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“We’re making real strides,” says Jon Jacoby, CEO of GoodWeave

Published: October 25, 2024
Author: HFT

Longtime supporter of human rights, workers’ rights, and responsible business, Jon Jacoby is commemorating his first year as CEO of GoodWeave, a non-profit organization that aims to prevent child labor in global supply chains by raising awareness of workers and ensuring that goods bearing the GoodWeave certification label are made without using child labor. At the Open Society Foundations (OSF), Jacoby oversaw corporate supply chain human rights. In order to promote corporate respect for human rights, he also co-founded the Investor Alliance for Human Rights, which represents over $14 trillion. He formerly held the positions of associate director for international economic policy at the Center for American Progress and manager of U.S. and international teams at Oxfam.

How has GoodWeave changed under your direction, and what drew you to the organization?

Given GoodWeave’s stellar reputation and performance history, I knew I was taking over a fantastic company. It is an honor to be a part of a highly influential organization with a strong board that was created by Nobel Peace Prize winner Kailash Satyarthi. I believe we’re making significant progress after a year. The number of youngsters who are transferred from working situations to girls’ and boys’ education is higher. Over the past year, we have significantly expanded our number of work sites, and we address any problems as soon as they are discovered. With each quarter, we continue to improve.

Being able to overlap with Nina Smith, the founding CEO, was my first quarter gift. It was a deliberate change. Few successors get the chance to collaborate with the outgoing CEO for several months and benefit from her connections, institutional expertise, fundraising skills, and governance. We collaborated to reach out to partners in the handmade rug and home goods industries. 450 of GoodWeave’s business partners have known Nina for years. Her reputation is very solid. We have created best practices for navigating the shadowy informal labor supply chains, which frequently involve child labor. Businesses, however, are becoming more open to us.

They are producing fine rugs that are as much works of art as they are goods. We are advancing a plan that was previously in place for GoodWeave. Both importers and exporters can benefit from this tried-and-true methodology. In the past year alone, we have assisted 120,000 workers and more than 10,000 children in getting from work to school, demonstrating our genuine impact on children’s lives.

What plans do you have for the company going forward?

“Listen, learn, execute, and deliver” is my motto. We have a solid five-year strategic strategy as a company. After two decades of progress, the number of child labor cases has slightly increased once more, according to the UN’s assessment of child labor worldwide. There are currently 160 million children working, up from 152 million previously. By 2025, the global community promised to get that figure down to zero. Since a new environment is forming with new rules and regulations that businesses need to be aware of, along with the hazards to human health and the environment in their supply chains, we are putting advocacy front and center.

With a cost structure that is still accessible and reasonable, our services provide value to businesses of all kinds, including small and medium-sized enterprises. Due diligence on the supply chain is particularly crucial for businesses trying to meet new international standards. When we discover child labor during our sporadic inspections, we offer to help businesses manage the risks by providing tools and best practices. Making ensuring there is a solution is our aim.

You have held positions with groups including Oxfam, the Investor Alliance for Human Rights, and the Open Society Foundation. Why did you decide to work for a non-profit?

Making companies more accountable and take into account the triple bottom line—profit, people, and the environment—excites me. Businesses are encouraged to succeed by doing good. Governments worldwide are paying greater attention as a result of the increased focus on people and the environment in the consumer media. The information flow has accelerated. Our goal at Open Society and Oxfam was to assist companies in being inclusive and accountable. For instance, they could consider the climate crisis. Children and workers are becoming increasingly more vulnerable as a result of floods and droughts. Bangladesh, Nepal, and India are all examining the altered environmental circumstances in their nations. The situation for those living in poverty has gotten worse due to climate change. . We are advocating for businesses to support workers in industries and on farms who are impacted by the intense heat. For many workers, this presents serious health hazards.

What impact does your upbringing have on your current work style?

I was raised in a suburban New York neighborhood. My two brothers and I were taught by our parents to “leave the world better than you found it.” My older brother is a music producer, while my younger brother works as a journalist. Learning-disabled youngsters were educated by my mother. My partner, a leader in climate communications, and I have two girls, ages ten and twelve. In the hopes that the following generation will carry on the mission to protect the environment and end child labor, we are teaching children to care about the environment.

Customers are becoming more curious about the production process of products like handcrafted rugs. There are emerging issues with cobalt in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and cotton in India. In these nations, children frequently labor under hazardous and torturous circumstances.

What effects did the pandemic have on GoodWeave’s mission, and how has it recovered?

Any supply chain weaknesses were uncovered and made worse by the pandemic. Even though we were aware that the supply chains had been disrupted for some time, they made news. For decades, they have been precarious in terms of logistics as well as people and the environment. I was critical of globalization’s race to the bottom for cheap labor and environmental norms when I first graduated from college. These inadequacies regarding how vulnerable workers are were made clear by the pandemic. In addition to providing emergency aid to workers in Bangladesh, Nepal, and India, we are also considering the long-term development of workers.

GoodWeave acquired flexible funding support to fill some of the gaps, do the right thing by workers, and supply PPE (personal protective equipment) to factories that couldn’t afford to buy it themselves, even though that was before my tenure with the group. Additionally, the pandemic exposed additional workplace health and safety hazards. We want to put every worker on the road to financial security and respect.

What does having the GoodWeave certification imply for a business?

It provides consumers and business executives with peace of mind. When a rug or other item bears the GoodWeave seal, it indicates that no children worked on it. Companies can be sure they are upholding their own principles. We advise CEOs that since they are working with clean suppliers, they can sleep easier knowing that there is less danger. Our highly experienced professionals, some of whom were compelled to work as youngsters, visit the construction sites and know what to look for. Since we are partners in this, we work with these businesses to address any issues we come across. The goal of GoodWeave is to contribute to the solution. To assist us share the success stories of other rug and home goods manufacturers who have eliminated child labor, we provide best practice papers.

Which advise has been the most helpful to you?

Surrounding yourself with people who know you and whom you trust to ask the tough questions you need to answer to achieve is the best advice I’ve ever heard.

Which achievement do you feel most proud of?

Being able to contribute to the development of supply chain due diligence makes me really proud. It has advanced significantly. About 30 years ago, it began. The movement’s pioneers created voluntary standards. I’m proud of the path I’ve taken in helping to shape global policy. The intention is to have businesses that are both financially successful and wish to treat their people well. In addition to my work at Oxfam, I am happy to have been a co-founder of the Investor Alliance for Human Rights. Some governments are stepping up their efforts and becoming more proactive in their efforts to establish sustainable and responsible supply chains.

These principles are being genuinely lived by the European Union, and the result is being felt globally. Governments are taking the issue of ensuring that globalization benefits all people seriously.

For Fun Only

  • How did you get paid for the first time?

I drove a Wall Street banker to work as a paid intern. At the time, I was interested in business and finance. Ironically, it didn’t inspire me to pursue a career in investment banking. I started to get more involved in business from a charitable standpoint.

  • When you were younger, what did you want to do for a living?

In the 1980s, like all children, I aspired to play baseball. I did dream of becoming a creative writer when I was older. In high school, I liked to write essays that were imaginative and poetry. I am more of a public speaker now, though.

  • Which location is the most fascinating that you have ever been to?

In my lifetime, I have traveled to five continents and 60 countries. I have a lot of amazing memories and experiences. However, Ethiopia must be the nation with the most unique culture. Its cuisine and language are unique. They even tell time differently because it was never colonized.

  • What are you reading right now?

In the past year, I’ve read two outstanding fiction books that have deepened my understanding of Indian culture and subcultures. Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children and Arundhati Roy’s The Ministry of Utmost Happiness are the first two.

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