The Waitrose Foundation is a partnership created in 2005 to help improve the lives of the farm workers who grow and pick our South African fruits. Money raised by the sale of Waitrose Foundation fruit is spent on projects that are chosen by and directly benefit the farm workers.
Instead of funding through a price premium, Waitrose - in conjunction with growers, importers and exporters pass a percentage of profits into a trust to pay for educational, social and healthcare projects chosen by workers’ committees. So far, there are 93 projects and more than 20,000 farm workers and their families have benefitted from the work funded by the Foundation.
Community projects include:
- The Westfalia Wellness Centre focuses on disease prevention and encourages testing for HIV and AIDS. Opened in 2008, it provides medical assistance through; medical care, voluntary counselling, testing and health education.
- A crèche in Westfalia, ensures the farm workers’ children have a safe place to stay, while receiving both first-stage education and nutritious food.
- Katco projects provide for farm workers after the harvest has finished; A beadwork project gives workers the skills to earn money in the off-season; a gardening project teaches workers to grow and sell vegetables; a leatherworks project trains workers in making sandals, bags and cushions; and a sewing project provides the local community with protective clothing.
- Crucial to worker development, the training centre at Nieuwe Sion and Katco’s Adult Basic Education Training (ABET) engages workers in literacy programmes.
- The media centre at Vuki provides children with an after school facility, teaching computer skills to help with school projects.
- The recently renovated Lushof Community centre provides workers at Lushof farm with a central meeting place in which social activities take place.
- Handing over the management of the Mphakani Borehole project to the Mphakani community, where the farm workers from the mango farm at Constantia live - gives them a source of readily available clean water.
One of the latest projects funded by the Foundation is the introduction of Educational Bursaries for the children of the farm workers. Currently Joline Isaacs and Marco Rooi study financial management in Stellenbosch, with a further student to start their studies in January 09. Bursaries funded by the Foundation enable the farm workers’ children to have the opportunity to complete their education and equips them for future careers. Joline says: "I want to be a role model and source of inspiration for other children."
How can I find Waitrose Foundation products?
Look out for the logo on our shelves on oranges, lemons, clementines, red, pink and white grapefruit, satsumas, grapes, apples, pears, peaches, nectarines, plums, apricots, avocados and dried mango bearing the Waitrose Foundation logo. Please note that these products have seasonal availability.
Is this scheme part of Fairtrade?
No, Waitrose Foundation fruit is a Waitrose branded product which complements the Fairtrade range. Our scheme is fully funded by Waitrose and the other parties in our supply chain, and is a natural extension of our existing trading principles. You can learn more here about how Waitrose supports Fairtrade.
What's in it for Waitrose?
In order for Waitrose to continue to buy fruit from South Africa in the long term, it is vital we invest in the farm workers that grow and pick our fruit. South Africa is an important source of fruit for Waitrose; its diverse climates and landscapes, enable a wide range of produce to be grown. It's important for us to secure the future of this source as the country moves through great changes.
The Waitrose Foundation is an example of how Waitrose works in partnership with its supply base to build sustainable relationships. The ‘bottom-up’ process of distributing Foundation Funding to farm worker needs coincides with the South African Government’s Agri BEE (Black Economic Empowerment Policy), where the goal is to have 30% of land owned by black South Africans by 2014. The South African Government has recognized that before land transfer can take place, workers must be empowered and given skills that will allow them to take more economic responsibilities in the future. There are two distinct stages to the foundation programme. The first stage works to address social issues and aims to ensure the transfer of essential skills and knowledge to workers, through methods such as education programmes - both basic literacy and agricultural production. The second stage will ultimately involve the ownership of land by farm workers, whereby Foundation grants will be used to buy land to be held in trust on behalf of the farm workers.
In 2009, the Foundation will be extended beyond South Africa - to Ghana for Waitrose prepared fruit and to Kenya encompassing flowers and vegetables. The beneficiaries of the Foundations will be the farmers who grow and pack our produce along with the communities in which they live. In all, over 10,000 farm workers will be eligible for project funding.