Introducing Ethical Tea Partnership (ETP)

Introducing Ethical Tea Partnership

Ethical Tea Partnership (ETP) is a not-for-profit membership organisation that has been working with tea producers and tea companies since 1997. We work to improve the social and environmental conditions on tea estates and factories, and to ensure sustainable tea production into the future.

We run three sustainability programmes and work with a range of partner organisations to help us achieve our vision of:

What does Ethical Tea Partnership do?

Ethical Tea Partnership (ETP) is a not-for-profit membership organisation that has been working with tea producers and tea companies since 1997. We work to improve the social and environmental conditions on tea estates and factories, and to ensure sustainable tea production into the future.

We run three sustainability programmes and work with a range of partner organisations to help us achieve our vision of:

“A thriving tea industry that is socially just & environmentally sustainable”

What does Ethical Tea Partnership do?

We have 23 international members:

And work with lots of partner organisations

Promoting equal and fair treatment of workers in tea factories, Kenya

In Kenya we’re rolling out the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) Supervisor Management Training. The aim is to promote the equal treatment of workers and to improve the overall people management skills of supervisors and managers.

The programme has led to 11 newly qualified ETI trainers, and training workshops have been held at each one of KTDA’s (Kenyan Tea Development Agency) 65 tea factories.

Feedback since the training has shown that supervisors and managers are now much more aware of their responsibilities, leading to fairer conditions for workers, increased staff morale and an overall improvement in productivity.

Working at the heart of tea communities, Sri Lanka

In Sri Lanka our partnership with Care International has improved the relationship between workers and management on 13-ETP monitored estates.

Using Care’s ‘Community Development Forum’ approach, workers, management, trade union officials and village representatives are encouraged to openly discuss working conditions and the well-being of the estate in general.

This has led to many benefits including fewer conflicts during wage negotiations, better work conditions, increased productivity, more career opportunities for women, and schemes that tackle alcoholism.

Working with smallholders to improve leaf quality & productivity, Indonesia

In Indonesia we’re helping more than 1,000 smallholder farmers (with about 0.5 – 2 ha of land) to secure a future living from tea production.

Often smallholders struggle with quality issues, produce small yields and don’t understand the requirements for certification. We’re working with the Dutch Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH) to implement a number of measures including:

• Pest control training (including organic alternatives)

• Supplying new tea bushes (to improve quality & quantity of yields)

• Access to finance (through Rabobank) for input materials such as fertilisers

Helping tea farmers to adapt to climate change, Kenya

We’re partnering the German Development Agency (GIZ) to help more than 10,000 farmers to prepare for the impacts of climate change.

Using climate models we’ve mapped the areas that are most likely to be affected.

We’re also producing an adaptation toolkit, and training a team of ‘lead farmers’ who will deliver the training throughout the region.

Measures include using more drought tolerant tea varieties, focusing on best practice farming (e.g. soil management, water storage & harvesting etc), and switching to crops that will be more suited to the predicted climatic conditions.

www.ethicalteapartnership.org

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