Business Partnerships as a Force for Good | Learning Series | Newsletter 2 - May 2021

Quarterly Newsletter | May 2021

Business Partnerships for Global Goals

COVID-19 Vulnerable Supply Chains Facility Business Partnerships as a Force for Good Learning Series

Welcome to the May 2021 edition of Business Partnerships for Global Goals (BP4GG) programme newsletter Through the BP4GG programme’s Vulnerable Supply Chains Facility (VSCF), the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) partners with UK and international businesses with operations in Africa and Asia to provide relief and support to vulnerable women and men workers at farm/factory level during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The VSCF portfolio of eight projects trials shared value initiatives that contribute to ‘building back better’ from the Pandemic by strengthening supply chain resilience, and increasing social and environmental sustainability. To achieve this, we work

in partnership with multinationals, not-for-profit organisations, and a range of supply chain actors. The VSCF practically demonstrates how businesses working in partnership with government aid agencies and the not-for-profit sector can be a force for good at this highly challenging time.

This newsletter aims to showcase this approach by providing latest updates and learnings from the VSCF project portfolio, celebrating successes, showcasing hard work, and signposting to further learning opportunities.

Our Partners

• Arco • Awaj Foundation • CARE International • Co-op • Coventry University • Dimensions • Ethical Trading Initiative • Fairtrade Africa • Fairtrade Foundation • Flamingo Horticulture • Flower Hub • FlowerWatch • FNET • Girl Determined • GoodWeave International • Impactt • IPL • Marks & Spencer • MM Flowers • Mondelez International • Minor Weir and Willis • Monsoon Accessorize • Morrisons • New Look • Partner Africa • Practical Solutions International • Primark • Proctor & Gamble • Sainsbury’s • Tesco • Union Roasted • VF Corporation • Waitrose • Women Working Worldwide • Xpol

Covid-19 safety awareness poster distributed at workers’ rights awareness sessions Photo credit: © GoodWeave International/ Magnifier Creatives

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About the programme…

Business Partnerships for Global Goals (BP4GG) is a UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) programme which invests in partnerships with businesses and not-for-profit organisations to test and scale shared value business initiatives that contribute to the Global Goals.

The BP4GG programme was initiated shortly before the global coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic was declared in March 2020.

Given the profound global disruption to trade and economy, in April 2020 BP4GG was pivoted toward responding to the pandemic, resulting in the establishment of a rapid response facility, the ‘COVID-19 Vulnerable Supply Chains Facility’ (VSCF).

The Facility partners with 20 UK and international retailers and brands, and nine not-for-profit organisations, supporting over 130 suppliers across Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Myanmar, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe. It is providing economic, social, and health benefits to around one million women and men directly and indirectly.

BP4GG is managed by Mott MacDonald.

Accenture Development Partnerships and the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) are consortium partners.

How is BP4GG supporting vulnerable women and men in the supply chains during the pandemic?

Creating value for the most vulnerable people through partnering with responsible businesses

• Supplying the most vulnerable

workers and their families with relief packages including food, masks, soap, hand sanitiser and paracetamol.

• Providing farms and garments factories with technical assistance for re-purposing toward COVID-19-safe processes to stay in production during the pandemic.

• Financial inclusion for factory workers to support them during the pandemic and beyond.

• Training and assistance for flower farms and smallholders to enable them to continue to grow and harvest their crops during lockdown while building resilience.

• Supporting cocoa farmers and flower growers to help them cultivate other crops and diversify their incomes through climate-smart farming.

Focus on gender, social inclusion, human rights, operational safety, trade led growth and climate change

• Strengthening healthcare systems to

safeguard women against genderbased violence in the workplace and wider community.

• Raising awareness of gender inequality and the impact of COVID-19 on women such as gender-based violence and sexual harassment in the workplace and wider community • Testing innovative and climate smart freight options for flowers from Africa to UK and Europe.

• Increasing transparency of ‘hidden’ supply chains to provide enhanced protection against child labour, modern slavery and poor working conditions.

Roses being vase life tested at Nini Flowers, Naivasha, Kenya Photo credit: Nicholas Ramsden, BP4GG

Top BP4GG achievements as at May 2021

1.

Eight projects in seven countries across Africa and Asia The programme is providing assistance to over 130 suppliers and has identified over 560,000 people who will benefit (of which 52% are women)

5.

3.

2.

385,764 vulnerable people (including 54% women) have already received benefits such as: food and health packages, training in a number of themes including new ways of packaging flowers for sea freighting, operational health and safety in farms and factories, COVID-19 testing centres, financial inclusion through mobile money apps, awareness raising on COVID-19, combatting Gender Based Violence (GBV), diversification of income sources, food security and climate resilience support.

Improvements in knowledge, practices and working conditions 195,689 vulnerable people (including 48% women) already report improved knowledge, working practices, or conditions.

4.

Improving lives and livelihoods of the most vulnerable people 172,497 people (of which 47% are women) report positive impact on their livelihoods.

Logframe targets substantially exceeded. The logframe targets have been substantially exceeded with beneficiaries reporting improvements in lives and livelihoods.

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9.

7.

6.

Towards sustainable sea freighting of flowers Additional private sector partners have joined our Sea Freight Flowers project, including Flower Hub, as well as shipping company Maersk. A group of current partners has agreed to continue piloting sea freighting of flowers from Kenya to Europe and the UK once FCDO funding ceases.

Leading regional trade facilitator Trade Mark East Africa is considering support to replicating this model in Ethiopia.

Keeping our people safe As COVID-19 cases have risen in Kenya and Bangladesh leading to renewed lockdowns recently, our partners have expertly pivoted activity delivery toward alternative COVID-safe practices including virtual and online platforms, keeping our teams and beneficiaries on the ground safe.

Adaptive management for navigating challenges The military coup in Myanmar required responsible exit for worker safety and reducing operational risk, with funds rapidly redirected to our garments portfolio in Bangladesh, where we will support an additional 72,496 people (54% women).

8.

Business Partnerships as a Force for Good: Empowering Women during the Pandemic International Women’s Day was marked by a high-level learning event drawing out VSCF lessons for how vulnerable women workers in farms and factories in Africa and Asia can best be supported from the negative impacts of COVID-19. A higherprofile event on Business Partnerships as a Force for Good: Building Back Better and Greener from the Pandemic will be co-hosed in collaboration with Business Fights Poverty on 26 May 2021.

11.

Acting fast during the pandemic Our proactive planning, risk management and efficient programme management enabled providing rapid support in time of need, meeting the target of 80% of VSCF funds being utilised by the end of March 2021.

12.

10.

Two internal coordination and learning events have been successfully organised by the Facility Manager, enabling crossproject learning.

BP4GG was awarded A+ in the FCDO Annual Review 2020 – meaning the project has exceeded expectations.

Mita Samani, Head of Private Sector Department, FCDO rendered the keynote message at the Learning Event: Empowering Women During the Pandemic (3 March 2021)

Mita Samani, Head of Private Sector Department, FCDO was the keynote speaker at the Learning Event organised by BP4GG on 3 March 2021 that marked International Women’s Day. Mita emphasised that COVID-19 has pushed between 143 million and 163 million additional people into poverty this year, 47 million of them are women and girls, and serious reversal of decades of development outcomes is expected. Partnerships remain important for FCDO in this context. Mita stressed the unique position the private sector plays in not only advancing women’s economic empowerment but championing decent work and taking forward the SDG agenda. Amidst the pressures placed on supply chains by the COVID-19 pandemic, BP4GG has demonstrated how shared value initiatives can ‘build back better’ by increasing social and environmental sustainability while maintaining jobs and keeping products on the shelves in the UK. The private sector has the scale and resources to deliver the SDG agenda. Multinational companies also have presence and employ thousands of poor people in many ODA-priority countries. If businesses’ influence and leverage can be harnessed by FCDO, as shown with this programme, they have the potential to impact hundreds of thousands of the world’s poorest. Looking ahead, development remains central to the mission of the FCDO, as a newly-merged department. Advancing gender equity remains a priority, as does supporting countries on the path to sustainable financing, to develop green and resilient capital markets, and to break down barriers to free trade.

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Our Agriculture Portfolio is keeping farms, workers and smallholders COVID-safe and resilient in Africa

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Agriculture supply chains in Africa have been severely disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, resulting in increased joblessness, poverty, and vulnerability for farm workers and smallholders across the continent, especially women. Global lockdown measures have sent the horticulture and flower industries into crisis as exports continue to be curtailed and internal African trade disrupted.

Almost 35% of flowers produced in Kenya are exported to UK and Europe and more than 500,000 workers in Kenya rely on this industry. In East Africa, demand for flowers fell to 20% of normal levels in April 2020, air freight capacity from Kenya to Europe dropped by 60%, and 50,000 flower workers (50% women) were laid off due to COVID-19 impact. Further disruption is likely given the continued resurgence of COVID-19 globally.

Fairtrade has estimated that over 90% of farm workers have been affected by the crisis through issues including food insecurity, lack of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), challenges to safety and wellbeing, increased gender-based violence, and reduced pay. In Ghana, lockdowns and cocoa price collapse impacted farmers’ ability to access transportation, storage, finance, trainings, and agricultural inputs needed for the 2020-21 harvest, with pressures higher on women and elderly cocoa farmers.

“The [COVID-19 awareness] guidelines provided were useful and will help us mitigate the risk of COVID-19. Hand washing is an integral part of our daily routine and our lives not only as a mitigation measure against COVID-19 but also other diseases such as cholera that peak during the rainy season” Africado, Tanzania – farm receiving COVID-19 awareness training through VCSF

To respond to this situation, the VSCF partnership projects in agriculture are targeting a range of farmlevel emergency support interventions, research and learning on pandemic resilience, income Agriculture supply chains in Africa have been severely disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, resulting in increased joblessness, poverty, and vulnerability for farm workers and smallholders across the continent, especially women.

Global lockdown measures have sent the horticulture and flower industries into crisis as exports continue to be curtailed and internal African trade disrupted. diversification, and supply chain adaptation work. A high-level summary of these projects is given below.

Covid-19 Safety Awareness Training for staff on AAA Growers Farm, Kenya Photo credit: Partner Africa

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Agriculture Portfolio To respond to this situation, the VSCF partnership projects in agriculture are targeting a range of farmlevel emergency support interventions, research and learning on pandemic resilience, supply chain adaptation work, trialling climate smart approaches for agriculture portfolio practices, and trialling sea freight routes which have a lower carbon footprint. A high-level summary of these projects is given below.

Testing alternative mechanisms for exporting flowers from Kenya for greener and more responsible trade.

Flamingo Horticulture Limited, together with service companies Practical Solutions International and FlowerWatch, freight forwarders Kuehne & Nagel, and shipping companies CMA and Maersk, are piloting sea freighting of flowers from Kenya to the UK and Europe as a lower-carbon, cost-effective alternative to air freight. The project is engaging supply chain partners to introduce innovations and new processes, triggered by the impact of COVID-19 on reduced air freight availability and escalating prices. Additional buyers IPL, Xpol and Flower Hub have joined the project since its inception. To build on the project’s momentum, additional funds have been allocated to run grower workshops, share results, and encourage more flower farms to trial sea freight through creating market linkages in the sector in Kenya.

Improving business continuity and growth for flower sector in Kenya.

Fairtrade Foundation and MM Flowers have joined forces together with UK retailers Co-op, M&S, and Tesco to provide immediate relief from COVID-19 disruption for Kenyan flower workers through sustainable workplace and fairer trade improvements. This project is reaching over 6000 workers and farmers with direct support, 3000 farmers and workers are improving food security through the kitchen garden work stream and up to 150,000 women and men are being reached with health information, ensuring business continuity for farms, and security of supply for buyers and consumers.

15,000+

women and men workers and farmers in Kenya will benefit from the Flamingo Partnership Sea Freight Flowers project

The Fairtrade Foundation and MM Flowers project is supporting

6000

workers (3210 women), and is providing health information to

150,000

Recovery, resilience and climate smart farming for cocoa farmers in Ghana.

Fairtrade Foundation is also working with Mondelēz International in Ghana to ensure Cadbury-supplying cocoa farmers and their families remain resilient to the pandemic through accelerating income diversification and climate-smart farming. This project partners with Mondelēz’s Cocoa Life sustainability programme in Ghana, and specifically builds on the ‘Climate Change and Organisational Strengthening Programme’. It is providing nine farmer unions with grants to maintain their productive base and diversify their income through start-up capital for new business models.

Improving the horticulture, flower and coffee industry across four countries in Africa.

The Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) has brought together a coalition of UK food retailers including Co-op, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, and Waitrose, to provide technical assistance to 11 farm sites across four countries in East and Southern Africa – Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe. Site-level support is focussing on rebuilding business and making the working environment COVID-19 safe. Training content and lessons will be shared at regional and international levels online, and emerging good practice fed into how the ETI Base Code (responsible practice guidelines) is implemented, with examples disseminated for businesses’ adoption.

women and men

The Fairtrade Foundation and Mondelēz International are supporting

22,475

farmers of which

7500

are women

Partner Africa, the Ethical Trading Initiative and a coalition of UK food retailers are supporting

10,000 4000 farmers of which

are women

Chrysanthemum greenhouse at Flamingo Kingfisher Farm, Naivasha, Kenya Photo credit: Nicholas Ramsden, BP4GG

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Our Garments Portfolio is safeguarding workers, combatting gender inequalities, and increasing supply chain transparency in Bangladesh and Myanmar

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The COVID-19 pandemic has hugely impacted the ready-made garments (RMG) sector, which supports over four million workers employed in over 4000 factories in Bangladesh and Myanmar.

Readymade garments comprise 80% of Bangladesh’s exports. As lockdowns in the Global North led to plummeting demand in March and April 2020, orders were cancelled, jobs lost, and low-income workers made increasingly vulnerable – especially women, who comprise between 60% to 90% of the workforce in these countries. The resurgence of COVID-19 in India in recent months has again put further pressure on the RMG. CARE’s rapid gender assessment conducted for their project design in Bangladesh showed 33% of women reporting physical abuse, 100% indicating increased mental pressure, and reduction of ante- and post-natal care services by up to 87%. From mid-2020 there has been a gradual increase in orders and a return to work, which has posed further health risks on the factory floor – requiring improved Occupational Health and Safety measures for safeguarding workers.

In Bangladesh, ILO estimates 87% of the RMG labour force is informal, and DFID’s 2019 ‘Study on Modern Slavery in Bangladesh’ frequently found exploitation in the informal sector, which has increased under the stresses of the pandemic. In Myanmar, many garment workers have just one month of savings, in the form of cash and jewellery, and in the absence of a fully functioning national social security system, workers do not get fully compensated for loss of earnings due to termination or reduced working hours. The UN Call to Action in the RMG sector urges stakeholders, including the private sector and development partners, to work together to develop concrete and specific measures to help protect garment workers’ income, and build back a more resilient garment industry and training and support on how to use them.

“The most significant thing I learned from the awareness session was about the antiharassment committee. Our supervisor touches the women workers badly while talking.

We couldn’t say anything fearing that we may lose our job. But now I came to know that there should have been an anti-harassment committee in the factory and complaints can be submitted there,” A mother and housewife shared her story after attending one of the genderbased violence awareness meetings

GoodWeave International and Awaj Foundation’s project provided Bangladeshi workers employed in sub-contracted factories with information and materials on their rights and aspects of worker and workplace protection during COVID-19. Twenty-eight Workers’ Rights Awareness Seminars have been hosted across various regions in Bangladesh, reaching over 560 workers, 420, or 75%, of which were women.

Covid-19 Safety Awareness Poster Distributed To Factories Supported By Ethical Trading Initiative Photo credit: Ethical Trading Initiative

1

DFID_Study_on_Modern_Slavery_in_Bangladesh_.pdf (publishing.service.gov.uk)

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Garments Portfolio

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the VSCF garments sector partnership projects are supporting a range of factory- and community-level operational safety and women’s health interventions. Two projects are also addressing the vulnerability of informal workers in ‘hidden supply chains’, and piloting direct cash transfers to vulnerable workers to target immediate resilience and financial inclusion. A high-level summary of the four projects in garments sector is given below.

Ethical Trading Initiative and a number of garment retail brands are supporting

Supporting women in the garment industry, earn a living, stay safe and be respected in a COVID-19 environment.

Multiple garments retail brands including Arco, Dimensions, M&S, New Look, Primark, Sainsbury’s, and Tesco have joined forces with the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) to provide training and technical support to 20 factories in Bangladesh including COVID-19 occupational health and safety training for factory workers and managers.

In six factories assessed as having the greatest need, provision of safety kits, including masks and sanitisers, and additional technical capacity building to the factories’ Safety Committees is provided. Wider learning will be shared through an Expert Support Network to increase understanding of how to best implement the ETI Base Code in the context of a pandemic. This project is supporting at least 30,000 garments factory workers (11,000 women).

Due to reallocation of funds in the last quarter, the project will now be able to support 14 more factories with provision of safety kits, reaching 25,000 additional workers.

11,000

Bringing agency and resilience to informal workers in garments factories in Bangladesh.

GoodWeave International is working with Bangladeshi not-for-profit Awaj Foundation, and international retailers Monsoon Accessorize and VF Corporation, to support workers’ livelihoods and address the hidden nature of informal work through modern day slavery identification, referral, and remediation. The project is mapping garment supply chains – leveraging support from partner brands and four local suppliers – and seeking to identify cases of child, forced, and bonded labour. COVID-19 prevention and legal rights information is being shared, and emergency relief packages are being provided to informal workers. Identified individuals will be provided remediation/referral services and best practices will be shared with other retail brands for wider uptake and adoption. Due to reallocation of funds in the last quarter, the project will now be able to support an additional 5300 informal workers and their families with meaningful emergency food relief and hygiene items.

55,000

garments factory workers of which

are women

By project end, GoodWeave International’s project will provide over

22,800

beneficiaries with COVID-19 safety awareness, which includes

11,546 informal workers and family members who will receive emergency relief packages.

Preventing health and supply chain crisis in the garments industry in Bangladesh.

CARE International and Marks & Spencer are working together in Bangladesh to strengthen community and factory health systems. This project builds on a previous DFID-CARE-M&S-GlaxoSmithKline collaboration, the HALOW+ project. The project is focusing on COVID-19 and GBV awareness and behavioural change for factory workers and community, training for health champions and committees, supporting the functioning of satellite clinics, setting up digital wellbeing centres, support to COVID-19 testing and quarantining, and providing capacity building across 25 factories and 15 communities. More than 80,000 vulnerable people (around 40,000 women) are benefitting from this project. In the last quarter, the project took on a new partner, Primark, and will now be able to support an additional 3200 workers with COVID-19 vaccination registration and will aim to reach up to 90,000 workers through vaccination awareness raising in 150 factories.

Enabling garments factory workers to move from crisis to resilience in Myanmar.

Impactt and Primark joined hands to support garments factory workers (93% women) in four factories in Myanmar through cash transfers over and above takehome-pay, and improving the working environment, especially gender equality through various training sessions. However, in February 2021, the Myanmar military seized control of the country. Since then mass protests have taken place and hundreds of people have been killed. The programme responded rapidly to make sure the project staff and partners were safe while also exploring ways of continuing to reach garment workers. It was eventually found that continuation of the project under the current circumstances was unfortunately not possible. The project closed with approximately 1500 workers (93% women) having received a cash transfer, which strengthened financial resilience and inclusion through access to the digital payments systems. These workers were also able to use the digital financial services for the first time which they found very useful. All of the workers reported that they felt less stressed due to the project activities, even in very trying times. The programme made sure that the exit was managed in a responsible manner with lessons learned being recorded for implementation in other factories. Project owners including Primark and Impactt have expressed willingness to replicate this pilot to other geographies. The remaining funds were reallocated to the other three garments projects to widen and deepen the impact of outreach.

Around

80,000 vulnerable people of which

40,000

are women, are benefitting from the CARE International and M&S led project, while up to an additional 90,000 workers will receive vaccine awareness from the Primark supported component of this project

1500

garments factory workers, of which over

1380

were women, were introduced to digital financial services for the first time through this innovative project. These workers received cash and mentioned how important that was to helping their livelihood situation during the pandemic. 100% stated they felt less stressed as a result.

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Business Partnerships as a Force for Good: Empowering women during the pandemic

By Mehnaz Bhaur, Project Director, BP4GG

Learning from our Business Partnerships

COVID-19 impacted agriculture and garments supply chains hard – both of which employ large numbers of women in Africa and Asia. Evidence collected by BP4GG shows that women have been disproportionately impacted when compared to their male counterparts. Not only do they face challenges of reduced incomes, lost jobs, and food insecurity, but they also face additional challenges like balancing work and childcare, facing gender-based violence and abuse.

To mark International Women’s Day in March, BP4GG held the first of a series of high-level learning events on the theme ‘Business Partnerships as a Force for Good’ on 3 March 2021, focussing on ‘business partnerships empowering women during the pandemic’. The event was attended by over 100 people from across FCDO and all VSCF partner entities, and generated a lively discussion on how businesses, not-for-profits, and development agencies working together have been able to empower women working in the agriculture and garments supply chains in Africa and Asia during the COVID-19 crisis.

Three broad lessons emerged from the session: Lesson 1: Design interventions with women in the front of mind from the very beginning, and not as an afterthought. How are the challenges impacting women adversely and how can these be addressed is the preferred line of inquiry right from the design throughout implementation as well as in monitoring, evaluation and learning. Equally important is to check in with benefiting women regularly as initiatives are deployed to ensure the intended outcomes are being realised, and adapting activities accordingly to achieve greatest positive impact for women.

Lesson 2: Plan interventions that cover the transition from recovery to resilience. Connected with this is the key lesson that in the case of the pandemic, it is important to design projects that have aspects of immediate support with an eye on the longer term to help women transition from recovery to resilience. Providing immediate relief through cash transfers, health packages, and food relief is important, but it is equally important to provide the skills, the training, and the means that can enable women to diversify their incomes, employ climate smart agriculture practices, learn about operational health and safety, or become more rights aware.

Lesson 3: Build on existing partnerships for faster, wider and deeper impact for women. In cases where partnerships exist and trust has been established, using those relationships as stepping stones and building blocks for a high impact project is really effective. Organisations with close supplier relationships and/or boots-on-the-ground in the target countries enables stronger uptake. In the case of a pandemic, time is of the essence and providing the right solution at the right time to those who need it most at a time when they need it most is critical. Hence existing partnerships can provide a solid foundation for faster, deeper and wider impact, reaching more women with more impactful, lasting results.

Our conclusion? There is no one size that fits all. Staying flexible, responsive and adaptive to an ever-changing context against the backdrop of the pandemic can help enhance impact for women, including through increased voice and agency. The sum total of a partnership is greater than the sum of its individual parts. Within a few months, our programme has demonstrated how business partnerships are working as a force for good by empowering women, creating shared value, and enabling women to transition beyond recovery toward resilience in the context of the pandemic.

Around 100,000 women have now benefitted from digital financial inclusion, health services, Personal Protective Equipment, COVID-19 awareness and stigma training, rights and gender-based violence awareness, and climate resilience – all by leveraging the reach and influence of the business partnerships.

Female farmers at CMS Mutira receiving seeds for kitchen garden Photo credit: Partner Africa

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Bridging the gap: Lessons learned from safeguarding the livelihoods of garment workers in Myanmar during the COVID-19 pandemic Countries: Myanmar

By Adam Cole, Principal Consultant, Impactt

The COVID-19 pandemic has posed unprecedented economic challenges for all industries around the globe with certain sectors becoming increasingly vulnerable.

The decline in economic growth has significantly impacted all sectors. In particular, the pandemic has had major impacts on Myanmar’s garment workers. Not only did the pandemic threaten lives, but the sudden reduction in income meant many garment workers were unexpectedly left in a vulnerable position.

Under VSCF, Impactt, in partnership with Primark, international women’s rights NGO Women Win, local NGO Girl Determined, and several garment manufacturers in Myanmar, responded to the ongoing impact of the pandemic through an innovative application of conditional cash transfers combined with a resilience fund. The objective was to provide immediate cash support to workers and leverage commercial relationships to foster sustainable solutions to workers’ problems, through partnerships between supply chain partners, generating more widespread benefits to workers in the longer-term.

Myanmar’s export garment industry contributes over 30% of export earnings and employs around 400,000 people, 80% of which are female. Many of these women were particularly vulnerable to loss of income. With increased lockdown measures, the risk of genderbased violence became a reality for many, who, without income, faced increased pressure and burdens within the home. A Resilience Fund was to be established as part of the project to address this issue, with a specific focus on gender-based violence in the workplace.

Prioritising immediate financial relief to thousands of workers In partnership with an international financial services company who provided an e-wallet service, immediate payments were made to over 1500 factory workers across three factories. 98% of workers reported that this was the first time that they had registered with an e-wallet provider. Prior to the cash payments, 89% of workers stated that they had less money than

previously, and the cost of living had increased since the pandemic. 93% of workers reported they did not have enough money to last the next few months.

Building strong relationships with HR management at factories was key to the success of this part of the project. It was essential to speak to 100% of workers pre-transfer to verify their information, confirm the process and share the support line number while factory sharing sessions enabled management to learn from each other and overcome common obstacles such as e-wallet account set up and password reminder.

Following the completion of the cash payments, 100% of workers interviewed, reported that they felt considerably less anxious since receiving the payment and 97% stated they felt less concerned with their financial situation during the pandemic.

Easing the financial position for participating factories Though the lead brand partner, Primark honoured their orders, workers in participating factories still experienced significant reductions in pay and/or uncertainty in future income due to factory closures and reduced orders by other brands. The participating factories benefited in the form of the provision of indirect financial assistance to their workers that they themselves were unable to provide. These payments were over and above the payment of wages. This cash support for their workers incentivised and encouraged factory management to pursue meaningful engagement with their supply chain partners and commit to deliver sustainable improvements to the enabling environment for female workers. All factories reported a significantly increased sense of trust and appreciation of their relationship with Primark. The factories were both willing and able to manage the project, which had been a key concern at the beginning.

of the pandemic. In close collaboration with the project partners, factory management committed to development programmes aimed at both workers and management to help build skills, develop workplace culture and support management systems, all of which are necessary for generating sustainable improvements in women’s’ experience and prospects at work. Workers were consulted to better understand their workplace needs and priorities. Though workers reported they were happy to raise harassment issues, factories could benefit from enhancing their grievance procedures.

Financing an innovative and cross-sectoral approach to addressing key gender-based issues During our conversations with workers, 38% revealed they were not sure if sexual harassment is only ever physical while 59% of workers agreed that their workplace had rules regarding harassment. However, 28% of workers combined reported they were not sure, disagreed or strongly disagreed. This was a clear indication of a low level of awareness among workers on acceptable and unacceptable behaviour regarding harassment. Through our engagement with the factories, we learned that many supervisors, HR departments and even workers do not have enough understanding and knowledge about harassment and sexual harassment topics. As part of the original scope of the project, a Resilience Fund was to be established to deliver a pioneering and collaborative way to engage participating factories in addressing more structural and societal issues that restrict gender equality and women’s empowerment. The objective of the Fund was to provide seed grants to support

‘Getting back into business’ in a way that respects human rights As part of the project, participating factories were offered technical support to help re-start their businesses in a way that respects human rights and mitigates the risks of worker exploitation in the wake The project worked with mobile money provider WAVE Money to send crash transfers direct to factory workers Photo credit: The Myanmar Times

cross-sector initiatives between local women’s rights organisations and factories to help address genderrelated issues that have a direct impact on business.

The impact of the coup The military coup earlier in the year exceedingly made it difficult to continue operations in Myanmar given the contextual realities. The project had to be closed earlier than planned, which meant that fewer workers than planned were able to benefit from cash transfers and training could not be completed.

However initial results showed that the concept of conditional cash transfers is a useful one which should be further explored in supply chain programmes.

Collaboration and transparency are key for success The collaboration and transparent nature of the partnership was key to the success of the project.

Partnering with well-known brands, rather than taking a top-down approach, levelled the playing field and created a foundation for a trusting and supportive partnership. High levels of engagement and willingness to listen and adapt to factory suggestions also played a key role in receiving buy in from factories. Engagement with senior members of Primark’s team also highlighted the strategic importance of the project and partnership.

Through the extensive and diverse networks of each of the project partners, there are significant opportunities to share this learning far and wide, making a real and valuable contribution to demonstrating responsible business and building resilient supply chains that benefit all those who work in them.

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Pivoting to online delivery in Kenya to ensure staff and beneficiary safety in the face of rapidly rising COVID-19 cases

By Karen Smith, Agriculture Projects Lead, BP4GG

It has been worrying to see a sharp rise of COVID-19 cases in Kenya in April 2021. The government has responded by restricting movement into and out of five counties. Since three of the VSCF agriculture projects operate in Kenya, our partners have had to move quickly to adapt their plans in what is a very busy period for the flower sector due to Easter and European Mothers’ Day. The Sea Freight Flowers project could not go ahead with grower training events in Naivasha, Nakuru, and Nanyuki in April 2021 as planned, and so the team rapidly converted their training material into a twohour webinar and ran nine sessions in one week. The webinars proved highly successful, with over 200 attendees. 23 farms will subsequently receive on-farm training when travel is once more possible, and webinar participants have paid upfront to attend a one-day physical training event in Naivasha later in the year.

connectivity on the farms is not always stable and it is not ideal for the trainers to be unable to interact with the participants in person to assess levels of understanding.

These examples from Kenya demonstrate the excellent agility and flexibility of our VSCF partners.

In some cases, adaptations to activities have also resulted in unexpected benefits. For example, pivoting to online training will enable content and advice to reach thousands of additional farm workers – something our VSCF endline reports and final impact assessments will be tracking.

ETI have been conducting a wide range of trainings in Kenya to support six horticulture and flower suppliers.

They have reported that suppliers are under huge amounts of pressure and stress with the COVID-19 uptick. Business continuity training was arranged in Nairobi to avoid trainers having to visit farms, and is being delivered online to other suppliers. The challenges have also prompted ETI to task East African health contractor Response-Med with making an online COVID-19 tutorial which can be shared with suppliers beyond the 11 directly supported by the project. As a result, the material is expected to reach far more people than originally envisaged.

The Fairtrade and MM Flowers team have been in an intense period of delivery during March and April 2021.

The team worked closely with service providers and partners to adjust activities such as kitchen garden and income diversification support to flower farm workers, to ensure such support could still go ahead when farms could no longer be physically visited. This has been challenging, particularly for trainings, as internet

AAA Growers’ Workforce is being trained by a fellow staff member on Covid-19 safety as part of the training roll-out Photo credit: AAA Growers

Garments sector Occupational Health and Safety learning event Susanne Roelofs, Project Manager Garments Projects, BP4GG (summary based on Learning Brief written by Nicola Doody and Rahul Malik, published 17 May 2021)

On 21 April 2021, BP4GG held another technical learning event in our Business Partnerships as a Force for Good Learning Series. The session brought together the garments sector projects on the topic of COVID-19 Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) compliance, and was attended by 28 representatives from suppliers, donors and NGOs. Participants were asked to discuss the main challenges, highlights, and lessons learned around COVID-19 safety compliance in garment factories in Bangladesh and suggest ways to ensure sustainability of key OHS practices.

As a result of work conducted so far, there are four key learnings for brands, NGOs, and donors to consider when designing and implementing future OHS programmes for garment workers: 1. Both hardware and software is important – investment and changes made in the factory floor set-up, to allow for social distancing and appropriate ventilation, should be combined with training and awareness raising activities for the best results.

2. Focus on the why, not the how – behaviours, rather than rules and policy, should be the main focus and shifting to the “why”, not (only) “how”, is expected to draw more upon workers’ involvement and personal responsibility.

3. Factory engagement is critical – Engaging factories across management levels as early as possible was quickly learnt to be of key importance, with partners recognising that in the future this should ideally be done in project design phases.

4. Partnerships can be key drivers of sustainable change – partnerships among all stakeholders (CSOs, NGOs, brands, suppliers, factory workers etc.) can help ensure appropriate incentives for change from all angles, and build consensus for sustainable results, as well as drive local business buy-in, ownership, and continued engagement.

Covid-19 awareness session at factory supported by the CARE project in Bangladesh Photo credit: CARE Bangladesh

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Digital tools are here to stay!

Partnering in a pandemic: Embracing uncertainty Initial lessons from the Vulnerable Supply Chains Facility

By Karen Smith, Agriculture Projects Lead, BP4GG

By Georgina Duffin, Private Sector Analyst, BP4GG

A cross agriculture portfolio learning event, as part of the BP4GG Business Partnerships as a Force for Good Learning Series, was held on 20 April 2021, and was attended by 23 representatives from suppliers, donors and NGOs. The COVID-19 pandemic has severely restricted travel and as a result, new approaches have had to be adopted to gain information on suppliers, workers and farmers in rural Africa. To understand how mobile technology can be deployed in this regard, participants heard from two digital service providers, &Wider and 60 Decibels, both of whom have delivered data collection for the VSCF agriculture projects. In addition, the Fairtrade MEL team and Partner Africa presented their experiences of using these tools.

There key insights from the session were as follows: 1. 60 Decibels focus on impact measurement and customer satisfaction. Their approach enables benchmarking, which complements RCT approaches, providing information to clients not only on what is working, but also what is working best.

2. There can be challenges navigating local data protection laws - there is no uniform approach to data protection in Africa, unlike GDPR in Europe.

Countries are starting to introduce their own individual systems which can lead to additional processes. Some suppliers also have limited understanding of data protection issues which can lead to either reluctance to share any data or, at the opposite extreme, risks of data mismanagement.

3. As an audit tool, remote surveys were found to be as time intensive as in-person visits and quite demanding for clients to undertake.

Partner Africa will only continue to use them where visits to suppliers are not feasible.

4. The two biggest hurdles to conducting remote surveys were perceived to be access to technology – e.g. workers, and particularly farmers, having access to mobile phones – and the difficulty of collecting qualitative data.

5. Our audience felt that the greatest advantages of remote data collection were that it can be rapidly deployed and easily scaled. In addition, surveys can be repeated at low cost, enabling trends to be tracked over time. All information is also anonymous which reduces concerns around data protection.

The global-nature of the COVID-19 pandemic continues to cause unprecedented shocks to the world’s complex network of supply chains. In this context, a fast response has to be provided while also being highly targeted to the needs of the most vulnerable. These are some lessons from the VSCF on how donors can mobilise multi-party partnerships in rapid-response environments:

Priorities chart shows the issues flagged as red by 50% or more of those who participated in the mobile data collection Photo credit: &Wider

1. Trust – build trusting relationships that can survive challenging conditions.

• Invest in building relationships. Nurture rapport with partners at a personal level from the outset and build-on pre-existing relationships between partners that already have a trusting foundation.

• Focus on effective communications. Lay out ways of working with partners early on and agree how decision-making can be as lean as possible.

Focus on outcomes over activities, involve partners in all decisions that affect them, and devolve decision-making as much as possible.

Open up as many channels of communication as necessary to keep information flowing.

2. Clarity – be explicit in the purpose, expectations, and methods for delivery.

• Be clear on the purpose and scope of the partnership: if an open-call for partners is being conducted, use as much specificity as possible.

• Set expectations for change, and an understanding of what happens if one/ all partners’ objectives fail to be met.

• Agree cautious expectations for impact-level results, given the likelihood that activities will be disrupted along the line. Sensecheck that targeted impact is feasible and represents clear value for money.

• Have clear roles for who delivers which aspects of the partnership, and how match funding contributions will be made.

3. Flexibility – build adaptability into plans and monitor the environment closely • Plan for plans to change. Involve beneficiaries in refining the solution and be prepared to change understanding of the problem in the process. Resist the temptation to respond without having first gathered data and consulted with beneficiaries.

• Prepare to do things differently such as

focusing on impact not output level targets to keep the modality flexible; extending the usual window for measuring outcomes until after donor funding has ended; and making use of digital tools to gather data remotely.

• Identify opportunities for scale and replicability of activities from the outset to create manoeuvrability if funds need to be reallocated, or activities become unviable.

• Be open for more partners to join, or others to exit, whilst remaining aware of how others are also intervening in the same space.

• Different organisations will have different appetites for risk taking. The balance of these will determine the balance between scrutiny and flexibility that works for the partnership.

• Allocate sufficient resources to pay active attention to the changing environment and build risk mitigation into financial management.

Trust, clarity and flexibility are mutually reinforcing.

Well managed risk and clear communication leads to lower levels of activity-level scrutiny, which leads to greater flexibility for delivery and more trust between partners. On the VSCF we consider our partnerships to be works in progress, needing constant attention and adjustment. This is not simply prudent, but vital in achieving the best outcomes for vulnerable people most affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

The British High Commissioner to Kenya, Jane Marriott OBE, chats with Kenyan government and business stakeholders at Flamingo Ibis Farm, Kenya Photo credit: Nicholas Ramsden, BP4GG

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Latest project news

The ‘Sea Freight Flowers’ project, led by Flamingo Horticulture, with IPL, Xpol, Flower Hub, Kuehne & Nagel, CMA, Maersk, PSI, FlowerWatch and others Countries: Kenya To help amplify the results of the Flamingo Sea Freight Flowers project, a new workstream was introduced in March 2021 to events in Naivasha to showcase the results of the project to flower farms, and to train them in sea freight protocols. With the rise of COVID-19 cases and restrictions on travel in Kenyan counties such as Nakuru, this plan was adjusted to provide online training followed by physical on-farm training and an in-person event later in the year when possible.

14 containers have now been arranged and shipped by the project, with shorter journey times being achieved using the shipper Maersk. The vase life tests comparing flowers shipped by sea and by air have continued to demonstrate that there is little difference in quality for the key varieties being trialled. The results prove that if sea freight flower protocols and logistics are managed well, transporting flowers by sea from Kenya to Europe is just as viable as air freight.

Ship in Mombasa Port, Kenya preparing to transport flowers to Europe Photo credit: Jeroen van der Hulst, FlowerWatch

The work has catalysed the formation of a group of exporters who intend to independently continue shipping a container of flowers from Kenya to the UK every week. Work has commenced on a case study and a cost benefit analysis to help stimulate further support to sustain this carbon-friendly and cost-effective alternative to air freight.

Summary of vase life test results comparing flowers shipped by sea and by air

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Latest project news The ‘Cadbury Farmer Resilience Fund’ project, led

by Fairtrade Foundation with Mondelēz International

The ‘Resilience in Flower Supply Chains’ project, led by Fairtrade Foundation and MM Flowers, with Co-op, M&S, Tesco, and others

Countries: Ghana

Countries: Kenya

Exciting progress has been made on the project as the grant facility has now disbursed funds to the nine cocoa farm unions supported under the project.

These projects include 39 food security initiatives, for example production of staple crops such as cassava and maize, and 21 income generating activities (IGAs), including soapmaking and beekeeping. Each union made sure that women and youth are given significant opportunities within the projects.

In February 2021, Fairtrade Africa hired HO Media to coordinate a communications campaign using radio, SMS and WhatsApp messages. The radio campaign was broadcast on Radio Amani in Nakuru County from 15-26 February. An advert set in the home of a flower farm worker was used to touch on some of the key issues faced by workers, e.g. job losses, food insecurity, and the need to continue taking COVID-19 precautions. The campaign also had a number of hour-long programmes with experts on gender inequality, nutrition and the financial impact of COVID-19. The programmes reached 98,000 listeners, of which an estimated 38% (37,260) were flower farm workers. Fairtrade Africa also disseminated 4970 posters to 36 flower farms with COVID-19 awareness and prevention messages.

Also in this period, Women Working Worldwide, in partnership with Response-Med, delivered their training on Gender and COVID-19, including raising awareness of gender-based violence and sexual harassment both in the workplace and in the wider community. The training was conducted remotely in five flower farms and reached 93 leaders and committee members Printed copies of the Practical Gender Tool Kit were left with the farms and all farms and trainees are able to access the resources from the Women Working Worldwide website and be able to train further colleagues.

The IGAs will generate income for both individuals and employees and the crops grown will provide nutrition directly to farmers and their families. A proportion of IGA profits and crops sold will also then be retained by the unions and distributed to benefit all members. The unions will be supported to maintain all of these activities to protect farmers from shocks such as COVID-19 and reduce their reliance on income just from cocoa production.

Gender and COVID-19 safety training at K-Gorge Photo credit: Fairtrade Foundation

“The team had a light bulb moment with the ball illustration as a COVID virus and how it is deconstructed by handwashing, sanitizing and how the mask stops the ball “virus” from transmission.”

HR Manager, Rainforest Elite on the gender and COVID-19 training provided by Women Working Worldwide and Response-Med as part of the Fairtrade and MM Flowers project.

Women in Sekyere East, Ghana preparing Gari as part of the cassava processing intervention Photo credit: Fairtrade Foundation

In addition to the grant work, 144 leaders were trained in financial and grant management and climatesmart income diversification trainings informed by a market analysis. The project commissioned ‘communications ambassadors’ to roll out a COVID-19 information campaign in the target 135 community information centres, supported by posters and a radio campaign, ensuring that the messages reached the most vulnerable people.

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The ‘Securing Workers’ Rights in a COVID-19 Context’ project, led by the Ethical Trading Initiative, with Partner Africa, Flamingo, Minor Weir & Willis, MM Flowers, Co-op, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Waitrose and Union Roasted Countries: Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe

The project has continued to deliver training and support to 11 suppliers in Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania and Zimbabwe despite recurrent challenges of COVID-19 outbreaks. The trainings have covered topics such as COVID-19, business continuity and financial inclusion for smallholders, and practical support has also been provided to develop kitchen and nutrition gardens for some farm workers. The COVID-19 materials developed

by East African-based health contractor ResponseMed have been put together into a digital resource pack to make it accessible to businesses online.

The smallholder webinar also touched on gender dynamics with research by the FCDO Work and Opportunities for Women (WOW) programme2 showing that female roles in agriculture are frequently overlooked – for example, in cocoa they do the early crop care and post-harvest work. This revelation explained why training in town (where women found it hard to travel) had not led to yield improvements since it was primarily men who attended.

A key part of ETI’s project is to share learnings on tackling the issues created by COVID-19 in agricultural supply chains. The project has continued to deliver monthly learning webinars this year, reaching over 100 participants including VSCF grantees and partners and invitees from other businesses and projects, with one on managing worker communications, one on gender, and one on working with smallholder suppliers. In Q3 71 participants joined the workshops.

The ‘Preventing a COVID-19 Garment Sector Health and Supply Chain Crisis in Bangladesh’ project, led by CARE International with Marks & Spencer and Primark Countries: Bangladesh

To date 69,750 workers have been reached across the 25 main factories through training and materials on COVID-19, Gender Based Violence, and health and nutrition.

Satellite clinics have reached 59,753 women and children through the EPI services, which have been made available in the evenings allowing more people to access them after their work day. Awareness raising on menstrual hygiene has also been ongoing. A total of 219,000 sanitary napkins have been provided through the factories and the communities.

Digital services are being explored under this project. Wellbeing Medical Health services are also accessible through the Maya app allowing people to videocall medical practitioners instead of visiting the centre. So far 3026 people are already registered but more work will be done in the next period to ensure the app is being understood and practiced.

The worker communications webinar focussed on how businesses can achieve effective and mature industrial relations using structured social dialogue. With this in place, workers can collaborate with managers to solve problems such as dealing with COVID-19 challenges in the workplace. In the gender webinar, one of the key points made was that data on women is critical to capture in order to begin to get visibility and understand the impact that COVID-19 is having on them. Practical support to women on flower farms was showcased by Women Working Worldwide and Response-Med using a training of trainers approach and covering all aspects of the impacts on women from GBV to early marriages.

A kitchen garden from a smallholder farmer, Flamingo, Kenya Photo credit: Partner Africa

1

FCDO’s Work and Opportunities for Women Programme - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

This project has reallocated internal savings to provide support to the ongoing COVID-19 vaccination efforts in Bangladesh. Testing booths have been set up and factories have started registering eligible workers for vaccinations. 1151 factory workers have already been vaccinated. Findings from a recent rapid assessment on COVID-19 vaccine uptake in Bangladesh indicate awareness raising activities application of the concept of cash transfers are essential in providing people with relevant and accurate information which will be the focus of the next few months, in particular for the new cooperation with Primark. This cooperation was established under the project as additional funds became available and is expected to result in COVID-19 vaccination awareness raising activities for 90,000 workers in 150 factories.

A woman receiving a doctor’s consultation via a digital platform in a wellbeing centre, Bangladesh Photo credit: CARE International

A community member participating in an awareness raising session on menstrual hygiene supported by CARE, Bangladesh Photo credit: CARE International

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The ‘Supporting women in the garment industry to earn a living, stay safe, and be respected in a COVID-19 environment’ project, led by the Ethical Trading Initiative with Arco, Dimensions, M&S, New Look, Primark, Sainsbury’s, Tesco

The ‘Hidden Supply Chains in Bangladesh’ project, led by GoodWeave International, with Awaj Foundation, Monsoon Accessorize and VF Corporation

Countries: Bangladesh, with learning elsewhere

Countries: Bangladesh

After finalising all announced visits to the four Tier-1 suppliers and four sub-contractors and commencing the supply chain mapping of these eight factories, the project is now moving towards unannounced visits. These are expected to provide the clearest picture of any hidden cases of child or forced labour in the supply chain. Two partners were selected for the provision of remediation services for any cases coming out of the supply chain mapping.

So far, 6252 workers and their families have been provided with food relief resulting in families feeling protected and more resilient to cope with the impact of the pandemic. 16,864 people, including 10,679 informal workers, have been reached with information on rights and safety protocols regarding COVID-19. The project also conducted a rapid assessment of the impact of COVID-19 based on ready-made-garment workers.

Workers’ right seminars participant receiving Covid-19 safety poster Photo credit: © GoodWeave International / Magnifier Creatives

Due to the reallocation of funds, the project is now expected to be able to support a further 5296 workers and their family members with food relief for a total of 158,880 person food days.

The first period focused on the development of a tablet-based digital OHS awareness raising training package together with digital training service provider Quizrr aimed at workers and a comprehensive instructor-led OHS training for factory supervisors and managers. The last few months have seen the actual implementation of the training components and so far, 22,600 workers have completed the Quizrr tablet-based sessions whereas 954 managers and supervisors have received their separate OHS training. 60 factory resource persons have also been trained and resourced with training materials to provide in-house support once the VSCF project has ended. Another 60 resource persons will be trained in the last quarter. A QR code has been developed to allow factory workers to complete the digital awareness raising training on their smart phones and potentially sharing with their family. Retail partners continue to be able to track training progress through an online dashboard.

The Expert Support Network has kicked off and the second online event saw 80 participants registered from 38 suppliers. There is a lot of interest in taking the network forward and it has been decided to meet twice a month.

Awaj’s worker’s right seminars in Gazipur, Bangladesh Photo credit: © GoodWeave International / Magnifier Creatives

Workers at SQ Celsius Limited factory washing their hands before entering Photo credit: Ethical Trading Initiative

Corrective Action Plans were developed for the six priority factories and resulted in the provision of safety kits for all workers in addition to factory specific technical advice and capacity enhancing activities of the Safety Committees. Due to the additional funds, the safety kits will now be rolled out to the other 14 factories as well and are expected to reach an additional 28,000 workers.

SC members receiving tablet-based training Photo credit: Ethical Trading Initiative

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The ‘Bridging the Gap’ project, led by Impactt with Primark, Women Win, and Girl Determined Countries: Myanmar

How satisfied are you with the cash transfer process?

5%

Have you used the money already?

2%

1%

21% Due to the developments in Myanmar, the Impactt project was unfortunately not able to continue implementation. The project aimed at responding to the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on low-income and vulnerable workers in global supply chains through an innovative application of the concept of cash transfers for direct livelihood support, conditional upon gender based violence (GBV) and women’s empowerment activities. Up to 1 February 2021, the project was able to reach 1500 workers (out of a target of 5000) with immediate cash support, and conduct various needs assessments in preparation for planned GBV and women’s empowerment training at the involved factories. Unfortunately, it was not possible for outstanding cash transfers and trainings to be completed. The last few months focused on closing activities and developing lessons learned. The project was able to provide proof of concept as it delivered financial support to workers quickly and as the conditionality of the cash transfers enabled higher engagement and leverage with factories.

98%

73% Very Satisfied Satisfied Somehow dissatisfied

I worry less about money?

3% 0%

Yes

No

I feel less stressed?

0% 0%

12%

29%

71%

85%

Strongly Agree

Agree

Strongly Agree

Agree

Somehow disagree

Totally disagree

Somehow disagree

Totally disagree

Summary of worker feedback on cash transfers issued as part of the Impactt project

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‘Listening and Learning’: using beneficiary feedback to drive better commercial and social performance

The views and experiences of the people who benefit from socio-economic programmes are often overlooked and underappreciated, even though they are an invaluable source of insight into a programme’s effectiveness. This is not the case for VSCF. Not only have our project delivery partners planned thorough data collection at baseline and endline points for their projects, but we as Facility Manager have subcontracted 60 Decibels, a tech-enabled impact measurement company, to gather data mid-way through projects to provide insights whether our investments are working.

These Rapid Validation studies (RVs) are planned not too early in the project cycle, but also not too late in order to allow time for the findings to inform adaptive management decisions, and changes of project direction to still have time to have an impact before the end of the programme. A typical RV has consisted of six to 10 questions designed by the Facility Manager working together with our partners, which are then translated into appropriate local language and sent out to beneficiaries’ phone numbers using Interactive Voice Response (IVR).

Using this ‘lean data’ approach, nearly 1500 beneficiaries from seven projects have provided feedback on selected areas of VSCF project activity.

What have we heard? We made a difference!

Beneficiaries were asked whether they have been reached with project support, and if, because of that, they have changed how they do things; and what benefit, if any, in their working environment or/and livelihoods have they encountered. The RVs conducted to date have revealed some impressive results being delivered by our business partnership projects: Impact of food aid: 91% of informal workers benefitting from GoodWeave project in Bangladesh said they felt worried about not having enough food in the past year. VSCF project food aid benefited four household members per food package.

Beneficiaries of this project gave the food aid activity a 4.3 out of 5 usefulness rating when surveyed.

Use of primary care services: 87% of garment factory workers in the 25 factories being supported by the CARE/M&S project in Bangladesh report using

primary healthcare services being delivered by the project, and two thirds are willing to pay a fee for these services. This suggests the relevance and importance of these services to them, as well as the potential for such services to be sustainable in future.

100% of flower farm workers at Flamingo Horticulture Ltd farms in Kenya reported that their basic salaries have been maintained through the pandemic.

95% of workers at Kenyan flower farms supported

by Fairtrade and MM Flowers have received health packages and information on COVID-19, and 78% feel more positive now than six months ago about earning enough to support themselves and their families (79% of women responders feel more positive than 76% of men responders).

99% of workers at garment factories in Bangladesh supported by ETI and brand partners increased their awareness of COVID-19 and related Occupation Health and Safety measures, while 84% are using information they received as a result of the project already.

One size does not fit all, say farm workers from Zimbabwe and Kenya: those in Kenya were more likely to find COVID-19 training useful, while workers in Zimbabwe were more likely to find workplace posters useful.

Understanding the reasons behind these differences may help the ETI-led project supporting East African horticultural supply chains to select the most appropriate channels for future information dissemination.

84% of cocoa farmers from nine farmer unions being supported by Fairtrade and Mondelez in Ghana report that their ability to earn an income from cocoa has been affected in the last year. Payment delays, lockdown restrictions on transport, and the impossibility of accessing money were listed as top difficulties.

Farmers are more vulnerable than before, with half reporting their livelihoods are less secure than six months ago. However, they value the information on COVID-19 risks they have received, and 100% of those surveyed are applying the climate-smart agricultural practices taught in Fairtrade’s trainings.

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What do these results mean for us?

The importance of ‘During’ In business, companies often receive a prompt wake-up call when they don’t listen to their customers—sales and profits, the universal measures of success, generally decline. In the social sector, however, we may not get timely notice of whether our projects are effectively helping our beneficiaries or not if we ignore them.

At VSCF we have used these interim checks as a way to routinely listen to our most important constituents, and quickly respond to findings through the first months of 2021, for example what is the best way for workers and farmers to be sensitised on COVID-19 risks. Not only are these insights and lessons being incorporated into our delivery strategies, but the businesses are also finding these useful for taking informed business decisions. For example, Flamingo Horticulture have used information regarding worker satisfaction with PPE distribution to inform improved PPE provision to their workforce in Kenya. These smaller Rapid Validation beneficiary surveys will now be followed up by more comprehensive sector-level impact assessments in June.

We believe that listening to beneficiaries is both the right and the smart thing to do, and to continue to gather beneficiary feedback even after the VSCF grant period is complete we will also conduct some post-funding follow-ups of projects in September 2021.

The importance of During: We learnt that in the “during” stage, obtaining the perspectives of beneficiaries while they are receiving services is critical—and most often overlooked. When our projects are still under way, rapid feedback loops that solicit the beneficiary viewpoint can help us adapt quickly.

&Wider conducts due diligence and monitoring of working conditions using worker engagement technologies Photo credit: Nairobi Business Monthly

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Beneficiary Voices “Not only did it help workers to be safer at work but also put a smile on their face. It was a token of solidarity in this difficult time.”

“There was no water source near my community area. We always had to use unclean water from the pond for washing our clothes, bathing, cooking, and drinking. We had almost given up hope of getting pure water again. Thanks to the VSCF project and CARE Bangladesh.

Finally, we will be safe from diseases”

Norul Islam, factory HR Team Lead, talking about the distribution of safety kits in the SQ Celsius Limited Unit 1 factory, Bangladesh Project: ‘Supporting women in the garment industry, earn a living, stay safe and be respected in a COVID-19 environment’, ETI, Country: Bangladesh

Safety kit distribution in vscf cap factory Photo credit: Ethical Trading Initiative

Nayatan Nesa, a resident of Gazipur, Bangladesh, using a submersible pump installed as part of the VSCF project supported by CARE International Photo credit: CARE International

“The training was very valuable to us. It was an eye opener, giving me new insights, information, tools and templates on how to develop a business continuity plan. I could not have drafted my business continuity plan without the training and those tools.”

“As an organisation, we need to focus on the future, and we need to forecast.

If we don’t have a plan in place and we face a disruption, we might not survive.”

Suppliers attending a 2-day workshop on business continuity in Nairobi, Kenya Photo credit: Sentinel Africa

“My key take away is the importance of being prepared for times of trouble and coming up with alternative ways of handling that problem.”

Geoffrey Gomisie Amulavu, Group Compliance Manger, AAA Growers Limited talking about the Business Continuity Training by Sentinel Africa to AAA Growers in Kenya Project: ‘Securing workers’ rights in a COVID-19 context in East African agriculture supply chains’, ETI, Countries: Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe

The following SMS messages were sent into Radio Amani during the COVID-19 communication campaign:

“Covid 19 pandemic has been challenging to the whole globe. I being an employee of a flower farm the greatest scare was the risk of losing the job.

Also catching the virus was scary. We however were given support by Fairtrade in terms of sanitizers and masks for protection against the virus.”

“Good afternoon, my name is Caroline Okwako. I live in Naivasha and I used to work in a flower farm.

When Corona hit Kenya, I was laid-off from my job and I am a single mother of four children. Life has become hard even getting money to pay for exams is a problem until today I haven’t gotten [it].”

Poster for the Radio Amani campaign in Kenya to promote COVID-19 safety measures Photo credit: Fairtrade Foundation

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“When I see some of my co-workers not following health measures, I remind them how to stay safe by wearing their masks, keeping their distance, and washing their hands.”

“This training aware us to understand more about coops committee’s role and responsibility in the coop leadership and encourages the participation of females in leadership and governance. Therefore, we will start to change the number of female participants in the leadership.”

Chameli, informal garment worker, Dhaka, Bangladesh

“I promised to encourage the females in our area including my wife and sisters because I understand the success of work in gender-based sharing of daily activity’

Project: ‘Hidden Supply Chains in Bangladesh – Bringing agency and resiliency to informal workers’, GoodWeave, Country: Bangladesh

Cooperative leaders from the Baro, Nano Yayo and Geri cooperatives receiving a 2-day capacity building training Photo credit: Co Qua

“I will encourage the non-members females to be a member and actively participate in the coop work” Feedback from participants in gender integration in the cooperative unions training in Ethiopia Project: ‘Securing workers’ rights in a COVID-19 context in East African agriculture supply chains’, ETI, Countries: Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe

‘Hidden supply chains in bangladesh – bringing agency and resiliency Covid-19 safety awareness poster distributed to factories supported by Goodweave International Photo credit: GoodWeave International/ Magnifier Creatives

“It will save time and money for the family”

“I have learned a lot of health-related tips from this project. I learned how to fight COVID-19, take menstrual care, be aware of our rights as women. But to me, most important was the breast screening and cervical cancer screening facilities, provided by the VSCF project”

“it will increase income for the family” “It will make a lot of savings and also earn from the sale of excess”

Poly Akter, Quality Inspector at Eco Coulture Ltd, Dhaka Bangladesh Feedback from smallholder farmers who have benefitted from receiving seeds for Kitchen Gardening

Project: ‘Preventing COVID-19 Garment Health and Supply Chain Crisis in Bangladesh’, CARE International, Country: Bangladesh

Project: ‘Securing workers’ rights in a COVID-19 context’, ETI, Countries: Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe Members of Kioneki women’s group receiving seeds, Flamingo, Kenya Photo credit: Partner Africa

Poly at work, Dhaka, Bangladesh Photo credit: CARE International

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What do our partners say “Getting everyone involved is the biggest achievement [of the project] and getting everyone to work together in a very collaborative way.

Flamingo, XPOL, IPL were all linked but not necessarily working together in the same area earlier. According to me the biggest achievement is the dialogue with a wider range of partners that made the project work.

Sharing and managing logistics equipment to de-risk the supply chain is really a key achievement through some unusual times” Ian Michell, Group Technical and Procurement Director, Flamingo Group International

“The biggest achievement of this project] has simply been that this project has been able to provide dedicated support to growers during a time when the ability to visit in person has been so restricted.

Many of these suppliers are in the lower tiers of our supply chain and we could never provide the level of support and guidance that the project partners have delivered. Being able to build in more forward thinking concepts such as business continuity and financial literacy is excellent and will ensure our suppliers have the tools to emerge from the pandemic in a stronger, more resilient position.”

Danny Miles, Corporate Services Manager Ethical Trading, Morrisons

“MM Flowers is delighted to be partnering with Fairtrade, retailers, “Farms fed back positively on COVID training academia and NGO’s on building and exploration of stigma. Financial literacy resilience in Kenyan flower supply courses received very positive feedback chains. Our growers in Kenya have and are being used going forward.” been badly hit by COVID-19 and the engagement of some of our key retail David Alder, Group Technical Director, Minor, Weir and Willis Ltd partners shows the commitment to helping both growers and farm workers “The sum of all of us together is way more than us working as individuals. M&S are through this crisis. COVID-19 has not health experts, and are not set up to helped illuminate that the definition respond to crises like COVID – we need of “essential” products differs experts and we need the resources of a depending on where an individual is partner like FCDO. M&S does not want positioned within the overall supply to work alone, but wants to continue chain. We will continue to work in working in collaboration in these type partnership to ensure responsible of structures. The results have been business solutions, and fairer trade awesome in the face of a terrible crisis.” for all in our supply chains.”

Colum Donnelly, Technical Director, MM Flowers

Lydia Hopton, Ethical Trade Manager, M&S

Health and Safety into the factory’s standard operating procedures [has been the biggest achievement].

We [Arco] provide guidance to our factories, but we don’t have boots on the ground to enforce – so the project has embedded these practices into the factories organisation, as well as risk identification and mitigation measures.”

Danny Hobson, Head of Ethics and Sustainability, Arco

“The worker voice has proven quite successful, the project has met immediate needs but over the longer term, this project has brought our business units closer together within the company, and has provided greater awareness of our supply chain. Business units are now more aware of what is needed to embed project lessons in future.”

Tania Moodley, Responsible Sourcing Manager Africa, Tesco

“Factories feel more connected to Tesco through the project. It [the project] has enhanced our relationship with suppliers.”

Shahpar Sultana, Senior Specialist, Responsible Sourcing at Tesco Sourcing Tesco

“It has been a really well organised project. Co-op has come into the project with a clear idea of project objectives and deliverables.

Quarterly meetings, updates, and communications have been very helpful for us.”

“Women’s empowerment is a cross-cutting theme of Cocoa Life. Connecting a climatesmart approach to empowering women has been very helpful.”

Cathy Pieters, Senior Director Sustainable Ingredients & Cocoa Life, Mondelez

“VSCF is a programme which we have drawn on massively to show results in difficult times and in future programme designs.”

Kate Cooper, Acting SRO BP4GG, FCDO

Aisha Aswani, Ethical Trading Manager, Co-op

“This is an important project for us, galvanising and continuing to draw out lessons learned not only for FCDO, colleagues but also trade colleagues.”

Solene Bryson, SRO BP4GG, FCDO, November 2020-April 2021

BP4GG in the media Links to articles featuring BP4GG’s work to date Agriculture projects media coverage

• Fairtrade Foundation article ‘Embrace living wages to help overseas workers bloom back better after COVID-19’ (https://www.fairtrade. org.uk/media-centre/news/embrace-livingwages-to-help-overseas-workers-bloomback-better-after-covid-19-fairtrade-tellsflower-industry-ahead-of-mothers-day/) • Building Resilience in Kenyan Flower Supply Chains (https://www.women-ww. org/resilience-in-kenyan-supply-chains)

Garments projects media coverage

• GoodWeave International post for International Women’s day | LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/ feed/update/urn:li:activity:6774675138920116224) • CARE International post on Rapid Assessment Report on COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake by Urban Marginalised Population in Bangladesh • (https://www.facebook.com/558160050912681/ posts/4014511465277505/) • CARE International article on hand washing program at Gilarchala, Sreepur • (https://satkahan.com/nodes/1999) • Ethical Trading Initiative post on Occupational Health and Safety Training app | LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/posts/ethical-tradinginitiative_occupational-health-and-safetytraining-activity-6793918659606798336-7E_z/) • Ethical Trading Initiative post on Recommendations for factories to protect workers from COVID-19 (https://www.ethicaltrade. org/sites/default/files/shared_resources/ Recommendations%20for%20factories%20to%20 protect%20workers%20from%20COVID-19.pdf)

Business Partnerships as a Force for Good Learning Series VSCF Vision “To enable vulnerable people and supply chains to recover from and remain resilient to the economic and social impacts of COVID-19, by leveraging the reach and influence of responsible businesses through partnerships.”

VSCF Mission “To enable recovery and resilience from the COVID-19 pandemic by forming strategic partnerships with global businesses. Working within supply chains in Africa and Asia, we will test and scale approaches to provide additional health and safety support, increase incomes, safeguard jobs, and ensure continuing access to markets.

We will support vulnerable people within supply chains to recover from COVID-19, and support responsible businesses to build on these experiences to become more sustainable.”

Links to articles tackling issues related to BP4GG’s work

• VF Corporation Publishes 2020 Human Rights Report • (https://www.vfc.com/news/feature-story/72674/vfcorporation-publishes-2020-human-rights-report) • CARE International article COVID-19 Vaccination document (Photos of Vaccination related activities of VSCF project are featured) • (https://www.care.org/news-and-stories/health/howcovid-19-vaccines-make-it-the-last-mile-aroundthe-world/?fbclid=IwAR2UktAL27mRoOJjubAOTH 0oqcwOzrm1NlJhCwWd4PhILIlNiO1wHmSqG1U)

Events Links to previous events and publications

• Business Partnerships as a force for good: Empowering women during the pandemic, 3 March 2021, (https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGQKu1Kr9mY) • Business Partnerships as a Force for Good: COVID-19 Safety Compliance, April 21 2021, (https://youtu.be/I1cIxpAFGXo) • CARE International: Sustainability and Exit plan Workshop, 22-25 March 2021 • CARE International: Learning & Experience Sharing Meeting with M&S and ETI, 15 March 2021 • CARE International: Feedback sessions with factories, 13-29 April 2021 • ETI - Access to information – a gender perspective, 4 March 2021, (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQ8Zrk_kerM) • Flamingo – Sea freight online training, 13-16 April 2021 • ETI Project Learning Event: The impact of COVID-19 on Gender in African Agricultural supply chains, 30 March 2021 • ETI - Managing worker communications learning event, 25 February 2021 • ETI - Impact of COVID-19 on Gender in Agricultural supply chains, 30 March 2021 • ETI - Emerging issues for smallholders, 28 April 2021

Calendar of upcoming events

May 2021 • High Level Learning Event co-hosted by BP4GG in partnership with Business Fights Poverty, 26 May 2021 June 2021 • ETI - VSCF learning dissemination webinar for brands, suppliers and sector associations (TBC) • Business Partnerships as a Force for Good – Sharing lessons on our experience of disseminating information on COVID-19 • ETI - COVID-19 Online management training launch, 8 June 2021 • ETI - BCP guidance learning event, 22 June 2021 July 2021 • GoodWeave - Webinar to disseminate learnings on Hidden Apparel Supply Chains in Bangladesh, 15 July 2021 • Fairtrade/ MM Flowers- End of Project Learning Event (TBC) • CARE- Baseline study sharing for Primark Partnership with 20 factories • CARE- Learning workshop with Primark suppliers, 1st week of July • CARE- VSCF Programme Review (TBC) • ETI Agriculture- End of project events, 13-14 July Day 1 • - Session 1: Learning from the project (PA) • - Session 2: FNET session (ETI) Day 2 • - Session 1: Salient Risks in Africa (PA) • - Session 2: ETI Trade Forum Dialogue (ETI) • ETI Garments- End-of-project workshop with project partners, FM and FCDO (TBC)