MILAN – Sodexo is marking Fairtrade Fortnight 2021 (22 Feb-7 Mar), with a £60,000 donation to the Coffee Growers Fund – a project in partnership with the Fairtrade Foundation. In 2018, Sodexo joined forces with the Fairtrade Foundation in a two-year project aimed at empowering women and addressing the challenge of food security in coffee families of the Association of Producers of Origin Fruits Bosque del Inca in Peru.
With the help of its main coffee supplier, UCC, Sodexo is continuing to support the Fairtrade Foundation by making a £60,000 donation from funds from every kilo of Fairtrade coffee purchased from UCC and brewed for Sodexo’s guests in the UK and Ireland in 2019 and 2020.
This new donation will support initiatives for seven small coffee producing organisations in Minas Gerais and Espiritu Santo in Brazil, where significant gender inequalities have been identified.
The project aims to work with over 200 beneficiaries, both men and women, increasing equality by encouraging cultural change and sustainability. Run by The Latin American and Caribbean Producer Network (CLAC), its mission is to represent and promote the interests and development of its members and their communities.
Ana Svab, CR Manager for Sodexo UK & Ireland said: “The Fairtrade initiative has a huge social impact across the globe and challenges every one of us to take a step in the right direction.
Fairtrade Fortnight takes place each year at the end of February and start of March and is an opportunity for thousands of individuals, companies and groups across the UK to come together to share the stories of the people who grow our food and drinks, but who are often exploited.
The work of the Fairtrade Foundation is creating the conditions within which people in developing countries can thrive and highlights how we can all can be part of the solution to empower more producers around the world.
