Governance
The Fair Cobalt Alliance is a multi-stakeholder initiative coordinated by The Impact Facility, a UK registered charity, serving permanently as the FCA secretariat. The FCA is governed by and subject to the oversight of a Steering Committee, subject to FCA’s Articles of Governance and Terms of Reference.
The day-to-day operations of the FCA are managed by The FCA’s Secretariat, who reports to and advises the Steering Committee. The Impact Facility manages the FCA as a stand-alone initiative and ensures that all FCA funding is allocated to projects approved and accounted for by the FCA Steering Committee.
Dr. Assheton Stewart Carter heads the FCA Secretariat and serves as Executive Director of the Fair Cobalt Alliance.
Steering Committee
The FCA Steering Committee (FCA SC) comprises a maximum of nine seats, one of which is serving as a chairperson (with a term of 1 year). The FCA’s founding members are entitled to serve up to two consecutive terms, before their seats become available during the general election.
Aiming to achieve a balanced representation of interests across the cobalt value chain, as well as between commercial and charitable interests, three of the nine FCA SC seats are reserved for non-profit organizations (including NGOs, local CSOs or government representatives), with at least one seat reserved for a Congolese organization that can credibly represent the interests of artisanal miners.
Current Steering Committee members are:
Toussaint Kafarhire Murhula, Director, Centre Arrupe pour la Recherche et la Formation (CARF)
Ines Kaempfer, CEO, The Centre for Child Rights and Business
Camila Gomez Wills, Program Manager: Business and Human Rights, Responsible Sourcing and Sustainability, Tesla
Anne-Marie Fleury, Responsible Sourcing Director, Glencore
Ga Yee Park, ESG Specialist, LG Energy Solution
Angela Jorns, Fair Materials & Mining Team Lead, Fairphone
Marcin Piersiak, Director General, Alliance for responsible Mining (ARM)
The Steering Committee has responsibility for:
- FCA Strategy: Approving the FCA’s strategic objectives, including communication strategy and alignment with other initiatives.
- Organizational oversight: Approving the annual work programme, new FCA work groups, approving internal policies, approving the annual budget, and overseeing operational capability and organizational structure.
- Risk management oversight: Approving FCA risk management policy and approach and reviewing the design and effectiveness of risk management policies and procedures.
- Monitoring: Monitoring effectiveness of the FCA grievance mechanism, monitoring performance of the FCA against its key performance indicators, and overseeing a financial review that includes independent third-party audit and assurance and transparency to Members and externally.