IDH

We're excited to share the latest developments from the seventh meeting of the Cocoa and Forests Initiative (CFI) Steering Committee, led by the Ivorian Minister of Water and Forests. This pivotal meeting brought together key stakeholders, from the signatories to key observers, to review the initiative’s progress and outline crucial steps for sustainable cocoa production in Côte d'Ivoire. Key Highlights from the meeting - Approval of a diagnostic study on CFI's operations and governance to clarify stakeholder roles and improve governance effectiveness. - Contribution to developing a national deforestation monitoring system led by the Prime Minister's Office, leveraging satellite tools to enhance deforestation mitigation. - Directives to formalise a memorandum of understanding for a collective project within the CFI landscape, prioritising the Yapo-Abbé and Bossématié forests. The Ivorian Minister of Water and Forests emphasised the importance of continued dialogue and collective actions among cocoa and forestry stakeholders. With over €1 million invested in the past three years to support the CFI secretariat, IDH remains committed to providing financial and technical support to ensure the success of the landscape projects to be developed and the execution of CFI's priority actions.  Together, we are driving sustainable cocoa farming and forest preservation in Côte d'Ivoire. #BetterEnvironment #NoDeforestation

Tamanaa Company Ltd (TCL), a Ghanaian agricultural company, secured the "Most Outstanding in Agribusiness" award at the prestigious Africa Outstanding Professional Awards 2024 in #Tanzania. This award recognizes accomplished professionals across various economic sectors across the continent. The program aims to promote professionalism and contribute to Africa's competitiveness in the global market. The Grains of Growth Program and Farmfit Technical Assistance have supported Tamanaa over the past two years, contributing to its operations and #rice value chain transformation. Tamanaa is part of the Grains for Growth program and empowers over 4.000 smallholder rice farmers, with women comprising roughly 60% of its beneficiaries. The company offers a comprehensive package of services, including mechanization (ploughing and harvesting), certified agro-inputs (seeds and fertilizers), training in best agricultural practices, and access to credit facilities. These interventions facilitate paddy rice production and aggregation for milling at the company’s 290 MT milling capacity per day facility at Nasia. Tamanaa's positive influence extends beyond farm production. It has created over 12.000 seasonal jobs within the rice value chain, especially for women and youth.

To move the needle on living income we need to build good relationships that are anchored in effective collaboration while leveraging evidence and data to underpin holistic strategies. The The Living Income Community of Practice (LICOP), Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH and IDH published five principles of inclusion in advancing living income. Will you join us to action these? 1.    Champion Essential Role of Farmers in Global Sustainability & Resilience 2.    Invest Together in Farmers’ Livelihoods 3.    Leverage Legislation to Benefit Smallholder Farmers 4.    Commit to Long-term Relationships and Due Diligence Practices 5.    Manage and measure Living Income Commitments with Inclusivity https://lnkd.in/eNd3ru-j #LivingIncome #SmallholderFarmers Pavithra Ram Stephanie L. Daniels

Advancing the living wage and living income space is challenging due to numerous obstacles, diverse stakeholders, and siloed approaches. Last week at the Living Wage & Living Income Summit 2024, over 400 stakeholders shared a mission to drive progress. We closed the day with inspiration. Numerous contributors shared milestones and innovations in the living wage and living income space. Here are some highlights: 📃 Buyer’s Guidelines: Voluntary Contributions to Support Living Wage Gaps 🍫  Scaling impact for living income in cocoa 🎯 Introducing ofi’s new sustainability strategy with living income commitment 🍵 New mechanisms to improve the livelihoods of tea workers 📃 How the Business Commission to Tackle Inequality (BCTI) promotes commitment to act at the Board Room ☕ Value distribution in coffee and addressing farmer prosperity 🤝 Principles of inclusion in advancing living income – Statement LICOP/GIZ/IDH 🔗 Read more about the milestones and innovations: https://lnkd.in/ebRdxfhq #LivingIncome #LivingWage #BetterIncomes #SmallholderFarmers Marjan De Bock-Smit Karen Janssens Joke Aerts Roel van Poppel Flávia Witmer Suzy Garraghan Carolien de Bruin Andrea Olivar Nadia Hoarau-Mwaura Stephanie L. Daniels

In 2023, IDH accelerated its efforts to create better jobs for workers and producers. What do we mean by 'better jobs'? 💰 𝐉𝐨𝐛𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐬 ➡️As a 2023 highlight 9 UK retailers committed to providing banana supply chain workers with a living wage by the end of 2027, joining similar commitments in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. 🦺 𝐉𝐨𝐛𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬  ➡️ In 2023, we were proud to achieve improved working conditions for 1,032,949 workers in India, Vietnam, Cambodia and Indonesia through our Life and Building Safety Initiative (LABS). ⚖️ 𝐉𝐨𝐛𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬 ➡️In 2023, through the Grains for Growth program, IDH in collaboration with Mastercard Foundation supported the inclusion of smallholder farmers in Ghana, creating 116,881 work opportunities with a central focus on women and youth empowerment. Curious to read more highlights? Find our 2023 annual report here: https://lnkd.in/eYfarG-W IDH India #IDH2023AR #LivingWages

There are no silver bullet strategies for closing the living income gap. IDH supports companies’ efforts to close gaps on living income by strengthening international alignment, sharing knowledge and tools, and building tangible solutions.   As part of our Living Income Roadmap toolkit, we are thrilled to announce the launch of the Income Driver Calculator at last week’s Living Wage & Living Income Summit 2024. The Income Driver Calculator is a data-driven decision tool to support organisations and practitioners with living income ambitions. It can: 📝 Assess the living income gap 🌡 Measure the impact of each income driver 💡 Build scenarios on specific interventions 📈 Analyse the impact of the interventions on the living income gap   🔗 Learn more about the Income Driver Calculator: https://lnkd.in/ebupRF9V   #LivingIncome #BetterIncomes #SmallholderFarmers Vaibhav Panpaliya

The stage is set for Farmer Organization transformation in #Tanzania's agricultural sector!    We're thrilled to announce the kickoff of the AgriGRADE pilot project, a collaborative effort to develop and graduate agricultural cooperatives to higher professional standards.    AgriGRADE is expected to drive value chain efficiency and optimisation of the agri-supply chain by tapping into economies of scale of Farmer cooperatives in sourcing and service delivery.  This event brought together a powerful network of stakeholders: government officials, financial institutions, agribusiness off-takers, farmer organisation representatives, and development partners. The energy was tangible as we discovered AgriGRADE's vast potential to promote rural development in Tanzania.   In his opening remarks, the Commissioner for Cooperatives in Tanzania explained the government’s plans to segment and develop agricultural cooperatives. This aligns perfectly with AgriGRADE's mission to empower cooperatives through segmentation and graduation. It provides a great opportunity for cross-learning and scaling the approach in the future.    Stakeholders across the board recognised the potential of professional farmer organisations and their critical role in unlocking access to finance, securing reliable markets and enhancing operational efficiency.    AgriGRADE is a seed of change, and Tanzania's fertile agricultural sector presents a remarkable opportunity for its growth. By working together, we can cultivate a future where empowered farmers and thriving cooperatives are the cornerstones of rural prosperity.    Lets AgriGRADE Oikocredit Agriterra, SCOPEinsight, FFF #AgriGRADE #IDH #CooperativeDevelopment #RuralDevelopment #Agribusiness 

"You cannot have a sustainability ambition if you don’t address the topic of low wages or low incomes.” This is the message of Honore Strong Johnson , Jordy van Honk and Marcel Vernooij in the IDH podcast “Living Wages: where we are now and what is needed to progress”. The past 10 years have seen various private sector initiatives on voluntary payments as well as public sector and union action. To truly drive systemic change and move towards contractual agreements for living wages, collaboration and engagement from all stakeholders is needed. This podcast explores how voluntary private sector commitments and legally mandated commitments can complement each other and how each actor can play his role. https://lnkd.in/dp9bbMFf #livingwage #collaboration

Over 400 guests from more than 250 organisations from the entire supply chain joined us yesterday at the Living Wage and Living Income Summit 2024. Thanks to all participants for their contributions about the progress, learnings and commitment to strive ahead. At the Summit, we tapped into the recent developments at the International Labour Organization and the upcoming EU reporting and supply chain regulations. Partners shared existing best practices and lessons learnt to close living wage and income gaps through sustainable procurement practices and collective action with unions and farming organisations. Reiterating our opening speakers, janepher li (Janepher Nassali; Uganda Horticulture, Industrial, Service Providers and Allied Workers Union) and Steven Collet (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands) who stressed to leave no one behind and the need for a supply chain dialogue. We celebrated many milestones and innovations. Keep an eye on our channels for all updates. The Living Income Community of Practice (LICOP), GIZ and IDH shared Principles of inclusion in advancing living income. On behalf of the organisations, Stephanie L. Daniels, co-founder of LICOP, stood up during the Celebrating Innovations and Milestones session to explain the five principles. 1. Champion Essential Role of Farmers in Global Sustainability & Resilience 2. Invest Together in Farmers’ Livelihoods 3. Leverage Legislation to Benefit Smallholder Farmers 4. Commit to Long-term Relationships and Due Diligence Practices 5. Manage and measure Living Income Commitments with Inclusivity Join us to action these principles. Big thanks to all our partners, and especially Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH and United Nations Global Compact for pulling our strengths and resources to organise this summit together. #LivingWage #LivingInome #Collaboration

What do buyers need to get started with working on living wages with their selected suppliers? At IDH, we recognise that whilst addressing living wage gaps ideally requires long-term cooperation between buyers and producers (and other key players in the supply chain), voluntary contributions serve as a good first step for buyers who want to make a difference. With support from our partners in the banana, tea, floriculture and apparel sectors, we have developed the ‘Buyers’ Guidelines: Voluntary Contributions to Support Closing Living Wage Gaps’, which contain three step-by-step toolkits for implementing voluntary contributions. Marjan De Bock-Smit celebrated the publication of the the ‘Buyers’ Guidelines at the Living Wage and Living Income Summit 2024, in the Milestones and Celebration session. It is crucial to highlight that the ultimate goal is to ensure workers receive living wages through negotiations, particularly via social dialogue and collective bargaining agreements. While voluntary contributions can play a role, they cannot fully address the root structural issues causing living wage gaps or replace the importance of collective bargaining. While this falls outside a buyer’s sphere of influence, voluntary contributions do not. 🔗https://lnkd.in/eBQNcNSb #LivingWage #collaboration #Summit