Politics of Poverty

From Earnestness to Action

March 8, 2013 Posted by Irit Tamir

Nestlé’s response to Oxfam’s Behind the Brands campaign

Yesterday Oxfam received a response to its call to action from Nestlé, one of the three chocolate companies we’ve engaged on behalf of women cocoa farmers. We welcome Nestlé‘s letter as an indication of Nestlé‘s intent to do more for women cocoa farmers and workers. Nestlé‘s Executive Vice President for Operations, José Lopez, indicates an earnest seriousness on behalf of Nestlé to take these issues and Oxfam’s call to action. However, it does not go far enough in making a strong commitment for women’s empowerment.

cocoa pulp — N'Dri Chantal Konan, age 70, separates the pulp from cocoa in Allahteresekro, Ivory Coast in January 2013. Photo: Peter DiCampo / Oxfam America

Firstly, if Nestlé were truly ready to do something for women, why not start with committing to the UN’s Women Empowerment Principles? This would go a long way toward showing Oxfam, consumers, and most importantly the women in Nestlé‘s supply chain that they are committed to tackling gender issues. In 2012, Nestlé did conduct an assessment of Nestlé’s cocoa supply chain with the Fair Labor Association in Cote d’Ivoire, as well as recent consultations on child labor. Their letter to Oxfam indicates a willingness to consider the recommendations on women in that report, but does not yet commit to knowing and showing what is happening to women more broadly in their cocoa supply chain by conducting a separate assessment.

Furthermore, we are not surprised to hear that members of the cooperatives involved in Nestlé‘s Cocoa Plan are almost all men. That is precisely the problem. Nestlé and other chocolate companies shouldn’t just accept this, but rather incentivize its suppliers to more actively include women in co-ops, and particularly in decision-making processes. Nestlé must be more active in targeting training for women farmers, recognizing the critical role they play in pre and post-harvest.

Nestlé indicated in the letter that they will come with a detailed plan in some weeks. We are looking forward to the reviewing the plan and the necessary actions.

Irit Tamir

Irit Tamir is the Director of Oxfam America's Private Sector Department. In her role, she is focused on working with companies to ensure that their business practices result in positive social and environmental impacts for vulnerable communities throughout the world. She leads a team of advisors that engage the private sector on tax, business and human rights, vaccine equity, legal advocacy, supply chain and labor relations, climate change and gender and racial equity. She oversees the private sector engagement from campaigns and advocacy to collaborations and programs focused on corporate behavior along with a work focused on investors and shareholder advocacy.

Prior to working at Oxfam, Ms. Tamir was the Director of Government Relations at the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston, where she successfully lobbied for an extensive federal and state legislative agenda. She co-led the effort to pass the Sudan Divestment Bill in Massachusetts, which required the state pension funds to divest from companies doing business with the Government of Sudan in an effort to halt its human rights violations in Darfur. Ms. Tamir is an attorney with a masters in international law and has taught Business and Human Rights as an adjunct at Boston College Law School. She sits on the Board of the Fair Labor Association and co-chaired the Working Group on Business and Human Rights for the New York City Bar Association. A devoted human rights activist, she has spoken publicly about inequality, human rights, climate resilience, and the food system. Ms. Tamir has had years of experience in government relations and is a former prosecutor who supervised civil rights prosecutions and hate crimes.

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