Welcome to Child Rights in Business (CRIB) Podcast by The Centre for Child Rights and Business hosted by The Centre's Sri Lanka Country Director, Ahila Thillainathan. In our first ever episode, we discuss the topic of access to quality education for children living in plantation communities. 

Our two guests on the podcast are Mr. Muralitharan, Director Plantation Schools Development, Ministry of Education and Mr. Anuruddha Gamage, General Manager HR & Corporate Sustainability, Kelani Valley Plantations.

The tea industry is one that has been historically dominated by men, particularly in leadership roles. However, as companies strive towards greater diversity and inclusivity, more and more women are breaking through barriers and making their mark in the sector. One such woman is Mrs. Niluza Badurdeen, Director Strategy and Finance of English Tea Shop Organic.

In a recent podcast interview, Niluza shared her journey as a woman leader in the tea industry and the steps her company has taken to create an enabling environment for women to progress in their leadership journeys. Here are some of the key insights that emerged from the conversation:

Equal Opportunities and Pay: Niluza's company established 100% equal pay and equal opportunities for career progression from the very beginning. This has had a significant impact on the number of women in management and leadership positions.

Flexible Work Arrangements: To help women balance their work and home responsibilities, the company offers extended work-from-home arrangements and provides facilities such as transportation to and from work, childcare benefits, and partnerships with childcare centers. This has allowed women to continue pursuing their career ambitions while also fulfilling their family responsibilities.

Career Progression: To enable women to utilise their leadership potential and grow within the company, Niluza's company offers open opportunities for women in any field, including strategy, engineering, marketing, communication, quality, compliance, and more. This has helped to break down traditional gender barriers and provide more opportunities for women to showcase their talents.

Supportive Work Environment: Niluza emphasised the importance of a company that values its human resources and creates a supportive work environment. This not only motivates employees to perform better but also creates a sense of belonging and commitment to the company. In Niluza's case, almost 250 of the company's employees own 30% of the business, which has helped to create a sense of ownership and investment in the company's success.

In conclusion, Niluza's story is a testament to the fact that it is possible to create an enabling environment for women in the workplace. From equal opportunities and pay to flexible work arrangements and a supportive work environment, companies can take concrete steps to empower their female employees and enable them to grow and thrive in their careers. It's a win-win situation for both employees and employers, as diverse teams are known to be more innovative and effective. It is time for more companies in the tea industry and beyond to take a leaf out of English Tea Shop Organic's book and create a more inclusive and empowering workplace for all.

On the International Day of Families, we are highlighting the significance of investing in family-friendly workplaces, and our guest for this episode is Mr. Suranga Herath, CEO of English Tea Shop Organic. He discusses the company's vision, initiatives, and their impact on the business.

English Tea Shop Organic's goal is to improve agriculture in Sri Lanka through organic farming and direct collaboration with small farmers. The company prioritises empowering farmers and enhancing employee ownership, aiming to become a majority employee-owned business. The company follows a "Prajãva" philosophy (which translates to the word “community” in Sinhalese); it is a transformative mindset, where a business evolves from being a mere part of the community to becoming its beating heart and soul. Hence, by prioritising the interests of its community, English Tea Shop Organic can foster stronger and more meaningful relationships, all while creating shared value for everyone involved. They have implemented open book management and are significantly employee-owned.

In line with their principle of prioritising people-centric operations, English Tea Shop has introduced the Prajãva Wellbeing programme, which emphasises the well-being of stakeholders as an integral part of their business. The company places a strong emphasis on establishing family-friendly workplaces, accomplished by implementing a comprehensive health programme, providing training in household economics management, promoting entrepreneurship among employees' spouses, and creating a self-sustaining virtuous cycle of interventions. Their Child Benefit Initiative, a significant collaboration, provides monthly benefits to the children of their employees, having a positive impact on both the recipients and the company. They also provide training and inspiration to spouses on household budgeting and decision-making, aiming to encourage male entrepreneurship and help feed more than one family.

Mr. Herath emphasises the importance of investing in employees' families and suppliers, as relationships go beyond the workplace, and a business's success depends on the well-being of its people. English Tea Shop's business model prioritises people over profits through conscious capitalism. By investing in the families of its staff, employees, and suppliers, the company helps to solve social inequality through a conscious capitalist model.

Empowering societies is crucial to facing climate and nature crises, and the company aims to leave a legacy that proves the world's wealth can be distributed better through business. Mr. Herath plans to be transparent with communities, customers, trade customers, and distributors about the program's benefits and details. Collaborating with customers can amplify the impact on communities, making it a win-win situation for everyone involved.

In summary, Mr. Herath's vision is to create a business that not only provides high-quality organic tea but also makes a positive impact on society. By investing in people, the company helps to create a better world for everyone.

As we conclude the first season of our podcast series, we would like to highlight an impactful initiative that The Centre for Child Rights and Business (The Centre) has been working on in Sri Lanka. In collaboration with strategic partners such as Save the Children (Sri Lanka and Hong Kong) and key stakeholders from the tea industry, we have introduced the Mother and Child-Friendly Seal for Responsible Business. This certification programme assesses the impact of businesses on the lives of their employees and supply chain, particularly in relation to children and their families. In this article, we will recap the SEAL Initiative's objectives and emphasise its significance in promoting and fulfilling children's rights.

Promoting Children's Rights:

While the primary responsibility for promoting, protecting, and ensuring children's rights lies with the government, other stakeholders such as parents, civil society, and businesses also have a role to play. The SEAL Initiative serves as a pathway for businesses to ensure that their operations do not hinder the enjoyment of children's rights throughout their supply chains. By adhering to child rights and business principles and implementing human rights due diligence, businesses can actively contribute to the well-being of children and their families.

Objectives of the SEAL Initiative:

The SEAL Initiative has four primary objectives, each crucial in advancing the cause of children's rights:

• Creating a Family-Friendly Supply Chain: The Initiative aims to strengthen businesses' commitment to establishing a supply chain that supports the human rights of children and their families. By encouraging family-friendly practices, businesses can contribute to a nurturing and inclusive work environment.
• Promoting Meaningful Investments: Businesses are encouraged to make sustainable investments that positively impact the lives of children and their families. The SEAL Initiative provides a framework for businesses to assess and improve the outcomes of their investments in areas such as education, health, and protection.
• Facilitating Collaboration: The Initiative seeks to bridge the gap between the public and private sectors, fostering collaboration to enhance service delivery in crucial areas. By partnering with government entities and civil society organisations, businesses can create a more comprehensive and effective support system for children and their families.
• Creating Market Differentiation: Through the Seal Initiative, the Sri Lankan tea industry can demonstrate its commitment to being a family-friendly industry. This commitment can serve as a market differentiator, showcasing the industry's efforts to prioritise the rights and well-being of children throughout its supply chain.

Expanding Impact:

While the current focus of the Seal Initiative is on the tea industry in Sri Lanka, the long-term vision is to expand its reach to other sectors within the country. By incorporating child rights principles and encouraging responsible business practices, the initiative aims to inspire positive change across various industries.

Engage and Participate:

To learn more about the SEAL Initiative, interested parties can visit the "Mother and Child- Friendly Seal for Responsible Business" website. This platform provides comprehensive information about the initiative, including how companies can enroll and engage in the programme. The website also features the "Child Rights in Business Tea Network," a forum where stakeholders from the industry, development agencies, civil society organisations, and government entities can collaborate, exchange ideas, and explore partnerships.

In our first episode of Season 2 of the CRIB Podcast, we hear an insightful conversation with Ines Kaempfer, CEO of The Center for Child Rights in Business, and Shabnam Weber, President of the Tea and Herbal Association of Canada, recorded at the Colombo Tea Convention in July 2024.

The discussion explores wages and prices in the tea industry, the impact of human rights due diligence laws on business models, particularly in Europe, successful initiatives by the Tea and Herbal Association of Canada, including a global campaign called “Tea Power” and an education programme promoting tea knowledge, and the importance of collaborative efforts to address industry challenges and promote sustainable practices.

One of the key challenges faced by the tea industry is fair pricing, which affects everyone along the supply chain, but in particular those in the upstream such as farmers, pickers and smallholders. Fair pricing not only relates to the wages given to workers, but also to the value and price of tea on the markets.

"The biggest issue within this industry, and we've heard this quite a bit is tea is too cheap...Consumers do not pay enough for their product. Our product is used as a loss leader by supermarkets. And that has to stop. And I really believe that we as an industry need to take control back into our hands. And, you know, we've talked about things like increasing the quality of the product, in order to increase the value, not to be chasing just yield and quantity, right? Because that is going to drive down the price of tea. But more than anything, I think that we need to stop, truly refuse, to sell tea below the cost of production, because that's what's happening right now. There is no other product, nothing that you can name me, that would sell to a consumer for less than what it costs to make it." Shabnam Weber, President of the Tea and Herbal Association of Canada.

Tune in to hear the full conversation.

In Season 2, Episode 2 of the CRIB Child Rights in Business podcast, The Centre's CEO Ines Kaempfer sits down with Sharon Hall, Chief Executive of the UK Tea & Infusions Association.

Their conversation leads us through the history and work of the UK Tea & Infusions Association, and some of the implications of the evolving human rights due diligence regulatory landscape, both in post-Brexit UK and in the EU. They discuss what these changes might mean for the tea value chain and for consumers, as well as other insights.

About the CRIB Child Rights in Business podcast

This podcast is dedicated to discussing sustainability in the tea industry, particularly issues around human rights and ensuring no one in the tea supply chain is left behind from the value tea creates. In Season 1, we spoke to key voices from Sri Lanka's tea sector, and highlighted initiatives that are creating tangible, long-term impact for local communities. In Season 2, our conversations go global, speaking with experts from across the world on the bigger picture of tea sustainability amidst the emergence of human rights due diligence legislation that will impact brands, retailers and also business partners along the supply chain, including producers.

Please support us by following our podcast. More information about our work can be found at www.childrights-business.org.

In Episode 3 of Season 2 of the CRIB - Child Rights in Business podcast, The Centre's CEO Ines Kaempfer sits down with Madhuri Nanda, Director of South Asia at Rainforest Alliance for a conversation about Rainforest Alliance's work in the tea sector and some of the lesser known landscape level work they do to promote sustainable agriculture, human rights issues and gender inequality, beyond their well-established certification programme.

Listen to learn about Rainforest Alliance's work in sustainable agriculture, with a focus on the tea industry in Sri Lanka and India, a new pilot programme with The Centre that aims to create gender champions in tea estates and more. Madhuri highlights the shift from a pass/fail certification approach to an "assess and address" method, which encourages tea producers to actively identify and tackle social issues like gender inequality, human rights concerns, and livelihoods. She also stresses the importance of shared responsibility between producers and buyers to drive sustainability and discusses how we can move beyond sustainable agriculture toward regenerative agriculture to restore soil health, biodiversity, and improve livelihoods in the tea sector.

Tune in for this and more!

For more information about The Centre's work in the tea industry, please visit www.srilanka-motherandchildseal.org