Ethical Partnership (ETP) is a membership organisation with over 13 years of experience working with tea producers and tea companies. By working across the supply chain we’re helping to fulfil our vision of a thriving tea industry that is socially just and environmentally sustainable. We cover all the main tea producing regions and have Regional Managers based in , , , and . Our members are tea sourcing and packing companies that range from large well-known brands to independently-owned boutique blends. We’re helping to improve the tea industry in three ways: Monitoring and Certification:Our monitoring programme is free to producers and helps them to meet international social and environmental standards. We also assist producers to achieve certification by Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance or Utz Certified. Producer Support: Together with a range of partner organisations we provide training and support to tea producers. Issues tackled range from factory health and safety to improving labour and environmental practices. Strategic : There are a number of global issues such as climate change that threaten the sustainability of the tea industry. We’re working with a range of partners on a programme of long-term projects to help secure workers’ livelihoods from tea.

“Co-operation amongst environmental and social standards systems is essential if they are to fulfil their potential in scaling up impact. ETP’s collaboration with independent third-party certification systems and the fact that it brings together such a large proportion of the tea industry gives it the potential to enable significant change in the tea sector.” Sasha Courville, Executive Director, ISEAL Alliance

Factory health and safety Good management of occupational health and safety (OHS) is fundamental to decent working conditions. ETP co-ordinates and supports training across Asia to raise OHS standards.

During 2010 ETP trained 70 management and OHS staff from 20 factories in China and additional factories are being trained each year. In Indonesia a partnership with the Indonesian Ministry of Labour trained 100 management staff from 30 factories. ETP is currently rolling out OHS training in Assam that will reach over 100 estates.

Agrochemical management Without appropriate training agrochemicals can cause health problems and pollute the environment. ETP is working with the Tea Research Institute of China to deliver agrochemical management training in China.

In Sri Lanka, ETP brought together the CEOs of all the Regional Plantation Companies to discuss issues relating to agrochemical management, has built the capacity of a local partner to provide direct training to estate workers and is supporting on-going training across thirty estates. Fair treatment of workers In Sri Lanka the relationship between management and workers is often strained. ETP has been supporting a CARE International programme which brings together management, workers, trade union officials and community members in a structured process to improve decision-making and make positive changes on the estate and surrounding community.

The project has been implemented on 13 estates employing 26,400 workers. As well as increasing productivity and reducing the number of worker- management conflicts, it’s also led to increased career opportunities for women and more harmonious relationships between the Sinhalese and Tamil groups.

“We’re delighted to be partnering ETP and proud that our partnership has demonstrated the value of collaborative engagement between organisations. We are now planning to take this into new estates in order to achieve longer term impacts for estate workers, the estates themselves and communities more widely.” Tim Bishop, Head of Private Sector Engagement, CARE International UK

Gender In some regions, barriers exist that prevent women from securing full time employment and advancing their careers. In Kenya, ETP has been working with the Ethical Trade Initiative (ETI) to roll-out their acclaimed supervisor training programme to tackle the problem. As well helping supervisors to identify and address issues of discrimination and harassment, the training also helps to improve their overall people management skills, making a real difference to the day-to-day quality of life for workers.

To date, over 200 managers and supervisors from the Kenya Tea Development Association (KTDA), the main smallholder tea organisation, have been trained and the project is being expanded in 2011.

Environmental management Producers in certain areas of India and Sri Lanka face specific challenges in reducing conflict between people and wildlife, particularly elephants. When elephants enter estates they damage crops and property and can cause injuries to workers. Consequently, communities live in fear of the elephants and elephants coming into estates have been badly injured or killed.

In 2010, ETP teamed up with the Nature Conservation Foundation (NCF) to run workshops in tea-growing areas with high elephant populations to raise awareness on the importance of protecting estate staff and property. Practical ways to live more harmoniously with elephants to reduce danger to both people and elephants were also demonstrated.

Climate Change Adaptation In Kenya we’re working with the German Development Agency (GIZ) and a range of local partners to help the tea sector adapt to the effects of climate change. The aim of the project is to build producers’ knowledge of the impacts of climate change and to provide tools and learning to help them to adapt their farming methods so they’re less vulnerable.

Climate models showing the impact on tea growing regions in 2020 and 2050 have been developed by the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) in order to evaluate which farmers are most at risk. We are now working to develop a range of tools and support programmes to help vulnerable producers to adapt and over the next two years will be supporting 10,000 smallholder farmers implement adaptation techniques. www.ethicalteapartnership.org [email protected] +44 (0)207 953 7664