The Centre for Rights, Education and Awareness (CREAW), a member of the Horticulture Advocacy Network, has implemented several interventions aimed at promoting and enhancing women’s agency within the horticulture sector in Kenya.
Since 2021, CREAW through the Building Bridges for Women’s Economic Empowerment (BBWEE) programme supported by Women Win, worked Women Rights Organisations, the Kenya Tea Development Authority Foundation and tea factories to identify and action win-win solutions that benefit both the women workers as well as the business in the long-run, so that together small steps can be taken towards women’s economic resilience. CREAW worked with Sanganyi and Michimikuru Tea factories for engagement.
The Drawing the Line approach and Collaborate for Impact Initiative
Drawing the Line (DTL) and Collaborate for Impact Initiative is a play-based methodology that seeks to identify the key issues that women face in the workplace, by taking a womencentred approach in determining sustainable solutions.
DTL was a collaborative exercise that CREAW together with other Women rights organisations in the project undertook with participating tea factories. Different cadre of workers were selected and using a self-paced exercise, identified the pressing needs of the workers that required a human rights intervention. The identified needs were then prioritized by the workers and were developed for implementation. In Sanganyi and Michimikuru tea factories, safeguarding, protection and performance management scored the highest and were prioritized.
CREAW in collaboration with partner organizations Women Empowerment Link (WEL) and CIFCAD then developed a training manual to build the capacity of the factories focusing on the identified concerns. The training manual focused on human rights at the workplace and economic empowerment – as key challenges faced by women in the workplace.
Collaborate for Impact Activities
CREAW then undertook the training of workers in the tea sector on safeguarding, protection, and performance management. The topics covered included
- Recruitment and induction processes
- Rights and responsibilities
- Building confidence and self esteem
- Performance management
- Compensation- benefits and rewards
- Sexual harassment, exploitation, and abuse at the workplace
- Safeguarding at the workplac
Some of the lessons from the Collaborate For Impact activities included
- Collaborative efforts of value chains and women rights organizations can actualize change in companies where both collaborate to actualize recommendations of the workers.
- Use of different learning methods such as group work, testimonials, theatre, and lectures is critical to enhance adult learning.
- The existence of formal structures in value chains such as the gender committees serve as drivers of transformation
The Impact of the CREAW’s Intervention within the tea sector in Kenya.
18 months after the CFI activities, CREAW was able to return to the tea factors to find out the impact of the CFI activities. At least 20 workers (10 staff from each factory) trained in the CFI activities participated in focus group discussions and shared the following successes.
Female factory workers in Sanganyi Tea Factory have since January 2023 obtained changing rooms and rest areas in spaces that previously did not have any. Women feel that they are being listened to and their needs prioritised. Additionally, four women were promoted to senior positions within the factories in varied departments. They are also being allowed time to attend church services for spiritual wellness. This is important as previously, female workers found it hard to find spaces to change their clothes or store their personal items. As a result of feeling valued, female workers improved their performance which caused four (4) women to be promoted to higher positions where they continue to influence critical decisions affecting women.
Male workers in Sanganyi factory are reporting that they now feel comfortable working with female workers with clear roles and responsibilities. Prior to this, having female workers in sections like machinery was unheard of as the work was viewed as too physical and required a masculine gender. In recent months, the factory has hired women supervisors who are doing well in safeguarding company’s mission and activities. For gender mainstreaming to become a reality, it is now apparent that both men and women engage together without fear, stigma, and discrimination based on ascribed gender roles. This makes it easier for workers to collaborate and work together accepting their differences and diversities. Gender becomes an integral aspect of inclusion and equal participation for improved performance and productivity.
In Michimikuru tea factory, the production of the company was rated as being high, with a leap from position 37 out of 70 factories in 2022 to position 2 in 2023. This is attributed to increased motivation and working relations of the staff, management, and farmers following the CFI training that also focused on performance management and how to build synergies to improve productivity. As a result of CFI, Michimikuru has been certified by Rainforest Alliance, a certification body for being compliant in gender responsiveness scoring highly in compliance in improvements made with regard to gender markers that included CFI activities. The gender committee members in both Sanganyi and Michimikuru tea factories are more proactive in their work and engage with workers using the training manual shared from CFI activities in April 2022 for reference. The committees periodically hold sessions where they resolve cases brought to their attention and have a role in influencing the management teams to address gender-related issues within the factory.
