Ethical Tea Partnership (ETP) is a not-for-profit membership organisation, which has been working with tea producers and tea companies since 1997.
ETP runs three sustainability programmes and works with a variety of partner organisations to achieve its vision of a 'thriving tea industry that is socially just and environmentally sustainable.'
2. 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:
3. 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”
13. 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.
14. 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.
15. 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
16. 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.
