanding training on decent work principles, using a cascading methodology to train cotton cluster management on the basis that they can then educate workers - who can then support their peers. The result is a multiplier effect: decent work knowledge doesn't sit at the top, it spreads through the workforce. Gulnora Djurayeva has seen the impact of all these initiatives first-hand. "Workers used to be the last thing to be considered," she says. "Now they come first - safety, fair treatment, health and respect." Measurable impact, lasting benefit. Since 2022, BCI has supported 18,000 farm workers in Uzbekistan across 11 large farms managed by cotton textile clusters, helping drive the adoption of sustainable cotton practices across 28,000 hectares. Alongside this, Better Cotton has trained 1,100 workers, conducted 3,300 interviews, and equipped 100 trainers who champion better conditions for workers. The benefits do not stop at the farm gate. What starts with farmers and workers continues with education for their children. When livelihoods stabilise and working conditions improve, families are better able to keep children in school - supporting future opportunities and community resilience. "Kids my age used to stand here with sacks on their backs," Mukhriddin, whose parents are cotton farm workers, explains. "But my mom said: 'You study, the fields can wait.'" While this progress is cause for celebration, the journey continues. Better Cotton is constantly improving its approach to ensure that cotton communities in Uzbekistan and across the world, improve their livelihoods through the adoption of the BCI standard. As Gulnora Djurayeva says, it is only through collaboration and continuous improvement at the field-level that Better Cotton can continue to drive impact. "I used to think that real change came from the top. But now I know it starts right here in our hands and in our hearts." Gulnora Djurayeva, Chief Human Resources Specialist, Fergana Global Textile LLC Decent work is not a milestone - it's a commitment. In Uzbekistan, this commitment is increasingly visible and impactful, bringing positive changes to the everyday realities of work, rights, and education.

Better Cotton Initiative expands certification footprint worldwide. 10 February 2026 Home page " Green times " Better Cotton Initiative expands certification footprint worldwide. One year after launching its certification scheme, the Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) has announced that more than 3,000 supply chain stakeholders have obtained certification. At the production level, over 30% of farms and producer units supplying BCI Cotton have successfully passed audits with positive outcomes. The organisation has onboarded a growing network of more than 50 certification bodies to support the process and has also been formally recognised as an ISO 17065-compliant certification scheme by organisations including the International Organic Accreditation Service (IOAS). Tom Owen, Head of Certification at the Better Cotton Initiative, said: "The level of engagement we have seen across agricultural and textile supply chains in our first year as a certification scheme reflects a growing recognition of certification's importance within these sectors. The continued rollout of this work is integral to improving supply chain sustainability and transparency on a global scale." Certification enables traceability and product labelling. A BCI certificate is issued when a farm or organisation complies with the relevant BCI standard, enabling them to produce and trade BCI Cotton, and promote their commitment to sustainable best practice. As of January 2026, every supply chain actor sourcing Physical BCI Cotton has been certified. Retailers and brands who undergo certification and source Physical BCI Cotton from a fully certified supply chain are also eligible to use the recently launched BCI Cotton Label, which informs that a product contains more than 30% Physical BCI Cotton. These highlights support for BCI and farming communities around the world. US cotton marketing cooperative Staplcotn and Australian retailer Big W are among the thousands of organisations to have achieved certification. IOAS partnership to strengthen accreditation and oversight. To help strengthen and scale its certification efforts, BCI has now partnered with IOAS - a leader in agricultural supply chain certification and accreditation - which will evaluate and accredit all certification bodies operating in the BCI system. Lauren Carlyle, Executive Director of IOAS Inc., said: "We are pleased to launch BCI accreditation at IOAS, not just for sustainable agriculture, but for safeguarding the rights of cotton farmers and workers around the world." Fatih Cengiarslan; After completing his academic education at the University of Western Australia, he returned to Turkey and completed the Department of Internet Journalism and Publishing at Istanbul Aydın University and received 8 months of training on interactive media at Lithuania - Kaunas University of Technology. Then he successfully completed the Faculty of Business Administration at Eskişehir Anadolu University. After completing her internship at CNNTURK channel, she started working at Referans Newspaper. After 2 years, he established his own media for the textile industry with the Textilegence brand. He is currently managing Textilegence.com, Printing3D and NEFA PR Agency. Continue to read.

Italian fashion group partners with CmiA. Press release provided by OVS. Milan, Italy & Hamburg, Germany - 28 October, 2025 - OVS, one of Italy's leading textile and fashion companies, is now partnering with Cotton made in Africa (CmiA). In 2025 so far, the Italian fashion house has already brought to market almost 2.5 million items made of CmiA-verified cotton, including children's clothing. In this way, OVS is ensuring verifiable transparency and traceability from the cotton bale to the final product. "We chose Cotton made in Africa to further expand our commitment to source better the most important fiber for our collections. In addition, we can use the CmiA Inside label to ensure that only CmiA-verified cotton is used in our products. This creates transparency and trust, including for our customers," explains Simone Colombo, Head of Corporate Sustainability OVS Group. OVS products containing CmiA cotton are labelled "Cotton made in Africa Inside", meaning that the cotton is physically traceable throughout the entire value chain. To bear this label, products must be proven to contain only CmiA-verified cotton. In 2025 alone, OVS has already put out almost 2.5 million textile items under the CmiA Inside label, primarily denim products, such as jeans and denim jackets. "We are pleased to welcome OVS as a new partner in our international demand alliance for Cotton made in Africa," says Tina Stridde, the managing director of the Aid by Trade Foundation, expanding, "OVS's implementation of Cotton made in Africa Inside makes a strong statement about transparency and traceability - one we are very happy to see." The Hard Identity Preserved (HIP) system, which is used for CmiA Inside products, ensures that only CmiA-verified cotton is used in yarn and textile production and that the product may be labelled with the "Cotton made in Africa Inside"-label. In addition to its criteria for the protection of water, soil, and biodiversity, the sustainability standard Cotton made in Africa encompasses social criteria and indicators. For example, women are explicitly promoted, human rights are granted, child labor is excluded, and smallholder producer communities are supported.