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Annual Report 2009

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Annual Report 2009 Annual report 2009 Solidaridad Coffee Annual report 2009 Textiles Fruit Soy C0coa Biomass Sugar cane Gold Palmoil Tea Solidaridad Network Statutory principles Solidaridad Solidaridad Foundation was established on 15 June 1976 Solidaridad’s organizational structure is going through and has its office in Utrecht. Solidaridad sees itself as an important change process: the transformation into part of the Christian ecumenical tradition which works an international network organization. This innovation to achieve economical, political and cultural justice, is necessary for shaping the future of our international and the care of creation. With the guiding principles cooperation. of peace and freedom, Solidaridad seeks working relationships with partners that strive to achieve justice p 8 and sustainability grounded in their own religious and cultural traditions. Solidaridad’s objective is to support organizations in developing countries that seek to structurally combat poverty. Solidaridad seeks to achieve this aim through: – Strengthening producer organizations and civil society organizations in developing countries that are working on the sustainable development of their economy. – Involving companies, financial institutions and investors in developing supply chains with added value for producers, created through Fair Trade and corporate social responsibility. – Involving citizens and consumers in and creating a support base in churches and society for sustainable Textiles economic development through providing informa- Bigger brands and a better approach tion that is aimed at raising awareness and changing behaviour. In the textile chain, Solidaridad supports: cotton production, cotton processing, and clothing manufacture. This made an impact in 2009, achieving better social and environmental and labour conditions, and a reduction in environmental pollution. p 24 Colophon Text and editing: Zinder Mediaproducties / Hans Soy Noortman; Suzanne Heuts; Solidaridad Guiding companies towards sustainability Design: Daan van Beek Cover photo: Olaf Hammelburg Meeting the growing demand for soy requires more and Photos: Solidaridad, unless otherwise indicated more agricultural land, putting both family farming and the natural environment under pressure. In 2009, a new This annual report is available in print in Dutch an can be step was taken towards global codes of conduct. With obtained from the office in Utrecht. The Dutch, English Solidaridad’s support, Keurslagers with an eco-label, and Spanish internet versions in PDF can be FrieslandCampina and CONO cheese makers all opted to downloaded from www.solidaridad.nl and use responsibly farmed soy. www.solidaridadnetwork.org p 32 Cocoa Collaborating with Mars Mars decided to use only responsibly produced cocoa from ’t Goylaan 15, 3525 AA Utrecht, The Netherlands 2020. Solidaridad provided support and launched a joint Tel: + 31 30 2720313 publicity campaign. [email protected] www.solidaridad.nl p 36 www.solidaridadnetwork.org (online as from May 2010) The sustainable public procurement policy Solidaridad is registered as a foundation at the Chamber of Commerce in The Hague with number 41150939 A heated discussion grew up in 2009 about sustainability criteria for the public procurement of products. Solidaridad is working towards getting other certification models accepted alongside the well-known Fair Trade one. p 65 2 Solidaridad Annual report 2009 Contents Preface Market development and communication Development cooperation new style 4 Joint campaigns with strategic partners61 Market research61 Vision and strategy Partnership & Business Development 62 Solidaridad in a nutshell 5 Fundraising campaigns 62 Corporate communication 64 Solidaridad becomes a network organization 8 Success in influencing the sustainable public The Regional Expertise Centres11 procurement policy65 Sustainability in times of crisis14 Internal affairs New policies on three themes 16 Staffing, quality and partnerships66 Strategic partners: Round tables and the WWF 18 Staff66 Quality policy 67 Coffee Partnerships and fundraising70 Price is only one factor in farmers’ incomes20 Management and supervision72 Accountability statement 72 Textiles Management report 2009 73 Bigger brands and a better approach24 Director 74 Fruit Financial report75 A bridge from producer to consumer 28 Auditor’s report84 Soy Guiding companies towards sustainability32 Cocoa Collaborating with Mars36 Biomass Pioneering takes long-term commitment 40 Sugar cane Contributing to a global code of conduct44 Gold Mining programme expanding fast48 “… There is a momentum of change in the world Palm oil today. For many years the sustainability agenda Supporting vulnerable producers52 has been carried by consumers making conscious choices. Consumer labels such as Max Havelaar, EKO Tea and FSC have made such choices possible and visible Certification of the first plantations and farmers56 on the market. Now, sustainability is on the agenda of many companies: they are taking responsibility Tourism with fairtrade producers for the origin of their products and have started to New ideas and better organization60 see sustainability as one of the preconditions for the continuity of their business. …” Nico Roozen in ‘Solidaridad in a nutshell’ (page 5) Solidaridad Annual report 2009 3 Preface Development cooperation new style The term ‘market economy’ is supposed to sound reassuring. After all, the market stands for economic freedom and opportunities. It is believed to be able to balance people’s needs and the supply of good to provide for them, thus promoting prosperity. The market is dynamic; it stimulates continuous innovation. The reality is that not everything covered by the terms ‘market’ or ‘innovation’ lives up to these widely shared expectations. In his latest book Freefall, Joseph Stiglitz analy- ses the freefall of the market and describes the ‘race to the bottom’. Innovation in the financial sector was primarily geared to escaping from the already limited public super- vision, with disastrous consequences for the entire world economy. Markets are human institutions. They only function in the interests of the public if they are set up to do so. That is why Solidaridad has been working for over 20 years on the organi- zation of fair, transparent markets for sustainable products. We have now opted to collaborate with big players such as Douwe Egberts / Sara Lee and Mars. This amounts to innova- traditional ‘development project’. But the multiplier effect of tion in development cooperation. these efforts is also much greater. ‘Old style’ development aid often appeals to people more. The Round Tables in which Solidaridad is actively involved, They feel that as donors, they can see ‘what is done with their in the sugarcane, soy, cotton and palm oil sectors, confront money’: goats are bought; hospitals may even be built. All too us with a hard and inescapable reality that leaves millions in often such initiatives are then wiped out as a result of aggres- poverty and destroys the environment. This is the world of sive economic development and its negative impact on bad practices. And yet even here we find allies in Nestlé, Uni- local situations. One of the immediate side-effects of much lever, FrieslandCampina and many other players, both large ‘growth’ is the ‘production’ of more poverty. This is not to say and small. We are impressed by the vision of the leaders of that Solidaridad has no or little appreciation for traditional these companies, who are in a position to make a difference development aid. On the contrary: we grew out of the chari- and set a trend in the world economy of moving towards table tradition in the churches. But an analysis of the develop- sustainability and socially responsible production. They can ment process has now led us to focus on mainstream global achieve what no single development organization could ever trade, in the belief that it is there that poverty is created, and achieve on its own. there that it must be combated. The board wishes to express its warm appreciation of and Solidaridad’s policy is reflected in the ‘pyramid of change’, pride in the expert and incredibly committed team of staff at which makes it clear that the change process demands the Solidaridad, who are the innovative initiators of the develop- involvement of all the actors in the chain: consumers com- ments described and explained in the report offered to you panies and sectors. We have found allies who share our here. vision among people involved in Dutch development politics and many others in the field. This policy demands different Roelf Haan assessment criteria to those applied in traditional develop- Chairman of the board ment aid. The work ahead will be a long haul, requiring sharp analysis, strong powers of persuasion, and plenty of deter- mination. It will only be possible to evaluate its effectiveness in terms of costs and profits in the long term. Far more work has to be invested in this labour-intensive operation than in a 4 Solidaridad Annual report 2009 Vision and strategy Solidaridad in a nutshell In this chapter, a brief introduction to Solidaridad is followed by several sections on the vision and strategy underpinning our organization. Two crucial developments stand out: the runaway growth of corporate social responsibility and the accompanying sustainable chain development, and Soldaridad’s development into an international network organization. Mission in developing countries provides the basis for a decent exist- To combat
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