Nestlé in society Creating Shared Value and meeting our commitments 2015

Nestlé in society:
Creating Shared Value
Nutrition, health
and wellness
Rural development
Water
Environmental
sustainability
Human rights
and compliance
Our
people
G4-EC1, Indirect economic impacts G4-DMA, G4-EC7, G4-EC8, Procurement practices G4-DMA, G4-EC9, Employment G4-DMA, Equal remuneration for women and men G4-DMA,
Supplier assessment for labor practices G4-DMA, Freedom of association and collective bargaining G4-DMA, Child labor G4-DMA, Forced or compulsory labor G4-DMA,
Supplier human rights assessment G4-DMA, Local communities G4-DMA, G4-SO1, G4-SO2, Supplier assessment for impacts on society G4-DMA
Baseline study results
Farmers welcome training, and request more of it. Information
from the baselines has highlighted areas of interest for further
training, though we need to find ways to measure training
outcomes to assess their true worth, and to follow the
progress of individual farmers more closely to see which ones
attend multiple sessions. We must also ensure that training is
accessible to everyone, in line with our new objective.
3. Farm workers
We believe that it is important to focus not only on farmers,
but also on the farm workers who provide the permanent and
casual labour, primarily at harvesting season, though often
throughout the year on larger farms. Farm workers are often
migrant labour who are frequently ‘invisible’ to traditional
support programmes. To attract workers to farming requires
that farm work is appealing.
Baseline study results
Data has been difficult to gather but there appears to be a
generally insecure situation for workers, especially migrants.
While they are keen to acquire skills, they rarely receive
training. The data we were able to gather indicates that while
in some countries minimum wages are paid, elsewhere a
combination of wages, housing and food is provided. Data
also suggests that farmers have difficulty finding sufficient
available workers in most of the countries surveyed.
The design and application of the Rural Development
Framework to date has raised the profile and importance of
farm workers, yet the current baselines have not yielded many
insights to guide our work. We will continue to gather a better
understanding of the status of farm workers, while focusing
our activities on:
• Ensuring that farm workers are able to access training and,
where appropriate, that the provision of training explicitly
targets farm workers and family members;
• Ensuring that farm workers are paid the minimum wage;
• The living conditions and hygiene of workers;
• Health and safety;
• Child labour, particularly among migrant workers; and
• Labour conditions in our supply chains.
We have a responsibility to ensure that farm workers and
others employed in our supply chains work in fair labour
conditions that meet the terms of our Supplier Code.
Our Rural Development Framework pays particular attention
to vulnerable worker groups, especially seasonal, migrant,
women and non-family workers. We seek to improve conditions
of employment and work and to eradicate forced labour, and we
support non-discrimination and freedom of association.
Implementing initiatives such as the UN Global Compact
and the International Labour Organization’s (ILO’s) Conventions
and recommendations works best when farmers and their
workers understand the value of improved conditions and its
effect on productivity. Our aim is that our field support staff
will, by sharing knowledge and information, be able to provide
education and training on issues such as human rights, labour
rights, living wages, and health and safety, as well as building
capacity and fostering opportunities for dialogue between
workers and their representatives.
Through the Nestlé Commitment on Child Labour in
Agricultural Supply Chains, we are focusing on the supply
chains of cocoa, vanilla and hazelnuts. See Human rights and
compliance for more information on our commitment to
eliminate child labour.
4. Women’s empowerment
In addition to understanding the proportions of men and
women farmers who supply us, there are four areas where
insights can guide our work: the role of women in society and
the family; access to services (such as training, finance and
land); the tasks undertaken by women on the farm; and
income levels and sources of income.
Baseline study results
The results of our assessments mirror those of global surveys,
revealing a variable picture with more equality in Asia than in
Africa, and with Central and South America somewhere in
between. Evidence ranges from women having responsibility
for the family budget and joint decision-making through to
them being excluded from decision-making and having little
access to training.
Rather than developing a separate strategy for women
farmers, we believe gender awareness and training need to be
integrated into our overall approach. This means eliminating
any unconscious bias against women in our current work,
such as for training.
Women will be an important audience for delivering
initiatives on nutrition and hygiene. There may be specific,
locally defined initiatives designed to improve the role of
women in society through management roles within cooperatives,
improved access to resources and developing their
own sources of income.
See Cocoa to read more about our work to promote
gender equality.
5. Water and sanitation
Water is one of the priority areas of our Creating Shared Value
approach to business. Nestlé supports the human right to
water and is committed to assisting with the provision of clean
water and improved sanitation to priority communities where
we source agricultural commodities.
The scale of the challenge to address the provision of clean
water and adequate sanitation across the communities we are
sourcing from is a significant one that will require investment
and collaborative action from various players, led by
government. This is a significant challenge for an individual
company and we have yet to find the appropriate level of
intervention for Nestlé. Our focus will be guided by the need to
help communities meet the human right to water and sanitation.
Our initial interventions will, therefore, focus upon
alternatives to the usage of water from streams for drinking
water and the prevention of surface water pollution. A focus
upon hygiene, as part of farmer training modules, is particularly
important and will reinforce work on nutrition and gender.
Nestlé in society – Creating Shared Value and meeting our commitments 2015 98