Hello & thank you for popping onto this page. I am Bev Hall, originally from rural South Africa, born to British parents and permanently in the United Kingdom since 2002.
A very corporate start
My early South African career was in the financial sector – in corporate public relations, marketing and event management. I worked for companies such as Barclays Bank (now First National) & Prudential Assurance (now Liberty Life). There was a short stint in the safari leisure industry and delivering training for the Public Relations Institute of Southern Africa.
The radical changes in the 1990s in South Africa, brought about a change in my career. Work with AECI Modderfontein ultimately led to being part of the emergency response team, oversighting site wide Health & Safety statistics and finally into data base design & development. Due to major restructuring, I was tasked to find digital solutions to streamline the vast administration needs within the emergency & security 24/7 control room.
My time in the United Kingdom
Within a week of arriving in the UK, I started working on a short term contract – database related – at Prospect (Union for Professionals). Sixteen years later, of which twelve was leading the international work, in 2017, I moved to the Ethical Trading Initiative. The common denominator in both membership organisations, was designing & building frameworks for people participation in poverty reduction, procurement, corporate social responsibility and climate change. All grounded ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work. Some personal highlights are:
- Co-creation of campaigns, policy and advocacy on the Millennium Development Goals, SDG8 (Decent Work), Make Poverty History, Jubilee Debt campaign & the London Olympics (to name but a few)
- Building capacity of Union representatives to drive change with their employers (private & public) on contribution, through CSR, philanthropy and procurement, to both the MDGs & the SDGs . From 2012, this included climate change & environmental sustainability
Going global – a union contribution to the Millennium Development Goals
A three year DFID (UK Aid) funded project building the capacity of trade union representatives & their organisations to contribute to the MDGs by reducing poverty through Decent Work.
Company guidance on implementing the Human Rights Due Diligence approach to climate change & environmental sustainability
Bringing together climate & environmental ambitions and HRDD responsibilities for supply chain implementation. The transition principles & five year strategy was developed in collaboration with company, trade union & NGO experts drawn from multiple industries & geographies
- Developing frameworks, writing guidance and briefings for Companies on Freedom of Association, progressing Worker Representation, Occupational Health & Safety, ILO convention on violence and harassment, Prison Labour, Just Transition, Future world of Work and Social Dialogue
- Strategy & programme development, including theories of change and impact indicators, has been part and parcel of my career. Latterly, I have led and co-created the Ethical Trading Initiative’s strategy on climate change and the Future world of Work.
Supply chain focus
While I’m based in London, the range and depth of work is global across multiple geographies’ & industry types.
Working in complex supply chain situations, I have led the development of solutions, guidance & briefings on topics such as labour rights implementation plans, worker representation models, social dialogue guidance, prison labour, pandemic related occupational safety & health and shipping & logistics.