It’s almost 15 years since Fairtrade flowers first became certified in Kenya and in that time the industry has seen rapid growth. It’s now one of the world’s top exporters of flowers from which major European retailers source their all-year round blooms.
The role of women is changing too, as they seize opportunities to educate themselves and their children and change their position in life. The industry’s workforce is made up of many migrants, single mothers and marginalised women who often missed out on an education when they were young. It is therefore significant that through Fairtrade they are accessing adult learning opportunities and bursaries to pay their children’s school fees, which are otherwise not covered by the state. There are also increasing numbers of women gaining positions of leadership - as managers and supervisors - who have been able to use Fairtrade’s rigorous Standards on workers’ rights to negotiate and prioritise women’s needs. For example, ensuring new mums have time off and putting in place policies to tackle sexual harassment at work.
Tackling sexual harassment
Fairtrade certified farms have always prohibited sexual harassment, but the issue is endemic in the cut flower industry and many women are vulnerable to abuse because they do not know their rights. Fairtrade Africa wanted to do more to protect workers and raise awareness of the issue and over the past few years has been working closely with the Kenya Flower Council (KFC) and a specialist workers’ rights organisation to invest in a tailored model policy and pilot training programme with more than 1,220 employees across several farms. Following the training with key members of staff and gender committees (which are groups of workers’ representatives), the farms cascade learning by organising regular information sessions. This gives all employees the space to discuss what behaviour is unacceptable and to understand why these protections are in place. It helps the farms establish a positive culture in which everyone knows their rights and how to report grievances.
The initiative has been so successful that at an industry event in August, Fairtrade and KFC announced that they aim to roll out the policy across Fairtrade certified flower farms and KFC members.
Investing in education
10% of the price from each Fairtrade flower sold generates the Fairtrade Premium, a sum of money which is then invested by democratically elected committees of flower farm workers. Many flower farms have chosen to invest a substantial proportion of Fairtrade Premium in adult education. Women are acquiring new skills including ICT, vocational courses, improving literacy and gaining opportunities to progress in their careers on their own merit, which is empowering. Female employees are also taking on responsibilities within Premium Committees, where they have a say in what social investments should be made in their community, for example children’s education, which makes a huge difference to family incomes.
On a recent visit to Naivasha, a market town in Kenya, I met 52-year-old Margaret, who has been working at Panda Farm since 1989, harvesting flowers. She is now a senior supervisor and told me how proud she is of her five children, one of whom is studying business at university. The farm is one of the main employers in her area and Margaret told me she didn’t think people would be able to cope if they didn’t work there, nor could they afford to pay school fees on their own. She said: “Fairtrade is more than a name, you really have to respect it.”
Life-saving maternal healthcare
I was also lucky to visit one of the most innovative projects the Premium has been invested in, the Friends of Naivasha Women’s Centre, where 600 babies are born each month. It was created after seven Fairtrade flower farms contributed substantial funds to address the lack of maternity services in the area. Since the clinic opened in 2013, more than 21,000 babies have been delivered safely. James Wattuman, director and one of the project’s founders, said: “When the hospital opened its doors we had to fight to save the lives of babies that weighed less than 2kgs. Eventually, new equipment enabled us to increase survival chances of early births significantly.”
It is therefore devastating to hear that the clinic is now struggling to deliver the level of care the mothers and babies in the community require. James says: “At the moment, we can only afford to staff three nurses for every 20 women. Ideally speaking, every woman should have her own nurse.” They need investment to train nurses, attract experienced clinical staff and for medical equipment. With enough funding they could establish a graduate nurse programme and smaller district clinics to provide life-saving care to women in the region’s rural areas who are currently at risk because they cannot travel to Naivasha. To continue supporting this health service through the Premium, the farms urgently need to increase Fairtrade sales of flowers.
As the Kenyan flower industry becomes ever more professional, it is exciting to see that workers have chosen to use the structures Fairtrade offers to facilitate women’s career progression. In the two weeks I was in Kenya, I got the sense women are driving this agenda. They are well represented at senior levels in the industry, they are confident speaking out, negotiating for improvements within farms and most importantly, winning their arguments.
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