The Waitrose Foundation

How can I find Waitrose Foundation products?

Look out for the logo on our shelves on oranges, lemons, clementines, grapefruit, satsumas, grapes and avocados bearing the Waitrose Foundation logo.

How is the Waitrose Foundation helping?

Money raised by the Foundation is spent on projects that directly benefit the farm workers, with the money generated from the sale of all Waitrose fruit, marked with the Foundation logo.

Each farm's worker committees decide what projects are needed by their workers, and together with the Waitrose Foundation approve all the spending. So far, there are 29 projects and over 8,000 workers benefiting from the work funded by the Foundation.

• At Chennels Farm, two teachers train farm workers in basic literacy, in a new, fully furnished training centre
• At Golden Frontiers Citrus there are four centres where 41 farm workers receive training and take part in workshops relating to their jobs. A new soccer pitch has been built, complete with a grass surface, irrigation and scoreboard.
• At Katco, a beadwork project gives the seasonal workers the skills to earn money in the off-season; a gardening project teaches workers to grow and sell vegetables; a leatherworks project shows them how to make sandals, bags and cushions; and a sewing project provides the local community with protective clothing.
• At La Colline, a farm building has been converted into a brand new crèche. This gives the children of local workers a good start before pre-school, and provides the older kids with an after-school club to help them with their homework.
• At Vuki, a new media centre provides schoolchildren with an afterschool facility where they learn computer skills that help them to do school projects.

Although in it's early stages, the Foundation is already a commercial and social success, and at the BITC awards 2006 earned Waitrose the National Example of Excellence HBOS supply Chain Award.

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?

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 South African government's goal is to have 30% of land owned by black South Africans by 2014. The Waitrose Foundation initiative is in line with the South African Governments land reform and AgriBEE (Black Economic Empowerment) strategy.

Farm workers with minimal education are skilled and trained and will over the longer term own land to be held in trust. In order for Waitrose to continue to buy fruit from South Africa in the long term, we need to invest in the farm workers that grow and pick our fruit.