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John Lewis’ Partner and customer restaurants stock coffee blended from 100% Fairtrade arabica beans, as well as Fairtrade sugar and tea.


(Photo Captioned: From left to right: Ruth Dudumashe, Faith Brown, Bettie Hendricks and Deborah Dudumashe.)

Ruth Dudumashe

Naudeshof grape farm

"The Waitrose Foundation has changed our lives because we now have a community hall that we can use for lots of different things – and the youth can keep out of trouble because they use the training room for the internet and homework. ABET (Adult Basic Education & Training) has made big changes as people in the community can now read and write – this is a big thing."


MORE INFORMATION

In this report:

Partners in Sport


TRADING FAIRLY

We trade fairly with our suppliers and support established schemes such as Fairtrade and Traidcraft, which contribute to the sustainable development of the communities where farmers and workers live.

The Partnership again supported Fairtrade Fortnight in March 2010, and we continue to build our Fairtrade offer. For instance, Waitrose became the first supermarket to exclusively stock the first Fairtrade cola, Ubuntu Cola, which uses Fairtrade sugar from Malawi. Through the Ubuntu’s Africa Program, 15% of its annual profits will be reinvested into the communities of the sugar growers and their families.

John Lewis hopes to double its range of Fairtrade products by the end of 2010. As part of this commitment, it launched Fairtrade People Tree fashion lines in spring 2010 and has been granted a Fairtrade licence to produce and import own-brand clothing products.

Waitrose Foundation

The Waitrose Foundation is a supply chain partnership that returns a percentage of profits from the sale of produce to fund projects chosen by the farm workers and smallholders who grew it. Since its beginnings in South Africa in 2005, we have raised nearly £3 million and launched over 170 projects. These projects are diverse and reflect the individual needs of the communities, ranging from crèches to adult literacy programmes, and from sports teams to income-generating jewellery projects. Tertiary education bursaries were introduced in 2007 and our first two students have now graduated in financial management from Stellenbosch College.

In 2009, we launched two further Foundations: one in Kenya to cover the supply of vegetables and flowers, and one in Ghana for our prepared fruit. There are now 100 products in the Waitrose Foundation range, from flowers and fruit to wine and marmalade. The first projects in Kenya include supplying solar lighting to flower workers to replace kerosene lanterns and the provision of equipment to a clinic that meets the medical needs of a community of over 5,000 people. In Ghana, projects are now well underway with the renovation of a school and kindergarten and the first phase of a new sports ground.

This year, we have taken advantage of the World Cup in South Africa to highlight the work of the Foundation with a multi-channel marketing campaign. The highlight for the farms, however, was the visit of two football coaches from our Partners in Sport programme, who spent two weeks in April coaching both the youngsters and the adults. For the children to whom a football is a luxury, professional coaching was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

John Lewis Foundation

We launched the John Lewis Foundation to suppliers in early 2010, and are currently identifying opportunities for suitable educational or employment-based community projects that will support and service the communities where John Lewis products are sourced.