Cocoa is really brown gold.
But for whom? Unfortunately, the producers are those who are getting
the small parts of this brown gold. This is where the problem is. The producers don't have the power. They don't have it yet. The general worker is the one who knows
the bitterness of this life. Cocoa is feeding more than 2 million people in Côte d'Ivoire. They are relying on cocoa. All their life is cocoa. All their income come from cocoa. Unfortunately, because this product is not selling
on the market on a good price producers are not getting benefit from their hard work. This is where the issue is. Fairtrade is just fighting for justice in trade respect of human rights and better conditions for farmers. This is what we are talking about. We are not asking for aid. Just justice for what they are doing. Because we think that justice in trade
is the beginning of development. This is what we think. The United Nation general assembly
was a scene of a celebration in 2015 When 193 member countries adopted
the sustainable development goals. A unanimous commitment to end poverty fight unequality, and tackle climate change. 5 years ago, 193 committed to the Global Goals. A historic plan to end extreme poverty,
conquer inequality and fix the climate crisis. Look at our world now: our climate is heating up, natural disasters are increasing, millions flee their homes, Children suffer without vital food and healthcare, activists are murdered for their views, girls and women are refused in education and subjected to discrimination and violence. But we still dare to hope, but in 2020 you will act decisively. We are watching you! Every day, you know, the question that I'm asking myself is: What can I do? Every day in our life, professional, home,
in our country there are so many things that we can do that can start change. The sustainable development goals are a plan. It is a social contract between people living now and the next generation. and it's also a contract between us
- human being - and the planet. and it's a contract to somehow address
some of the root causes of inequalities, climate change, poverty and many discriminations that many communities and also women face still today in many parts of the world. Each government wants to become independent also financially. And trade is a very key strategy. so we need more trade, but we need fair conditions for trade. Fairtrade is different from other markets. There is that part of the Premiums
or money that goes direct to workers. So as much as they pay for their flowers,
there's an extra coin going to employees and changing the lives of workers. We have a project on medical outreach. Medical outreach is a project that is supporting
workers living HIV positively. We support them by providing the right food
that is recommended by the doctor. The death rate has now gone down
with HIV infected employees because now they get the right food. They go to clinics. I mean before they were stigmatized. Right now I can assure you the level of
losing any employee right now is very minimal. They are able to live positively. And that's why they can live longer. I am Mercy Biwot. I am a flower picker. Also I am the chairperson
of Fairtrade Premium committee. We are the ones who manage the Premium. How do we use this Premium? And as we use the Premium does it have an impact? The one who can give us the
project proposal is the worker. Because he knows: Maybe in my area I
don't have a very good school. So please can you build us a classroom? Or build us a water tank? because us as the workers we normally know our challenges. This Premium is here to improve the living
standard of a general worker - not a management. The decision makers are the workers. I was elected as the chairperson maybe because of the good leadership
which I have inside of me. Because before somebody elects you first they see
how do these persons handle people. So they see something good inside of me. The textile industry is actually the second largest
employer in India after agriculture. And so you can imagine the number of farmers and
workers who are involved in this sector. My Name is Sethulakshmi
and I work for Fairtrade. I'm a part of the textile team as of now. When you have a large number of workforce here especially
when you have women there are difficulties which they could face which could be discrimination, it could be sexual harassment at the workplace, or getting unequal pay, or not being able to actually voice their opinion when
they have a problem. And what we try and do with them is to understand their perspective of what they feel
is a safe working environment. And then we train them on various topics.
It could be something like their basic health and safety at work, it could be how do you address grievances
if you have them if you have a case of sexual harassment, how do you address that? How do you form committees and how
do you strengthen these committees? Female should have equal opportunity like men. And let us be the committees who the workers
feel free to come and report the issue. Okay? Listen to the worker and then you act immediately.
If it is a big issue - that's why we are there. We shall come to this round table and talk about it. When an employee has an issue of gender they know
where to report their cases. We had a manager who sexually harassed a female employee. I was reported directly - not even to the committee. So she came to me crying. I told her I can go make a report. So after going through this letter,
I called the person who was accused. That is the management level. I asked him some questions. But he wanted to deny, but I used
my tactics on how I will get the truth. I set up my phone. You know when we are going for the trainings
we are trained on how you can do these things. So he was just thinking that because we are juniors
we cannot handle him. And according on how he was talking I did some investigation. After investigations I got some evidence to show that
there was something which was going on. He has even threatened her
that he is going to suck her. We tried to interrogate him and he was like there's nothing you can do. I am a man and I can I can seduce whatever I want. Maybe you are jealous, because I don't come to you. And then I asked him: What are you saying? Do you know the policy of the company? And he said: Then what are you going to do? It was really hard for me to make the top management
to deal with this case. It was really a challenge. But after consulting with them slowly by slowly convincing them that we have the standards.
And if we have the standards we should walk on these standards. So the board agreed that he should go. We dismissed him like that, yes. You know I've been in this sector now for ten years. And a lot of time during these 10 years has been
spent face to face with worker groups. Those are the trainings
where I get the maximum satisfaction. Because I sort of immediately find
a connection with the women workers. An I'm able to make maybe
a small difference in somebody's life. There are women who have come back and said: We are much more confident now.
We are able to communicate better. If there is some problem, we are the first ones
to come forward and voice our grievance. Or there's somebody who says: I'm now ready to take more responsibility, I want to apply to be a supervisor. But at the same time if the women are not aware enough they could actually use the system and come forward
and without fear be able to talk about their grievances then the whole system fails. But if you're working with the management to set things right then there are real wonders that can happen in factories. I mean I have seen places where the culture
has completely changed. People say:
We are treated with respect. We enjoy working here.
We feel it's a family. So at the end of the day I think that's what matters. I mean people need to have a sense of ownership
with the place that they work in. I think these are the things that would sort of
give me satisfaction at the end of the day. When I actually do these trainings and try
and make a little difference. Women nowadays have really arised up. And I like that. And I know we shall do more. Yes, let us support women. Farmer's challenges and worker's challenges
are not just one kind of a side. No, it's not that they`re hungry
or they do not have education. It's a more complicated kind of situation
than these different interpretations. And what we`re providing is a completely
new set of interventions together. Which is by what the SDGs try to do.
That's why they have 17 SDGs that cover from hunger to partnerships.
Because they have to be comprehensive. And that's what Fairtrade does.
That complete kind of approach. If you see the SDGs to me it is to end all poverty. And by doing that you are supporting gender equality, you are combating the effect of climate change, you are bringing partners together, you are dealing with health,
you are dealing with education. But to me the core of the SDGs and what Fairtrade
really is aiming to do is end all poverty particularly poverty on the farmers and workers sides. And if you ask coffee grower that I happened to
meet in Costa Rica two years ago he told me I don't want my kids to be farmers. I want my kids to be doctors. I want my kids to be lawyers. Why?
Because there's no future in farming. You know every day I get less and less for my coffee. So that's what is at stake. And what happens is that people are going to get tired of
being the farmer, being on the poor side of the equation. So, they are going to try to look for jobs on something else.
Which they are already doing. So that future sounds bad, but were walking towards it. Currently what we see is that the price
that the producer is selling their beans cannot cover their cost of production. So, there is a problem. If I'm unable to cover my cost of production how will I send my children to school? How will I offer a better condition to my family? I can't earn a living income. This is where we need to work at. And this is where we campaign for all the supply chain,
all the actors to think about what is getting back to the farmers is too small and they can't afford a decent living condition. For Côte d'Ivoire alone we have 255 producer organizations which are Fairtrade certified. Unfortunately, they are only selling 15 percent of their
beans under Fairtrade terms. It means that if they are able to sell more,
it will bring more benefits to their community. Unfortunately, yet it is not the case. So my appeal is that consumers partners
work toward this living income and make sure that others will understand how it's important for farmers to earn more to be able to have a future for cocoa production. If we want to build a better society, if we want to change the world, it's not just about money. It's about changing the way we consume. Changing the way we behave. I see more the potential of Fairtrade and people
more and more making a statement saying: I'm only buying this product,
because producer are paid fairly and because certain conditions
environmentally and socially were met. We can only start by individual action that we can take very day. And I think this makes us realize how important we are and how many things we can change. And we see from South Sudan to Egypt to Libya to Germany the US or Brazil, we see young people designing initiative for creating new ideas
to change their society starting from their communities. This gives me hope. But I don't want to hide that the context in
which we operate is often depressing. So, I don't know how you cope between understanding that the context is challenging and that the leadership is not really
addressing the root causes. Is this empowering producers or just making profits
for those who are already rich? So this is where we should be asking the question. But what is important for me is,
for this producer to be the central part of the business. Having their words, their say. They should be able to say: "This is what we want." Not what people want from them. The people who are optimistic,
are no crazy people. There is the possibility to change things.
