During November, the CSCA Exam (Part 1) Soft Launch reflected the culmination of an extensive development and piloting program. The exam is considered a significant milestone in the realization of our mission and will reinforce competencies considered critical to the function of a Social Compliance Auditor.

We are also excited to introduce Kelly-Jo Potts as our Member Services Manager.  As our Member base continues to grow, Kelly-Jo’s diverse industry experience will further strengthen delivery of APSCA’s services in support of our Auditors and Audit Firms.

During our upcoming AGM we look forward to reflecting on a positive year and sharing with you, our vision for 2019 and beyond: “Building credibility, promoting trust”

​APSCA Member Firm Applications
The Member Firm Application process was released to those firms who have previously contacted APSCA enquiring about membership at the end of October.  Details, including the Application Form and costs, will be posted on our website after our Annual General Meeting in December.
CSCA Exam Part 1 – Soft Launch 22 – 24 November
The CSCA examination is recognized as a critical means to enhance the credibility of our Member Auditors. The examination has been in development for some 12-months with recent optimization through piloting. During November we held the first scaled launch; 103 Auditors from 39 of our Member Firms participated in the event with 87 successfully completing the exam.
 
Discover the development of the CSCA Exam from pilot to launch!​

The full launch is scheduled to begin 17 December 2018 and many of our Member Auditors already scheduling their on-line exam.

Our monthly newsletter now reaches over 1,500 subscribers each month! We encourage our Member Firms to have their auditors subscribe to APSCA’s newsletter to stay up to date here. Further, if you have a friend or colleague that may be interested in APSCA please share this newsletter with them via the link below.
Share with my colleagues!

APSCA Member Services Manager
APSCA would like to announce that Kelly-Jo Potts has joined the APSCA Team as the Member Services Manager.

Kelly-Jo Potts is a corporate social responsibility (CSR)/social compliance and marketing professional who has worked with businesses, service providers, and stakeholders to drive safer and improved working conditions for supply chain workers, globally. With over 9 years in a variety of CSR and marketing roles in London and Los Angeles, Kelly-Jo understands the challenges and opportunities in social compliance.  Prior to joining APSCA, she spent the last couple of years engaging independently with various organizations including helping manage and support social compliance, worker well-being, and sustainability related projects for clients, some of which include, the Social & Labor Convergence Project, The Economist Intelligence Unit, MANAUS Consulting, and Fortune 500 companies.

Kelly-Jo is fluent in Spanish and English and holds a BA in political science with a minor in Spanish from Saint Mary’s College of Moraga, California.Kelly-Jo will manage activities associated with the onboarding of new members (Firms and Auditors) and CSCA exam enrollments.  

Please join us as we wish Kelly-Jo a warm welcome to the team!  Kelly-Jo’s contact email is Kellyjo.potts@theapsca.org

​APSCA Annual General Meeting
APSCA will be hosting our 2018 Annual General Meeting on 4 December in Hong Kong – we are excited to have more than 125 registered participants.  We would welcome all interested parties to hear of our 2018 successes and plans for 2019 and beyond.  Participation by Members (Firms and Auditors) is voluntary and is open to all interested parties.

Venue:  Holiday Inn Golden Mile
               50 Nathan Road
               Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong
Date:    4 December 2018
Time:    1300 – 1600
Cost:      Nil

Download the agenda here.

​Intertek – Ethical Sourcing Forum New York City 

Intertek hosted a half-day roundtable discussion with industry experts around some of the critical issues in the supply chain. Topics discussed included:

• Actions and learnings from expansion into in-depth Modern Slavery and Forced Labor issues in the supply chain 
• Ways in which companies are successfully launching Mutual Acceptance Recognition Programs 
• Updates from APSCA and other industry insights

From Left: Avedis Seferian (WRAP President & CEO and APSCA Executive Board Chair), Betty Kluchinsky (The Walt Disney Company), Brian Kramer (PepsiCo), Christian Ewert (amforiBSCI).

From Left:  Rachelle Jackson (Arche Advisors), Ross Nova (LL Bean), Kenneth Kennedy (Homeland Security Investigations Forced Labor Program).

During October we were pleased by the successful completion of our CSCA Examination Pilot. Key learnings will support optimization of the examination process and further inform a soft-launch scheduled for mid-November.

Respective of market demand, industry commitment has escalated since APSCA’s formation. The augmentation of auditor enrollments is considered a direct reflection of this response; increasing by some 235% since April 2018 to reach over 3,000 fully enrolled auditors during October.

2018 has delivered key outcomes across our strategic initiatives, and as we move into Q4, we are well positioned to realize the broad suite of objectives across our validation, governance, and processes & system pillars.

Auditor Enrollments 
Auditor enrollments exceeded 3,000 during October reflecting a growth of some 235% since April 2018.
Our monthly newsletter now reaches over 1,400 subscribers each month! We encourage our Member Firms to have their auditor’s subscribe to APSCA’s newsletter to stay up to date here. 

APSCA Annual General Meeting
We are pleased to announce details of our 2018 Annual General Meeting. Participation by Members (Firms and Auditors) and applicants is voluntary.

Venue:  Holiday Inn Golden Mile
               50 Nathan Road
              Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong
Date:    4 December 2018
Time:    1300 – 1600
Cost:      Nil

If you haven’t registered to participate at the Annual General Meeting please do so below by 15 November 2018.

CSCA Exam Part 1 – Pilot Update
During October, APSCA held a small pilot to evaluate the Auditor Handbook, enrolment process with our third-party proctoring organisation and the exam content. The pilot was offered to 16 auditors in English. We were very pleased with the results and had some wonderful learnings on both sides (Auditor and APSCA). ​Download Pilot Update Here​

Member Firm Approval Process
APSCA has been working for the last few months on enhancing the application process for audit firms wishing to join APSCA and are now in the final stages of the re-launch. This updated application process will be launched in the next couple of days to those audit firms who have previously applied.  We will launch this via our website for others commencing early December.  This updated approval process will foster industry credibility and position our Members and CSCA’s as the trusted professionals of Social Compliance Auditing.  We understand this took a little bit longer than initially anticipated and appreciate your patience. Audit firms will receive an email from us in the next couple of days laying out the process.  APSCA’s website will be updated in time for the wider launch early December.

Intertek – Ethical Sourcing Forum New York City 
Join us at Intertek’s upcoming Ethical Sourcing Forum event on November 6th, 2018 in New York City.

Intertek is excited to announce a complimentary half-day roundtable discussion with industry experts around some of the critical issues in the supply chain. Join us in person or online to hear industry experts on topics including: 

• Actions and learnings from expansion into in-depth Modern Slavery and Forced Labor issues in the supply chain 
• Ways in which companies are successfully launching Mutual Acceptance Recognition Programs 
• Updates from APSCA and other industry insights. ​

Rationalizing Harmonization: The Apparel Industry Needs a Framework for Compliance 
Avedis Seferian (CEO – WRAP and APSCA Executive Board Chair) has written an article on the need to rationalize the harmonization efforts crowding the social compliance space.  Please see the article which was published by the Sourcing Journal. Download Article

Intern – Emma Youngman
APSCA would like to farewell and wish all the best to our intern Emma Youngman. Emma has been working closely with our CEO and Director on many projects over the last couple of months. She has been helping with our monthly newsletters, configuring statistics for the upcoming AGM and assisting in the process of uploading the new exam.
Emma is studying a Bachelor of Global Studies, which requires her to undertake an internship where she can observe and experience the processes of globalization in the workplace. She has a great passion for human rights and upon graduating wishes to work in the humanitarian sector. 

We thank her for the work she completed over the last few months and wish her all the best in her degree and future career.  ​

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APSCA Job Opportunity – Member Services Manager
APSCA is expanding and looking for a talented person who shares our purpose of enhancing the professionalism and credibility of the social compliance industry.  You would be working full-time with a dynamic group, from anywhere in the world, reporting to the Director Systems Management.

Interested?  If so, please see more details to apply here.

During September activities focussed on the launch of Part I of the Certified Social Compliance Auditor (CSCA) examination and the re-launch of the Audit Firm Approval Process. The Association’s President & CEO, Rona Starr commented “Implementation of the CSCA examination is a significant milestone for APSCA and critical to enhancing industry credibility. We remain confident APSCA membership and recognition via our CSCA examination program will become a key driver in auditor selection among all users of social compliance audits”

Our sustained auditor enrollment program has successfully increased our auditor base by some 200% since April 2018 with enrollments exceeding 2,850 during the month. Pending the re-launch of our Member Firm Approval process, existing Member Firms are encouraged to enroll their social compliance auditors early. Read more

Auditor Enrollments 
APSCA now have over 2850 Auditors who are fully enrolled.  We continue to be excited about the growth in our Auditor membership and encourage Member Firms to enrol your social compliance auditors, it is never too late.

We encourage our Member Firms to have their auditor’s subscribe to APSCA’s newsletter to stay up to date here. Further, if you have a friend or colleague that may be interested in APSCA please share this newsletter with them via the link below.

APSCA Member Auditors – Validation of Credentials
APSCA has now released the online function to enable the public to validate an APSCA Auditor’s Membership Number, Auditor Level, Membership Standing and identity via a photograph, by entering the SurnameFamily Name and APSCA Membership Number.

You will find the “APSCA Member Auditors” page here:  Member Auditors

This forms a notable resource for audit clientele and will further foster confidence in the credibility of our growing industry.

UPDATE: 2018 Annual General Meeting 
APSCA’s 2018 Annual General Meeting (AGM) will be held:

Date:        4th December 2018
Time:       1:00pm – 4:00pm
Venue:     Holiday Inn Golden Mile
                  50 Nathan Road
                  Tsim Sham Tsui
                   Hong Kong

The formal attendance registration for this year’s AGM will be available on our website mid-October. All eligible participants will be advised via email.

September Executive Board Update
On 13 September 2018, our Executive Board met in Geneva, Switzerland to optimize our development pathway and determine detailed strategy and budget objectives for 2019 -2021. Emphasis was placed on enhancing legitimacy, sustaining growth and developing industry and organizational accountability while reiterating the overall goal of strengthening the professionalism, consistency and credibility of individuals and organizations performing social compliance audits.
​
Regarding the immediate future, our focus is on the launch of Part I and Part II of the Certified Social Compliance Auditor examination and the re-launch of the Audit Firm Approval Process.  In looking forward to 2019, we are pleased to define our key foundational objectives which focus on the recognition of auditor competencies, with the continued roll-out of the CSCA exam, and membership growth.  ​

Executive Board Meeting Geneva, Switzerland.

Member Firm Approval Process
APSCA has been working for the last few months on enhancing the application process for audit firms wishing to join APSCA and are now in the final stages of the re-launch. This updated approval process will foster industry credibility and position our Members and CSCA’s as the trusted professionals of Social Compliance Auditing.  We appreciate this is taking a little bit longer than initially anticipated. However, all firms who have enquired will be notified as soon as it has been finalised and APSCA’s website will be updated.

Industry Happenings

BSR – Gender Equality in Social Auditing Guidance
On Thursday, 20 September, BSR published the Gender Equality in Social Auditing Guidance, outlining why and how gender considerations should be integrated into social auditing methodologies and processes. The Guidance is designed to provide perspectives and recommendations on how to best adapt existing auditing processes so that women’s issues are better surfaced as well as, how to explore alternative worker voice approaches to enhance or complement the process.

The guidance draws on and is a follow-up to BSR’s Gender Equality in Codes of Conduct Guidance, published in 2017.
​
Please also see the associated blog connecting gender sensitive auditing as a way to prepare for UNGPs gender dimensions!

ELEVATE CSR Asia Summit
CSR Asia, an ELEVATE company, hosted the CSR Asia Summit in Hong Kong on the 18th-19th of September. The summit bought together key stakeholders to share their knowledge and experience with the most effective sustainability practices. The focus of this year’s summit was the application of transparency, integrity and impact and how applying these processes across sustainability initiatives within businesses, communities and supply chains will enable growth and increase performance. 

APSCA was excited to participate in the discussion of “Global Trends in Responsible Sourcing 2018”. The panel exchanged views on:

  1. Forced Labor: Increased Attention and Legislation 
  2. Rationalising Industry Initiatives
  3. ESG Investments Becoming Mainstream
  4. Auditor Quality and Accreditation
  5. Technological Innovation and How Predictive Analytics are Reshaping the Future

From Left:  Ian Spalding (CEO, ELEVATE), Archana Kotecha (Liberty Global Asia), David Lawrence (Executive Director Aim-Progress), Rona Starr (President & CEO, APSCA).
Photo Credit: ELEVATE.