ABOUT US
Dignity in Work for All is comprised of multi-disciplined technical experts and advocates with decades of experience in human rights and sustainable development, labor and migration, social compliance and supply chain management.
We are a diverse team, established more than 20 years ago in the Southeast Asia region, and currently operating in over 20 countries.
We seek to achieve transformative social and economic justice, where all workers are empowered to advocate for their rights and wellbeing, through innovation, collaboration, and promoting policies that drive key stakeholders to action.
Our Vision
Dignity in Work for All seeks to achieve transformative social and economic justice, where all workers are empowered to advocate for their rights and wellbeing, through innovation, collaboration, and the promotion of policies that drive key stakeholders to action.
Our Goals
- Empower workers to exercise their rights.
- Capacitate business to operate fairly, sustainably and with accountability.
- Capacitate government and relevant state actors in the protection of workers’ rights.
- Empower labor-focused organizations in fostering an enabling environment for workers to exercise their rights.
- Advocate for a better understanding of the implications of interconnected labor issues.
Meet the Core Team
Leadership
Philippines
Marie Apostol is Executive Director and Founder of Verité Southeast Asia, now Dignity in Work for All.
She is a global expert on responsible recruitment, impact-driven social assessments, embedding social responsibility into corporate systems, and the development of human rights due diligence and monitoring approaches.
She led the development of the Verité Systems Approach for Social Responsibility, the Verité Fair Hiring Toolkit, and prepared the original draft of the Manpower-Verité Ethical Framework for Cross-Border Recruitment.
Marie has trained and consulted for some of the world’s largest and most influential companies in the electronics, garments and footwear, retail, and food sectors.
She leads Dignity in Work’s efforts to improve company-wide and supply chain programs, systems and organizational competencies for detecting, preventing, remediating, and managing labor and human rights issues in ways that improve workers’ lives and make companies better corporate citizens.
Legal Affairs and Operations
Leadership
Philippines
Melizel Asuncion is Senior Director for Legal and Operations of Dignity in Work for All.
As Legal and Operations lead, she ensures organizational efficiencies, integrity, resilience and support that enable the organization to deliver on our mission to empower stakeholders to improve workplace conditions.
Melizel built a strategic human resource framework to ensure that we are taking care of our teams. Mel also leads project teams on palm oil and ethical recruitment. She has 24 years of experience working on various human rights and developmental issues involving women, the environment, indigenous peoples, academic freedom and access to justice of marginalized and vulnerable groups.
Leadership
Philippines
Coco Bagadion is Managing Director of Dignity in Work for All. He has served as Managing Director since 2007, and has worked with VSEA/DIWA as an accredited Social Compliance Auditor and Productivity Consultant since 2004.
Through his extensive background in Business Performance Management and Strategy Development, Coco provided executive-level training in corporate and departmental strategy models, prepared corporate risk assessment profiles, and conducted risk assessment trainings for manufacturing managers and supervisors.
Today, Coco works closely with brand decision makers and sustainability/CSR to provide guidance on Compliance Management Systems, Systems Approach to Social Responsibility, EICC/RBA Management System standards, and Risk Management.
Research and Stakeholder Engagement
Leadership
Philippines
Daryll Delgado is Senior Director of the Research and Stakeholder Engagement unit of Dignity in Work for All.
Daryll designs and oversees multi-country research, advocacy, and human rights due diligence (HRDD) and workplace improvement programs across industries and sectors.
She represents the organization in advocating for the adoption of robust labor rights standards in multi-stakeholder platforms, and leads in the development of innovative resources and toolkits aimed at increasing understanding of labor issues and promotion of workers’ dignity and rights everywhere.
Daryll has more than twenty years of experience in the field, and has academic training in journalism, cultural studies, and sustainable development.
Audit and Supplier Management
Leadership
Philippines
Joey Pacis is Senior Director of Audit and Supplier Management. Joey has been conducting social audits and assessments for more than 16 years.
He leads DIWA’s Audits and Supplier Engagement programs and is responsible for overseeing regional audits and other social responsibility engagements in the region.
Joey is a trained RBA Lead Auditor and has undertaken numerous social audits in the Southeast Asian region as a Verite Network Partner since 2007. As Social Auditor, Joey is knowledgeable in assessing various Code of Conduct elements such as the RBA (formerly EICC), and in workplace health and safety requirements.
Capacity Building and Consulting
Leadership
Philippines
Jet Urmeneta is Senior Director of Capacity Building and Consulting at Dignity in Work for All. She has 20 years of experience working on labor, human rights, and global supply chain social responsibility issues.
Her current responsibilities include developing Social Responsibility programs to find solutions and develop strategies to address recurring social responsibility and compliance issues for various stakeholders (brands, buyers, suppliers/factories, workers, governments, auditors, and CSR practitioners), and developing training courses in CSR standards, fee reimbursement, remediation, and other key CSR topics.
Jet is one of the lead consultants in the implementation of Employer Pays Model for the recruitment of foreign workers for Suppliers in Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand.
VSEA Australia
Leadership
Australia
Poonam Datar is DIWA’s Country Executive Director for Australia and New Zealand. She is a subject-matter expert in worker-driven due diligence and has been leading the development and implementation of such frameworks for the past decade in Australia. Poonam also has international experience, having worked in the European Parliament on human and labor rights in global supply chains, including drafting one of the first calls for EU-wide human rights due diligence requirements. She has an inclusive and collaborative approach to work and has a particular interest in exploring innovative approaches to due diligence through partnerships.
Japan
Leadership
Japan
Lowie joined Dignity in Work for All (DIWA) in March 2024 as the Country Director for Japan, based in the capital city of Tokyo. She is responsible for driving the vision and execution of DIWA-Japan’s labor, business and human rights programmes. Lowie also leads DIWA-Japan’s collaborative engagement with key policy makers, civil society platforms, academe and multilateral organizations.
She has more than 25 years work experience in development and humanitarian work in Asia-Pacific, Africa and Latin America.
Thailand
Leadership
Thailand
Pan Roque is Thailand Country Director of Dignity in Work for All. Pan oversees program design and delivery across the research and stakeholder engagement and capacity building and consulting functions in Thailand.
His experience includes leading engagements with actors at various levels of the seafood, apparel, and electronics supply chains, and with government and non-government stakeholders, where he applies a consultative, risk-based approach to managing change and intervention efforts.