Unilever

Feb 28

"As the largest tea company in the world, we are working hard to ensure all our workers, particularly women, are safe, healthy, and respected. I have seen firsthand the positive impact we can have on the lives of the women who work on our tea estates, and I am delighted that this extension of our safety work will help even more women.”

- Mick van Ettinger, Executive Vice-President Tea, Unilever

Unilever will invest 2 million Euros to implement the ‘Global Safety Framework for Rural Spaces’ co-created with UN Women and guarantee access to basic health care services (including family planning, maternal and mental health), reaching 70,000 people on and around their tea estates in Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda by 2022; Unilever will also work with partners to create an industry-wide action platform to promote women’s safety and empowerment in Assam, India.

Unilever is proud of the ‘Global Safety Framework for Women in Rural Spaces’ launched last year with UN Women. By the end of 2019 we will have directly impacted 30,000 people living on tea estates and smallholder farms (through programs that address women’s and girl’s safety), and an additional 600,000 people indirectly through awareness raising and community mobilization activities in Kenya and India.

As the next step, Unilever will invest 2 million Euros to roll out and implement this Global Framework in Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda aiming to have a positive impact on the lives of 70,000 people on and around our tea estates with a holistic programme on the prevention and response to sexual harassment. Alongside this initiative, Unilever will guarantee access to basic health care services, based on a needs assessment of women workers including topics such as maternal health, family planning, mental health and other essential women’s health services, reaching 70,000 people by 2022.

As the largest buyer of tea in the world, Unilever aims to use its scale to catalyse change, working with our partners to support the creation of an industry-wide action platform to promote women’s safety and empowerment in Assam, India.