When we spoke to trade unions and civil society organizations as part of the Beyond Transparency report released earlier this year, we heard a consistent message: digital tools for supply chain transparency must be safe, accessible, and developed in partnership with those who experience supply chain risks firsthand. Consultation with all our stakeholders has always been a core pillar of OS Hub’s approach, but this process gave us a much deeper understanding of the complex political and organizational realities that trade unions and civil society organizations (CSOs) are currently navigating. That insight has sharpened our priorities over the past few months and remains central to what Open Supply Hub will be building in 2026.
In the months since the report’s publication, we have worked to respond to these realities in concrete ways, while continuing to support the wider needs of all stakeholders who rely on OS Hub. We believe creating conditions where the most marginalized supply chain actors can safely and confidently contribute their data, insights, and perspectives to digital tools strengthens the entire ecosystem. When those closest to the risks can participate directly and proactively in due diligence, our collective understanding of supply chain realities become fuller, more accurate, and the solutions we build become more effective.
This is not to say we have found answers to everything or that OS Hub will become a more inclusive, participatory platform overnight. As a small non-profit, some of this work will take time to implement, much of it needs investment/resourcing, and there are areas where we are still learning, iterating, and building capacity. What follows is an overview of the steps we are taking now, the direction we are moving in, and the commitments guiding our work, using the Beyond Transparency report as our blueprint.
Building a More Accessible and Inclusive OS Hub for Trade Unions and CSOs
- Strengthening Safety Through a CSO & Union Advisory Committee
A key part of this work has been addressing concerns around safety, especially when trade unions and CSOs share information in regions where there are heightened risks for workers and local organizers. To support this, we have created a new advisory group of experienced trade union and CSO leaders based in the Global South, in addition to our existing union and CSO board members. This group is financially compensated and their role goes beyond offering guidance. They will help shape how union- and CSO-generated data is handled on OS Hub, and will participate in reviewing data contributions before they are published, ensuring, as far as possible, that data shared through OS Hub does not create unintended risks for unions, workers, or even suppliers in politically challenging contexts. Over time, this group will also help us think through our broader responsibilities in areas such as data ownership, neutrality, and OS Hub’s role as a steward of shared supply chain information.
- Developing a Safety Protocol for Data Sharing by Trade Unions and CSOs
Alongside this, we have been co-developing the first version of an ‘OS Hub Trade Union/CSO Safety Protocol for Data Sharing’ with trade union and CSO partners. Since trade unions and CSOs can face greater risks when contributing data, this protocol introduces a dedicated process tailored to their safety needs, separate from standard data contribution pathways on the platform. While no system can eliminate every risk, we are committed to putting in place the strongest possible safeguards to support safe, contextual, and voluntary data sharing. We aim to release the first version of this protocol in the first quarter of next year, and we expect to strengthen, refine, and expand it further with ongoing inputs from our trade union and CSO partners.
- Improving Accessibility for Workers, Organizers, and Grassroots Groups
We are also expanding our long-term work on accessibility, another central theme raised by our partners. Many workers and grassroots groups find digital supply chain accountability tools, including ours, difficult to navigate and use, and over the last few months we have begun designing a mix of short-, medium-, and long-term measures to address this. This includes practical online and in-person workshops for labor organizers in global supply chains, in collaboration with groups such as SOMO’s The Counter, WageIndicator, Women’s Fund Asia, and others, to help organizers understand how OS Hub can support their work and how they can safely contribute their own data to the platform.
- Building Long-Term Capacity and Strengthening Platform Usability
We are also working to raise the scale of funds needed to make the OS Hub platform fully accessible for all of our users by reviewing language accessibility, mobile usability, and ease of navigation. We’re co-designing programs with funders which can then layer on top of improved accessibility. In particular, programs which will enable trade unions, especially those led by women in the Global South, to build the skills and have the technology access needed to use digital tools with confidence. Sitting at the intersection of gender justice, technology, labor rights and just transitions, this work has not historically been prioritized for women union leaders, despite the immense impact it could have.
We have also been selected by the Mozilla Foundation as a fellowship partner, and the intended incoming 2026 Mozilla Fellow would help further strengthen accessibility, usability, and design of supply chain data for grassroots union organizers.
- Laying the Groundwork for Integrating Social and Environmental Data
Alongside this work, OS Hub is taking steps toward bringing social and environmental data into the platform in a more comprehensive and connected way. Building on our initial mapping, we are now identifying who holds what kinds of social and environmental data, how that information is generated, and which organizations are best placed to collaborate on specific issues or contexts. We expect to begin rolling out elements of this work in the first quarter of 2026.
We will be sharing more about this work, including how we are developing and strengthening our engagement with trade unions and CSOs, at the OECD Garment and Footwear Forum in February 2026. For those attending the Forum, we would welcome the opportunity to connect, discuss this work further, and explore how we might collaborate.
Looking Ahead
We are taking these steps at a challenging moment. Funding cuts, political pressures on civil society, and difficult negotiations around regulations such as the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) have created real uncertainty for us and for many of our partners. But these challenges make our work more, not less, important. Efforts toward supply chain transparency must remain safe, equitable, and genuinely useful, especially when conditions are the hardest.
As we look ahead to 2026, we know the steps we have taken so far are only the beginning. We are building the infrastructure for a safer, more inclusive, and more meaningful transparency ecosystem, one shaped by the people who understand supply chains from the ground up. We are committed to deepening this work, and to walking alongside our partners as we continue building what comes next.
If you would like to apply for the Mozilla Fellowship, where a selected fellow will be placed with OS Hub to support our accessibility and design justice work, please visit the Mozilla Foundation’s nomination page at: https://www.mozillafoundation.org/en/what-we-do/grantmaking/fellowship/2026-nominations-request/.
If you are a trade union or civil society organization interested in understanding how to use OS Hub as part of your work or would like guidance on how to contribute your own data to OS Hub, please reach out to us at info@opensupplyhub.org.
