A Fairer Future for All Means Gender Equality Now
Women have long been the backbone of our planet’s agricultural production. The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that women today make up 60 to 80 percent of the farmers present in non-industrialized countries and that up to 70 percent of agricultural labour in some countries comes from women alone. This is a staggering number. […]
What is a value chain? And why you should care.
Several years ago the women of Bihani Dairy, a Heifer-supported agricultural cooperative in southwestern Nepal, had an idea: Provide a collection center for milk produced by the area’s dairy farmers, an enterprise move that would reduce waste and offer farmers, who were otherwise forced to sell as quickly as possible for below-market fees, a chance to create […]
Spotlighting Fairtrade and Aldi UK’s ‘Dignity for All’ – a programme for female flower workers
“Women have the potential of taking up leadership positions and roles, unlike in previous years when women were considered irrelevant and/or unable to lead and work equally as men”. This sentiment may seem like a given to most readers, but for the 25-year-old flower farm worker from Ethiopia who said these words it was a […]
Women as drivers of climate resilience
Mars, like many companies, has long-standing commitments to support climate action (SDG 13) and gender equality (SDG 5). But we haven’t always looked at the intersections between these two areas. As we progress our Net Zero Commitment and our Cocoa for Generations plan, it is becoming clear that the two issues are inextricably linked. Women […]
Engaging community voices: Reflections from Archana Soreng
Differing worldviews, indigenous people and the front lines of community climate action: A new wave of corporate sustainability is approaching; one in which conventional corporate ‘sustainability’ strategies are set to be replaced by new levels of ambition centred around creating a ‘just and regenerative’ future. Guided by a new north star – an economy that […]
Why working with men is key to fighting inequality
Across Tanzania women make up over half of the agricultural workforce. They earn, on average, a third of what men do, and many will not get paid at all. Farm work is heavy, physical labour, and, on top of that, women are solely responsible for domestic work and childcare. The communities we operate in are […]
The chocolate entrepreneurs of Peru
In El Palo Blanco, a small town in the northeast of Peru, locals have been growing coffee and cocoa for generatins. But because Palo Blanco is situated in the lower lands, at the foot of Piura’s mountainous region, it is getting hotter each year, unpredictable weather and increasing prevalence of pests and diseases that threaten […]
The Kenyan woman changing young farmers’ futures
Twenty years ago, Victorine Atieno Owino began her career as a volunteer at the Ugunja Community Resource Center in southwest Kenya’s Siaya County. She filled her days organizing books as a librarian and handling paperwork as an administrative assistant, supporting the center’s work building the skills of local community members. But a common need began […]
Do procurement teams hold the key to living incomes for smallholder farmers?
Last year, Mars’ Farmer Income Lab estimated that up to 70% of the smallholder farmers in agri-food supply chains – more than 122 million people – may be living below the global poverty line of $3.20 per day. Mars, like any agri-business, relies on the work of these farmers around the world who produce the […]
Regenerative agriculture and women farmers
At Business Fights Poverty we’ve delved into how intertwined Resilience, Equity and Opportunity are in our fight for climate justice – access Climate Justice Summit resources. As youth activist Xiuhtezcatl Martinez said, “The planet doesn’t need saving, we do”, and so taking a people-centred approach towards the Climate Crisis is the necessary way forward. I […]
Looking ahead to 2022: climate justice, food systems and the private sector
Accelerating climate justice Maria Claudia, our Business Development Officer in the Peru office took part in the Climate Justice series event at COP 26 as a panellist with others from Facebook, HBL Habib Bank and BioMec where they discussed and shared questions with young innovators at the forefront of creating our green inclusive future. Overall, […]
We can’t win the race to zero without financing a just rural transition
During COP26 banks and asset managers representing USD $130 trillion – 40% of the world’s financial assets – pledged to align with net zero carbon emissions by mid-century, and to provide 2030 interim goals, by joining the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ). That is, as the Washington Post put it, “eye-popping”. But as […]
This COP26 it’s time to listen to farmers and workers
This COP26 it’s time to listen to farmers and workers, value their expertise and work with them to rebuild better. Co-op and Fairtrade Africa are reimagining the future of programmes. The eyes of the business world are trained on Glasgow for COP26 this week. The environment is increasingly topping the agenda for boardrooms at the biggest companies. At […]
At COP26, the Future of our Farmers and our Food is at Stake
Global leaders, committed activists, and countless civil servants representing NGOs from all over the world, are currently descending on Glasgow, Scotland, for this year’s UN Climate Conference (COP26) with a clear goal of climate action. Fairtrade and Fairtrade campaigners alike will also be on the ground in Glasgow to ensure that fairness and equity remain […]
Going beyond sustainable: Is regenerative agriculture the future for raw material supply chains?
As an agronomist, working in the field for the past 30 years, I’ve witnessed significant changes to our environment. In Pakistan, a lack of training has meant farmers have spent many years using too much water, and applying too many agro-chemicals, including both fertiliser and pesticides to their land. As a result, the soils have […]
Addressing inequality is essential to building a sustainable food system
Transformation of the global food system is urgently needed if we’re to prevent climate and environmental breakdown, end hunger and food insecurity, and create a better future for the hundreds of millions of people whose livelihoods depend on food production. Making the UN Food Systems Summit in September a milestone event. To build a sustainable […]
Regenerative Agriculture: Growing Pains
Agriculture is not working for people or the planet. The statistics are startling. 78% of the world’s poorest people remain reliant on agriculture, 33% of the world’s soils are degraded (a figure that could rise to 90% by 2050) and agriculture contributes to about a quarter of global climate emissions (stats from the World Bank, […]
New Learning and Insights Paper: Enhancing the Livelihoods of ‘Hidden Women’ in Global Smallholder Value Chains
Over a quarter of the world’s population make a living farming and working on small areas of land. Nearly half are women, who make crucial contributions to food security, livelihoods and global value chains. As a group, smallholder farmers remain among the world’s most vulnerable populations, facing precarious livelihoods and a disproportionate level of risk […]
Living Wages: Lessons Learned from a Decade of Oxfam’s Work
Living wage has been a key focus of Oxfam’s work on labour and human rights. We published a series of briefing papers that captured common challenges and promising solutions. Living wage has also been part of the scorecard indicators for Oxfam’s Behind the Brands and Behind the Barcodes campaigns. Importantly, we have worked with companies […]
The importance of ‘tri-partite’ partnerships between business, NGOs and government
In the middle of 2020, Fairtrade and Mondelēz International expanded their existing partnership to include the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), winning a one year grant from the Business Partnerships for Global Goals (BP4GG) programme[1]. The three partners collaborated to launch the Cadbury Farmer Resilience Fund, designed to accelerate and deepen existing work […]