Knowledge is power

Since Tchibo actively purchases throughout the world, we benefit from the advantages of an international workforce. In return, we take on responsibility in raw coffee and cotton-producing countries. The guiding principle “help them to help themselves” applies to all our activities and all projects initiated in cooperation with our partners. We want to empower people to actively shape their future.

Guatemala: better education for the children of coffee farmers

As there are no good alternatives, migrant workers often have to take their children with them to the coffee fields during harvest times. This means that the boys and girls will not attend school for months, which considerably reduces their possibilities to obtain good education. It is also possible that children help their parents in the fields, substantiating a risk of illegal child labour. Together with local educational institutions, Tchibo is committed to offering age-appropriate care and education for the children of coffee farmers. The project provides better access to education and helps children catch up with their classmates when they return to their villages.

A feasibility study shows: Location and schedules are key factors both for permanent employees on coffee farms and migrant workers. All interviewees said they would use childcare programmes during harvest times. This is very important, as the successful implementation of our project will depend on people accepting our offerings. We will introduce a range of services in a specific growing area during the 2011/2012 harvest. We plan to set up a kindergarten for the little ones. It will be managed by local ethnic women. We also want to offer age-appropriate activities for school children, enabling them to continue learning and fill gaps in knowledge.

Pupils in Quinchía, Columbia: “Fairer Genuss” provides for full-time offering

As explained in our 2009 report, Eduscho Austria and “Federación Nacional de Cafeteros de Colombia” (FNC) launched the San Juan school project in the small town of Quinchía in central Columbia. We first build a new classroom and provided all required furniture and teaching materials. In November 2009, we started construction work on a cafeteria in the second floor of the building, completing the facility in May 2010. This ensures all-day care for the children – from morning lessons, through the lunch break, to homework supervision in the afternoon.

About 70 children from our partner cooperative can regularly attend school now thanks to this new construction. The project was financed through a donation campaign: From February 2009 until completion of the project, ten cents were donated to the South American school project for every “Eduscho Fairer Genuss” unit sold. The campaign helped to raise a huge amount of money to cover the costs incurred.

Women in Kenya: expanding knowledge to promote independence

Men dominate the coffee business in East Africa. Although they do much of the farm work, women are mostly excluded from decision-making processes. Since 2010 we have been looking for ways to better involve women in our projects. Our training programme in the Baragwi cooperative in Kenya is a good example for our new approach: A local study revealed that women wished to get more information on good cultivation practices for growing coffee, maize, beans and mangos. They also said they needed support in developing additional sources of income such as dairy farming or chicken farming as well as advice on proper finance planning for required investments. In 2010 we selected 13 existing women’s groups for participation in the project.

Social involvement in coffee-growing countries – supporting the ICP

In addition to Tchibo’s own commitment, we are also collaborating with strong partners in the raw coffee-producing countries. Since 2011 we have been involved in numerous support activities under the motto “help them to help themselves” through the “International Coffee Partners” (ICP) organisation. Joint efforts made by this group of players across the coffee chain have directly helped 12,000 coffee farmers so far. Another approximately 56,400 farmers have benefited indirectly.

“Cotton made in Africa”: improving the living conditions of cotton farmers

Many of our textiles are made from cotton. Since 2008, we have strongly supported “Cotton made in Africa”, an initiative of the “Aid by Trade Foundation” to improve the living conditions of African cotton farmers and their families in Benin, Burkina Faso, Malawi, Côte d’Ivoire and Zambia. Farmers are trained in environmentally and socially sustainable, efficient cultivation practices, allowing them to achieve higher quality cotton yields and improving their income. Another key factor is providing famers’ children with better access to education. Tchibo actively purchases “Cotton made in Africa”, and we frequently offer items from “Cotton made in Africa” in our weekly changing range of products.

Case study: Benin – paving the way for better education with strong partners

The West African Republic of Benin is one of the poorest countries in the world. Cotton farming has a long history there. About a third of the Beninese population live in extreme poverty. Many children cannot attend school regularly, as their parents do not have the money for school supplies and uniforms. Schools are often far away and use to be poorly equipped, lacking seating, tables and teaching materials. In six communities, this situation is now set to improve.

In July 2010, Tchibo launched a school project in Benin, together with the “Aid by Trade Foundation”, the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ), the German Investment and Development Company (DEG), the International Cotton Association I.C.A.-GIE and the local “Cotton made in Africa” farmers’ organisation. The public private partnership (PPP) will run until 2013 and intends to improve the school infrastructure and quality of education in six Beninese communities.

In 2010, the partnership already provided school books and about 10,000 school uniforms from “Cotton made in Africa”. In December 2010, construction work started for a school building in Pehonco. There a plans to build another six schools in the north of Benin. Ten facilities will be connected to the grid; photovoltaic plants are to be installed on these buildings. We will also set up ten school cafeterias, complete with own drinking water well and vegetable gardens.

This project in Benin is not just about offering children a better future: It makes a valuable contribution to improving the living conditions of smallholders in the long term and advancing sustainable cotton farming.