Creating a fairer, better, more sustainable tea industry for workers, farmers and the environment
The tea sector is the largest in India, employing three million workers - but for all the industry's economic benefits, environmental and social issues are rife on tea estates. Here, edie explores how big-name tea brands are adapting their supply chain approaches to change that:
Together with COSA, we determined a common list and description of the current sustainability challenges facing the tea industry...
The Sri Lanka tea industry’s “Ceylon Tea Roadmap 2030” aims to create a socially responsible, sustainable business model for the entire value chain. Its goal is to positively impact the lives and livelihoods of 2 million people; almost 10% of the national population, mostly women. The Roadmap’s reach also spans climate and nature, as well as overall business performance.
The Roadmap focuses on short, mid, and long-term objectives to improve industry viability, in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals and other sustainability frameworks. Phase I is already operational at ground level.
During this very challenging time for Sri Lanka, the industry invited corporates, development and donor agencies to support the rollout of the Roadmap – the first in the tea world done at this scale.
Oxfam GB CEO Danny Sriskandarajah shared his takeaways from the day’s dynamic sessions as he closed the conference by asking how businesses can best implement their learnings from this year’s TEAM UP.
Danny has been Chief Executive Officer of Oxfam GB since January 2019. Prior to that he spent six years as Secretary General of CIVICUS, the global civil society alliance. He has previously been Director General of the Royal Commonwealth Society, Interim Director of the Commonwealth Foundation and held various posts at the Institute for Public Policy Research.
From 2018 to 2019 he was a member of the UN Secretary General’s High Level Panel on Digital Cooperation, co-chaired by Jack Ma and Melinda Gates, and from 2015 to 2016 a member of the High Level Panel on Humanitarian Finance. He is a Trustee of the Disasters Emergency Committee.
Globally, women are more vulnerable than their male counterparts. Women in tea communities are particularly vulnerable, due to cultural norms in many tea-producing countries, poverty and gender-biased workplaces. Gender-based violence (GBV) remains evident in tea communities.
In this session, leaders who have made commitments and been implementing guidance and frameworks that aim to address GBV shared their stories and experiences. Our panel of experts invited delegates to discuss:
– How do you make sure that frameworks are contextualised?
– What steps can you take in your business to reduce the risk of GBV in your supply chain?
– Who are the key actors that we need to engage with to reduce GBV, and what are their roles?
– What outcomes would you expect to see on the ground as a result of effective framework implementation?
– How do you measure impact?
Following COP26 in Glasgow, governments and companies have set themselves ambitious targets to reach Net Zero by 2050. Implementing plans to reach this target is no small ask.
In this opening session, we heard from the Ethical Tea Partnership’s expert climate lead on how the tea sector can drive net-zero transformation. A multi-stakeholder panel assessed how players across the tea value chain can transition from strategy to practice, as together we discussed what this means for the future of tea.
We’re speaking directly with over 50 workers across nine tea estates. Our aim is to build a better understanding of the gender and equality issues they face, and to determine the most effective next steps to address these issues. Guidance from UNICEF Indonesia has helped us to conduct our baseline assessment.
Our initial research was delivered in 2021, and the results will feed into the UNGC’s working group for shared learning.
Discover more about our work in Indonesia here: https://www.ethicalteapartnership.org/country/indonesia/
We aim to reach 10,000 workers (60 percent of which would be women) by establishing 555 community lending and savings schemes. These help workers, who are largely cut off from the banking sector, have access to credit. Not only does this then cover pressing household needs, the loans and savings can also create new, entrepreneurial opportunities for workers to diversify their incomes.
We run additional training alongside implementation of the schemes, which include record-keeping, financial management, and entrepreneurship and business idea training.
The project is helping to empower women by enhancing their economic resilience – breaking down barriers to finance, building confidence and encouraging decision making.
This three-year programme started in September 2021, and is co-funded by ETP and our member Taylors of Harrogate, as well as Lujeri Tea Estates.
Read more: https://www.ethicalteapartnership.org/ulalo-bridge-community-lending-and-savings-scheme-project/
Through this partnership, we aim to address issues faced by female tea workers with innovative solutions. We’re working with local women’s rights organisations to identify the most pressing issues women face. We are determining the most appropriate ways to address these through collaborations between the women’s rights organisations and tea factories. Strategies to support women into leadership positions will also be developed.
We’re collaborating with three local organisations: Women’s Empowerment Link; The Centre for Rights Education and Awareness; and The Community Initiative for Change and Development. As part of this project, these organisations’ capacity will be strengthened via a corporate engagement course.
Discover more about our work in Kenya here: https://www.ethicalteapartnership.org/country/kenya/
Together with national farmer organisation the Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA), we are strengthening gender committees and reporting structures in tea communities. We helped establish these committees at all KTDA’s factories – recognising their value in giving workers a seat at the table to voice their issues to management. ETP continues to provide training across the community on gender issues (including prevention of Gender-Based Violence) and to highlight available reporting structures.
We’re also building workers’ economic resilience by developing community lending and savings schemes. These give workers much needed access to credit for pressing household needs. We help workers to best use this opportunity to invest in new, entrepreneurial ways to add to their incomes. We also support them to better manage their own household finances.
This programme began in 2019 and was supported and funded until June 2021 by ETP, KTDA and their Foundation as well as IDH – Sustainable Trade Initiative. Find out more here:
https://www.ethicalteapartnership.org/improved-safety-and-opportunities-for-female-workers-in-kenya/
Rodgers is a 43 year old tea farmer in Malawi. As well as farming, he is a volunteer trainer of small-scale tea farmers, teaching them the best farming methods of tea and nutrition.
“These participants were being trained on how they could prepare nutritious food at home. I taught them about the six food groups and gave examples of each. I was teaching them so that when they go back to their respective homes they could prepare and eat these foods in order to be healthy. As farmers with physical jobs, they need to be healthy, or it poses a threat to their income and business in general.”
The nutrition training is not just aimed at improving tea farmers diets and health, but also reaches their families.
“When parents are taught about nutrition, not only do they benefit, but their children and future generations become healthy as well.”
As well as nutrition training, farmers also receive sanitation training that outlines basic hygiene and hand-washing protocols. The COVID-19 pandemic makes this training all the more important.
“When we talk of fighting COVID-19, we need to emphasise that although we are eating all the required food groups, we need to also follow all the hygiene protocols. If we go against these measures, no matter how nutritious our diet is, we will not win the battle against COVID-19, if we do not wash our hands with soap, mask up and maintain social distance.”
Esinala is a 42 year old married, tea farmer in Malawi with responsibility for three children, two of whom are orphans. Through the programme, she has been taking part in training sessions that are teaching tea farmers about the best foods for a healthy diet.
Esinala has been growing a small kitchen garden of cabbages, vegetables and other crops. Before the training she did not enjoy a wide and varied diet with her family, and most of the foods they consumed were “whatever was available”.
During the training sessions Esinala learnt about the best foods to eat and now says that her and her family are consuming a diet of at least six food groups.
“I attended a nutrition workshop where we were taught about the six food groups. These are energy-giving foods, such as vegetables, oils, fruits and proteins. This has been helpful because most of the children in the village do not like eating vegetables, but the workshop taught us how to mix them in with our foods.
“Before learning all this, we used to buy groceries from marketplaces. Initially, we would eat whatever was available, but after the training, we now ensure that we eat the six food groups.”
We’re also supporting workers to develop community lending and savings schemes. These help workers, who are largely cut off from the banking sector, have access to badly needed credit. Not only does this cover pressing household needs, the loans and savings can also be invested in different, entrepreneurial opportunities to make money.
This three-year project started in 2020, and is funded by ETP member Tata Consumer Products Limited. Learn more about our far-reaching programme here:
https://www.ethicalteapartnership.org/kuwala-shine-economic-empowerment-programme/
The Kuwala programme is supporting tea workers and their families to access solar light technology and to take part in community savings groups.
John has worked on a tea estate for 35 years. His work on the estate is his main source of income, and he supplements this income with farming work in his village. Access to solar technology has made a real difference to workers like John and his family.
“Before receiving this solar lamp, I used to buy batteries to light my house. It was expensive. But when I got this solar lamp, it was a relief. Now, we can just charge the solar lamp in the day, so we no longer have the expense of batteries.
“This solar lamp is helping us in many ways. When it is dark, we use it to light the house, but more importantly, the children use this solar lamp for their homework until late in the night.”
John’s children are also looking forward to the benefits of the solar lamp. His 14-year-old daughter Efelo is in Standard 5 at her school.
The solar lamp is providing light in the evenings so that she can complete her studies and succeed at her exams.
“This solar lamp has helped me because, unlike in the past, I am now able to read and study after school every night. Before the solar lamp, studying was impossible in the evenings. Now I can study whenever I want, and I am confident that I will pass the examinations.”
Through the Kuwala programme, community savings groups are supporting workers to supplement their incomes. The groups help workers save money and access loans, which they use to invest in businesses or to cover household expenses.
Tea worker Bertha, 48 years old, is married with one child. Taking part in her local savings group has helped Bertha invest in her food stall business, which is providing her with an additional income. “Before joining the group, my business was literally collapsing, but I have managed to revamp it when I got the shares (from the group).”
The community savings group has also had a significant impact on her family’s life. She was able to build her house, and is looking forward to completing it with her next loan. Most importantly, she was able to use a loan when her family needed it most.
“The group has changed my family’s life. At first, we used to lack most of our household needs. The cash that I used to earn was not enough at all. For example, last December, my daughter got sick and I used the loan to pay all the hospital bills.”
Going further, we support these farmers to develop community lending and savings schemes. As well as providing for pressing household needs, this access to credit offers a chance to invest in new, entrepreneurial opportunities to make money.
Launched in 2020, this initiative is funded by Unilever’s Enhancing Livelihoods Fund, with additional support from the Ford Foundation and with Oxfam GB’s oversight. ETP and national farmer organisation the Kenya Tea Development Agency are implementing partners.
Discover more about our work in Kenya here:
https://www.ethicalteapartnership.org/country/kenya/
In China, we support small-scale tea farmers with training programmes to improve their agricultural and farm management practices, resulting in the reduced use of agrochemicals and optimised profitability. Our aim is to foster a thriving smallholder tea sector with healthy farmers, earning decent livelihoods and producing good quality, safe tea.
This programme is funded by ETP, and you can find out more here: https://www.ethicalteapartnership.org/supporting-farmers-and-the-environment-to-thrive/
The programme works to reduce child marriage and unsafe migration, to help young people stay in education and to decrease the risk of violence, abuse and exploitation. The partnership also addresses health, child development and nutrition, water and sanitation, education and responsible business practices. The programme includes field level activities with tea communities, and works with estate management and government.
As COVID-19 spread, the programme innovatively adapted to disruptions. For example, when school closures affected planned programme activities, UNICEF successfully advocated for alternative, inventive measures to minimise the impact on children’s education. This included using take-home self-learning materials and community radio to enable continued learning.
As well as ETP, the programme is supported and funded by IDH – Sustainable Trade Initiative, and ETP members OTG, Tata Consumer Products, Taylors of Harrogate, Tesco and Typhoo. As of June 2018, ETP members JDE, Starbucks Foundation and Tata Trusts also contributed to funding.
Learn more about this far-reaching programme here:
https://www.ethicalteapartnership.org/improving-the-lives-of-women-and-children-in-assams-tea-communities/
Our grassroots programme gives tea communities a forum to voice their own concerns, alongside estate managers. Forums are made up of people from across the estate – spanning workers, young people and anyone who live or works in the estate, to management. We support these groups to create and deliver their own action plans to tackle the challenges that they themselves have identified in the communities they live in.
Funded by ETP together with Taylors of Harrogate and IDH – Sustainable Trade Initiative, the programme was launched in 2016. Find out more about this work here:
https://www.ethicalteapartnership.org/community-empowerment-programme/
In Indonesia, we’re working with workers and management to improve occupational health and safety across tea factories. Following initial training in October 2019, we’ve rolled out a practical training programme and continue to support workers to develop and implement action plans to improve conditions. This work is funded by ETP.
Discover more about our work in Indonesia here:
https://www.ethicalteapartnership.org/country/indonesia/
Our financial literacy projects help to build workers’ economic resilience. We aim to support 1,780 workers to improve their budgeting, financial management and entrepreneurship skills. Together, we’re also establishing a revolving fund for workers to install fuel-efficient cookstoves and solar lights in their homes. In order to address sanitation issues, we’ve set up several projects to improve community access to water.
We recognise the need for government engagement to ensure that the impact of our projects continue in the long-term. We’re working with local county government to improve access to healthcare. Collaboratively, we have established a health centre in the community. This safe space for women includes a maternity wing and family planning services.
These hotspot projects are funded by ETP together with our member Taylors of Harrogate. Discover more about our work in Kenya here:
https://www.ethicalteapartnership.org/country/kenya/
We help farmers to earn as much as they can from their land by developing their understanding of Good Agricultural Practices. Additionally, we build their business acumen to manage their farms as profitable businesses. We also support opportunities for farmers to diversify their incomes, and increase access to credit via community lending and savings schemes.
Going further, we are looking to develop Living Wage and Living Income benchmarks in Rwanda, and exploring appropriate strategies to reach them.
This current three-year Strategic Alliance runs until summer 2022, and is funded by GIZ, Marks & Spencer and ETP members JDE, Lavazza, OTG, Tata Consumer Products Limited and Taylors of Harrogate. Learn about the impact of the previous Strategic Alliance here:
https://www.ethicalteapartnership.org/improving-incomes-for-farmers/
The programme runs until the end of 2021, and is in its final phase. Our focus now is on strengthening the estates’ community kitchens, which are operated by women from the community. The kitchens were established to provide nutritious, affordable meals to estate residents, and cook produce grown in the kitchen gardens across their estates.
You can learn more about the programme here:
https://www.ethicalteapartnership.org/women-of-tea/
This three-years programme kicked off in 2020, and is co-funded by ETP together with our members Unilever, Taylors of Harrogate, the Republic of Tea, Bigelow, Reginald Ames, JDE, Wollenhaupt and Ringtons, as well as the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Learn more here:
https://www.ethicalteapartnership.org/healthy-diets-for-tea-communities/
In response to the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, we’re supporting tea famers, workers and their families globally to adapt to – and address – this unprecedented disruption and uncertainty. To date, our work has focused on three pillars of activity: prevention, protection and provision. Going beyond our front-line response, we are also working on longer-term measures to protect vulnerable communities.
Find out more about our response here:
https://www.ethicalteapartnership.org/our-covid-19-response/
Sri Lankan tea plucker Mummorothy works on her family’s kitchen garden, which ETP helped her to establish
Some examples of our work include:
> Our programmes across India, Kenya, Malawi and Sri Lanka promote better nutrition and tackle food scarcity by supporting kitchen gardens. Expanding our reach, in Malawi we’ve provided more than 4,000 farmers with extra vegetable seeds to enrich their kitchen gardens. We worked in partnership with IDH – Sustainable Trade Initiative and ETP member Tata Consumer Products, with funding available as part of the Malawi Tea 2020 programme.
Distributing food aid via our Community Empowerment Programme in Assam
> In Assam, India, tea estate management and local government are issuing essential provisions to tea communities. We are also distributing food aid to 700 of the most vulnerable families in two of the estates involved in our Community Empowerment Programme. We’re making sure that those most in need across the estates are aware of the support available to them. We have been closely monitoring access to the government’s Covid-19 cash benefit scheme aimed at women and have been supporting those eligible to open bank accounts.
> In Kenya, an estimated 4,000 farmers and 20,000 workers are using the 550 water tanks we’ve installed. Aside from handwashing, the water will also help irrigate their vegetable gardens.
Malawian tea farmer Efelo with the strong box that stores the savings made by her community group
> In Malawi we have been working with farmers for many years to develop and support community savings schemes. It helps farmers access credit, as well as functioning as a savings deposit. Often farmers will invest their credit in new, entrepreneurial businesses to add to their income. These groups are vital – now, more than ever. They help farmers to keep their businesses running, and allow those most in need to access crisis funds. We’ve issued PPE and implemented safety measures across all our savings groups, so that farmers can continue to tap in to this essential resource. We’re working in partnership with IDH – Sustainable Trade Initiative and ETP member Tata Consumer Products, with funding available as part of the Malawi Tea 2020 programme.
> One of the ways we help farmers in Rwanda to increase their yields, incomes and savings is by working together in our Farmer Field Schools. While current guidelines mean that these groups cannot meet, our trainers are supporting farmers to continue with the good agricultural practices they’ve learnt via one-on-one, distanced visits. The visits are also an opportunity to inform farmers about the latest health and sanitation advice.
> Women involved in our Community Empowerment Programme in Assam have taken up mask-making as an additional income source. So far, 18,200 masks have been made across four estates and will be distributed to tea workers in key plucking areas.
> To minimise any disruption of education on estates in Assam, ETP staff have introduced precautionary measures in learning centres, including more frequent ‘pocket classes’ of ten students. Additional exams have been launched to monitor progress and extra-curricular activities have also been encouraged. Young people have also been able to access online career counselling sessions.
Some examples of our work include:
> In Assam, India we’ve organised hand washing demonstrations in line with national guidelines, across the tea estates and factories involved in our Community Empowerment Programme.
Tea pluckers in Assam, India wearing face masks distributed by our Community Empowerment Programme
> Over 35,000 masks have been issued to workers by tea estate management in Assam. Members of our Community Empowerment Programme have supported this by hand making some face masks to give to workers on their estates.
> As part of our pilot project in Sri Lanka, so far we’ve supplied 550 face shields to tea leaf collectors, meaning that more than 30,000 farmers can safely continue to sell the tea they grow.
ETP Programme Manager Jane Nyambura donates reusable protective masks to Kenyan smallholder farmers
> In Kenya, we distributed a total of 112,500 reusable face masks for workers and smallholder farmers through our work with local partners.
> Our community savings schemes with IDH – Sustainable Trade Initiative in Kenya help farmers and workers of farmers to save money, and learn new, entrepreneurial skills like soap making – which is particularly critical at this time. Group members and their families now have better to access to soap. Some worker groups have also gone on to sell 1,200 excess soap bars and 990 litres of liquid soap to tea factories.
> To enable our programmes to operate in Malawi, we’ve issued PPE for 40 lead trainer farmers and five ETP field team members meaning farmers can continue to be trained.
> We’ve distributed hand washing equipment for 800 farming families in Malawi.
> For both these initiatives in Malawi, we worked in partnership with IDH – Sustainable Trade Initiative and ETP member Tata Consumer Products, with funding available as part of the Malawi Tea 2020 programme.
> In Rwanda, we’ve supplied 42,000 face masks for farmers and workers so far. Not only does this limit the virus’ spread, it also means they can adhere to local authorities’ guidelines and safely continue to make their living from tea.
> Across Rwanda, we’ve distributed soap to the 356 tea buying centres that needed it, meaning that all the country’s farmers can wash their hands.
ETP team member Charles Kambale issues Protective Personal Equipment (PPE) to a health centre in Malawi
Our work also supports wider community needs, responding to a lack of government funding. Examples include:
> In Malawi, we’ve distributed PPE, hand washing and cleaning equipment to seven health centres, which serve up to 170,000 people in tea growing areas. This includes surgical gloves, aprons, goggles and face masks. The health centres are now also stocked with infrared thermometers, disinfectant and paracetamol.
> In Assam, India, we’ve provided PPE to three estate hospitals, as well as dispensing sanitation items to the communities they serve.
In Malawi, our work informs tea communities how best to protect themselves and others
Some examples of our work include:
> In Malawi, our radio broadcasts are running for three weeks to alert tea communities to the latest government advice. Many families, particularly in rural areas, rely on radio news broadcasts. We’ve also shared guidance via strategically placed posters – such as in health centres. We worked in partnership with IDH – Sustainable Trade Initiative and ETP member Tata Consumer Products, with funding available as part of the Malawi Tea 2020 programme.
> Our posters and banners in health centres, schools and tea buying centres across all of Rwanda’s tea communities share the latest hygiene and sanitation guidance.
> In Assam, India, our Community Empowerment Programme brings together the estate community, management and the District health department. We’re working closely with doctors from the Assam state health service, the National Health Mission, to alert tea workers and their families to the latest guidance and safety protocols. We’ve set up awareness camps and distributed pamphlets across the estates, sharing details of COVID-19 causes, symptoms and preventive measures.
> For those returning to work on the estates in Assam, we’ve organised training to share the latest health and safety protocols– including advice on social distancing. The training has been a success, with measures being followed and young people raising awareness among their peers in accordance with government guidelines.
> By facilitating a webinar series with the Colombo Tea Trade Association Roadmap 2030 Committee in Sri Lanka, we’ve created an effective platform for the sector to discuss ways to best protect communities during the pandemic.
> In Kenya, our radio broadcasts were picked up by 1,055,000 devices, with the number of listeners expected to be far greater. This has informed rural communities on how to reduce the spread of the virus and stay safe during the pandemic and helped to combat the spread of any false information about the virus.
Nabanita was a tomboy growing up and won awards for being a good all-round student. When Ritamoni, a Unicef coordinator, set up the Girls Group on her estate, she realised her potential and that it wasn’t limited to the community: “she allowed us to hope for opportunities”.
The opportunities offered through the Group, such as football and creative arts workshops, were life-changing for Nabanita as they showcased how her talents could be harnessed. They saw her progress to playing sport at the district level and winning awards, “the exposure I have had to all these different platforms has been fantastic”.
Inspired by Ritamoni, Nabanita thought about becoming a social worker too and is now facilitating her Girls Group, “the most important thing for me is to instill good thoughts, to get them to think positively and change their outlook on their lives”.
Some people living in tea communities can struggle to see beyond life in the community. Nabanita wants the girls in her group to show their talents and participate in wider society: “I want to give the girls the opportunity to think that there is a wider world outside”.
Child marriage has reduced and school attendance increased since the Girls Groups have been introduced. One girl in Nabanita’s group stopped going to school, so Nabanita encouraged conversations about how fun school was, especially sports, “that girl really likes sports so we kind of enticed her with the idea that school is really fun, you should go!” She had a chance to think about it and when she went back home, told her parents she’d like to re-enroll and went back to school.
The younger the girls are when they join the group, the more positive impact the groups can have: “if we can start giving them those positive feelings and that positive reinforcement from an early age, they will grow up with those feelings and be so much more capable of accessing and using this platform really well”.
She explains that “before joining the group, I had no idea of what a proper nutritious diet was. I would eat anything that came my way. After joining the group, I learned about the benefits of locally grown vegetables and developed a taste for them!”.
“Since I was growing these vegetables fresh in my own garden, this gave me confidence and improved my health. I used to face problems with anaemia – (I was) fatigued, didn’t feel like working and always felt sleepy the whole day. After my diet changed, these small steps have led to big improvements. I have much more energy”.
Bhagyawati has also been an inspiration for her friends in her community and her friend Sangeeta has not only been inspired to set up her own kitchen garden to grow fresh vegetables but has been big plans for her future. “I would like to be a chef, like Sanjeev Kapoor. I just love cooking!”.
Veronica has been a member of one of ETP’s cookstove production groups for a year. She really appreciates that the cookstoves use less fuelwood as she now has “more free time that I can spend with family and friends” rather than collecting wood.
Being part of the cookstove group has been life-changing for the tea farmer and her five children. Veronica says, “before the cook stoves production, I didn’t have enough income to support the family. The programme has helped because now I can contribute to school fees. Once they have finished secondary school, I would like them to go on to college”.
Veronica also took part in Farmer Field School training, run by ETP, where she “learnt about good agricultural practices and environmental management”. Since being able to apply what she learnt, Veronica’s “yield has really increased as a result” – increasing her income.
Reflecting on her situation, Veronica says “with all these initiatives, my family life is better”.
Keen to add to her income, tea farmer Angela joined ETP’s cookstove programme where she makes and sells stoves. She invests the extra money she makes in to a community savings scheme.
She says, “I can see that my life is changing for the better. Now that I am able to do things independently because of this new income, other women in the community look to me as an example, they want to learn from me. Even my husband gives me the respect I deserve, much more respect than a wife traditionally gets”.
A graduate from ETP’s agricultural training programme, Farmer Field School, Angela is “getting a much better yield. I have more money now. I am no longer struggling to send my children to school”. Her other priority is “that the food I buy is balanced in the ways I learnt in Farmer Field School. The extra money allows me to do this”.
What first attracted tea farmer Asuwema to the beekeeping club was “how well the women were doing. They’ve got extra money and have TVs and bikes”. A single mother of one, she is keen to be self-sufficient: “besides the money, the women in the group encourage each other and give each other advice… they can help me with life in general”.
She says that “women are not respected here as much as men. Single mothers have a tough time as they are not respected. When I have money and I am self-reliant, for sure I will be respected”.
Asuwema puts some of the extra money she makes from the beekeeping group in to a community savings scheme, set up by ETP. She wants to use the savings to help her mother invest in building work as “her house isn’t good, and I’m worried about how it will cope when the rains come”.
Tea farmer Walter is a member of one ETP’s tree nursery groups in Malawi. He’s aware that “most of the indigenous forest has gone” and has so far planted 200 trees himself. He will “sell about 150 and keep the stump and roots” so that they sprout again.
Walter uses the extra income he makes from his trees to support him and his family. He can “sell a full-grown tree for firewood” and “a younger tree for poles for construction”. As well as spending the extra money he makes on essential like food, Walter also invests in school fees for his six children and seven grandchildren.
Grandmother Esnart is part of her local tree nursery group, planting trees to combat deforestation. The tea farmer witnessed first-hand the changes to the landscape, and she notes “when I was a child, the mountains were so beautiful. There was a blanket of forest, so thick that if you went up with another person, you couldn’t see each other. It was full of wild animals, but they have all gone now”.
It’s not just her generation that’s seen the effects of deforestation. He grandson Matthew is 22, and is all too aware of the impact of these changes: “there were some trees on the mountain when I was a child, though I was told then that it was nothing like it used to be. But now even they have gone. I can only imagine wild animals on the mountains from stories my grandmother has told me.”
Matthew knows that now is the time for action: “I fear it will be very bad when I have children. They will be very angry with our generation for allowing this to happen. But I hope it won’t come to that and we will choose to reforest the mountain instead.”
Tea farmer Patricia notes that having a solar lamp “only brings joy and happiness” to her and her family. She used to worry when using paraffin lamps in the home as “they are a great danger. Children can forget it is on and fall asleep. They can also lead to chest infections”.
Having a solar light means Patricia’s four children can all read by it at night. This has been transformational for her family, and Patricia’s “seen a great improvement in their schoolwork”. One of her sons is reaping the benefits of the extra study time. He went from being “number 20 in the class for results, but since we’ve had the lamp, he’s moved up to number three”.
Ramaya grows organic vegetables in his family’s kitchen garden. He says that as it is “very healthy they prefer it. I knew about the importance of nutritious food before but not to this extent”.
Tea worker Devadasan has been taking part in the ‘out grower’ model and with the extra income from his plot of land has been able to send his son to university.
He says, “I use the money from our plot for my son’s university education. He is studying an arts degree. He wants to become a teacher and I think he might come to work in our area. I hope that some of my daughters will go to university too. I’d like my daughters to become engineers and lawyers”.
Selvamerry is a tea worker, she has been taking part in the ‘out grower’ model. She says that she is now hoping to use the extra income to save for her children’s education:
“I will use the extra money for my kids’ education. When I had some spare recently, I bought gold jewellery. We have a tradition here of ‘saving’ money in jewellery. If we put it in the bank, we might treat it like cash and spend it quickly. But if we buy jewellery, we will definitely think twice before selling it”.
The backbone of ETP’s business and entrepreneurship training in Rwanda is Patricia. An inspiring lady, she is the first woman to become a Master Trainer. A Malawian, she travelled to Rwanda specially to ensure the success of the project when it launched and is confident about its future:
“We are going to have a big impact in Rwanda… we will help farmers in terms of the record keeping, planning, knowing the size of their land enhancing their entrepreneurial skills, and better farm management, which will lead to improved incomes”.
Having a woman as a trainer and role model for business has had a remarkable impression on the females being trained. Patricia notes that “most women open up when they are talking with fellow women… because when they see a fellow woman doing it, they believe that they, too, can do it”.
Tea farmer Speciose leads one of ETP’s Farmer Field Schools in Rwanda, where nearly half the members are women. The group learnt how to grow mushrooms through the programme, and Speciose says “this will be a very good income-generating activity for us”. The extra money can be saved in one of ETP’s lending and savings schemes, which she also heads.
Aside from the financial benefits, Speciose says “we appreciate this because mushrooms are rich in nutrients and minerals and will contribute to the good health of our families”.
Taking part in ETP’s Farmer Field School has transformed not just tea farmer Emily’s life, but also her five children’s too. Thanks to the training, she’s seen a big increase in her income and “tea cultivation is giving me enough money now to send them all to school”.
Enterprising tea farmer Emily not only grows tea, but also runs a shop. She notes that “the school taught me business skills. I wanted to start a business already, but I didn’t know where to begin”.
Inspired by ETP’s training, she says “my next venture will be to supply spare parts for motorbikes. It is my dream to set that up. With that, I’ll have more money to support my children through education”.
Yogesh is Joint Secretary of a CDF and lives on a tea estate with his wife, a plucker, and their child. Around half of the residents in the community don’t have any form of identification.
Yogesh is passionate about helping his community secure the documentation that they need. He says, “a lot of people don’t have any identity documentation and without these documents it is very difficult for people to do the things they need to do to make their lives better”.
Noting the pivotal role documentation plays, Yogesh details “for example, it is mandatory now to have a bank account. But without a bank card, you can’t open a bank account. Without a birth certificate, we can’t enrol our children in a school outside the tea estate. There are government quotas for people from certain casts for government jobs. But without the caste certificate you are not eligible for those quotas”.
Yogesh’s collection of identification documents
Credit: Abbie Trayler-Smith/Panos
Yogesh sees an opportunity for the CDFs to streamline the issuing of identification documents for tea communities. A complicated bureaucracy means that currently people have to travel to lots of different government offices to get the relevant papers, costing time and money. The CDFs can make life easier for residents by being the link between the community and the government.
Yogesh is keen to “explain to people the importance of this as not everyone understands the benefits”. Hopeful about the future, he says “through the CDFs we can work together… we can all rise. Not only the community but the whole industry”.
As Secretary of the estate’s CDF Amrit is proud to be part of “a proper process for activities that will help us”. For him, the initiative plays an invaluable role in “improving developments on the estate” for the whole community’s benefit.
The CDF has “done some problem prioritisation to talk about the most important issues for all the community”. They identified youth unemployment as a major concern to address.
Amrit notes that “we have a lot of young people living one the tea estate who are educated but haven’t been able to find jobs. The garden isn’t able to employ everybody”. Keen to find a solution, the CDF “facilitates vocational skills training so that they can be employed elsewhere, for example in hotel management and other trades”.
A member of his local CDF, Deepjiyoti is involved in creating an action plan for improvements to the tea estate. He notes that “there are a lot of problems with alcohol on the estate. While some women do drink, it is mostly men and often it is men who work for cash wages off the estate. They have money in their hand, and they spend it on drink”.
He points out alcohol is a “big source of conflict. Sometimes men who are drinking can’t hold down a job and are beating their wives and taking their wages to spend on drink. If the wife refuses to give him her wages, then they might sell household items to spend on liquor”.
This can also have a detrimental effect on children in the home, and disrupt their studies. As Deepjiyoti says, “it’s not just about the alcoholic, it’s about the impact on the people around them”.
Via the CDF, Deepjiyoti is working to address alcoholism on the estate. This includes awareness-raising by going “house to house discouraging people from drinking and also from brewing alcohol in their homes”. Recognising the value of the CDFs, Deepjiyoti notes that “by representing everyone on the estate it gives us a bit more leverage that we can use to solve the problem”.
Though a Political Science graduate, Deepjyoti is currently unemployed. Deepjyoti sees lots of potential for the CDF to also help estate residents to access skills training that will increase their employability.
He says, “There are a lot of educated young people on the estate, but they are still not qualified for certain positions. There are loads of skills development programmes that the government runs. If we can identify what the programmes are and help people access them, then they can also look for jobs inside or outside the tea estate. Personally, I would like to do hotel management training”.
Asha is a tea plucker and founding member of the CDF on her estate.
She says, “the management and my community nominated me to represent them. I can’t read and write but I understand the context very well, and I can come back and talk to the people in my community in their own language”.
Asha recognises the value of the CDF, noting “it brings everyone together – student union, trade union – to find solutions for the benefit of the estate and make a complete action plan”.
She points out that the CDF structure means that they can help tackle the root causes of some of the issues people face on the estates: “everything is linked. Getting our ID documents has a snowball effect on everything else. Not having a bank card means you can’t open a bank account. Not having a bank account means you can’t save money”.
Annie learnt how to cook nutritious recipes as part of her Farmer Field School training. It’s had a far-reaching impact on tea farmer Annie and her family. She’s noticed that her “children are so much healthier now – they can concentrate better”. Not only that, Annie’s found that both her and her husband “feel stronger when we are working in the tea field”.
Taking part in Farmer Field School programme has also meant that the family have been able to make more money from the tea they grow. They invest this in a community savings scheme.
Keen to find innovative ways to earn more, they use the extra income to run a small, profitable shop from their house.
The biggest fans of Edna’s newly developed cooking skills are her two sons. They can’t get enough of the nourishing sweet potato fritters she’s learnt to make, and Edna’s noticed a real improvement in their health since introducing a more balanced diet. She says,
“I can really see the change in my youngest child. He used to get sick a lot and now he doesn’t”.
Edna has taken part in the Farmer Field School programme and so now grows a variety of crops. She invests her increased income in the community savings scheme.
She says: “I plan to save towards my children’s education. The money will accumulate, and it should be enough for their secondary education. I am hopeful that they will get well-paid jobs. One wants to be a driver and the other wants to be a pilot”.
Entrepreneurial tea farmer Victoria runs a hair salon. She is proud that her “business is very profitable. I supply treatments and hair pieces and I go home every day smiling”.
Being part of a community savings scheme has given Victoria the opportunity to access funds to grow her salon:
“Now I can do every type of style a customer wants. Eventually, I want my salon to expand so I can have many customers at once”.
A mother of two, Victoria’s increased income has meant she can now pay for both her children to go school. She notes “when we don’t have financial security, life is hard. But in my case, I am respected, and I am able to support others who are struggling so I have influence”.
Patrick is a painter on a tea estate in Malawi, he says that “when I started work I had no qualifications, but I have put in the work and now I have been promoted”.
Patrick invests some of his salary in to a community savings scheme, set up by ETP. He appreciates that “we can save a little now to fulfil our dreams in the future”. Patrick uses the money he saves to change his family’s lives for the better. He says,
“I want to improve my family’s standard of living. I’d like to be able to provide them with more food and more variety”.
Patrick has three daughters and a son and can use his savings to pay their school fees. He says, “I want my children to be educated so that they can be independent. I want them to be able to stand on their own two feet”.
Rhoda is a member of a community savings scheme and has been saving to build her house. She says:
“I started building this house in 2014. I joined the scheme in 2016. I used a loan to buy 60 bags of cement to finish off my house. I grew up in a small house with a grass thatched roof, so I am very proud of this house”.
She has also been able to use her savings to purchase a fridge, which she is using to run her own drinks business. With the extra income from selling drinks she plans to purchase more resources to set up future ventures.
We support tea communities, and run community savings schemes with workers in the tea industry. Currently more than 2,000 workers are part of this initiative, and most of these are women. The extra money is used for basic needs such as housing, medical care and education as well as being invested in entrepreneurial opportunities.
Malawian tea farmer Loveness never managed to complete school. She has three young children and attends a Farmer Field School. She’s seen a big increase in income thanks to the training, and the amount she makes a month has nearly doubled.
This has been life-changing for Loveness, who says, “I adopted my niece when my sister died. I could afford to do this because of the extra money I am earning since Farmer Field School”. She can now pay for all her daughters to go to school and wants her girls to be “the first in my family to finish secondary school”.
Working with the Child Protection Committees and Welfare Officers, Sangeeta has been able to visit the homes and families of vulnerable children to talk about the challenges those girls face.
She says, “we go house to house to inform parents that they shouldn’t marry their girls before 18 and their boys before 21 and this is illegal in Indian law”. Yet Sangeeta has seen some girls eloping at a young age with their boyfriends, resulting in teenage pregnancies. She says, “in most cases girls elope because there is domestic violence at home. To outsiders, it is just a young girl running away with a boy. But the reality is that at home there is alcohol and violence. Most of these marriages are an escape from that violence. The sad thing is they escape from one violent situation and end up in another”.
But with the support of the Girls Groups Sangeeta explores the challenges facing these young women and provides them with the support they need to pursue other options, such as staying on at school. By visiting their homes and families, Sangeeta is also ensuring that the girls’ families support them and encourages a whole new way of thinking about these adolescent girls’ futures on the tea estates.
She says, “we go to their house to tell them what we do in the group, how good it has been for us and if they allow their daughters to participate, it will only help her. That is how we negotiate”.
