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 […]
Scaling Up Impact With Carbon Finance
In partnership with Relief International and Sustainable Development and Relief Associates (SUDRA), ClimateCare developed Gyapa – a Gold Standard project which supports health and livelihoods for families in Ghana by providing clean cookstoves. One of the largest and longest running cookstove projects in the world, more than 20,000 stoves are produced in local factories each […]
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 […]
Gender Equity: The Foundation for a Resilient Future
The theme of this year’s International Women’s Day, on 8 March, is “Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow”. This reflects the fact that women are disproportionately impacted by climate change, while also having less access to the opportunities that a transition to a greener future can bring. More women live in extreme poverty – […]
Rethinking Fundraising
On the 10th of January 2022, UNICEF Italy launched BZR, a virtual marketplace where everyone can buy second-hand and new clothes from a selection of Italian fashion companies and influencers. The launch of BZR is part of Next Generation, an internal programme that UNICEF Italy started in 2019 as a laboratory for new disruptive solutions […]
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, […]
No more promises without plans. It’s time for a new corporate climate leadership.
Over the past 12 months, I have struggled with two competing thoughts: First, in almost 25 years working on climate change, I can honestly say that the emergence of corporate climate leadership is one of the more optimistic trends I have encountered. Ten years ago most companies were either hostile to or agnostic about emissions […]
What If we created our own celebration days?
Francçois Taddei, co-founder of the Learning Planet Institute, writes about the importance of celebration to foster collaboration and co-creation among engaged actors, including the business community, to transform education for the future of the planet, and extends an invitation to join us at the #LearningPlanet Festival from the 22nd to the 29th of January 2022. […]
How businesses and young people can collaborate to be a force for development
Clean water and sanitation for all is a critical Sustainable Development Goal which has only become more significant in the global pandemic. In rural Tanzania the spread of water-borne diseases affects everyday lives, so when Raleigh International young people teamed up with Reckitt employees, they found an impactful way to combat this problem through designing […]
Bold Ambitions for Climate Action
Sustainability systems are paving the way with climate-relevant production standards. Many in the ISEAL community are stepping up their climate action with bold ambitions and innovative tools to support businesses, governments and civil society to mitigate and adapt to climate change. The climate emergency is upon us. Urgent action is needed if we are to […]
The GSMA Innovation Fund for Climate Resilience and Adaptation
The GSMA, the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) have announced the launch of the GSMA Innovation Fund for Climate Resilience and Adaptation. The objective of this new Fund is to help accelerate the testing, adoption and scalability of digital innovations that enable the world’s most […]
Embracing the ‘next edge’ of business ambition beyond net zero
As we digest the agreements reached at COP26, many of us will wonder ‘what’s next?’. Lots of delivery and accountability of course. But also, we’ll need a bigger stretch, not just to avoid catastrophe but to truly build a more hopeful future. And this, in turn, will require a different way of working, living, and […]