Global Poverty

The Co-operative is tackling global poverty to make life good for everyone

We recognise that our activities have an impact on communities in the developing world, and we’re committed to making this impact a positive one.

Our members endorsed tackling global poverty as a priority

‘Tackling global poverty’ was confirmed as one of three focuses of The Co-operative Community Plan, which prioritises community investment monies. In response, we endorsed an additional £1 million for tackling global poverty work in 2009, over and above our existing commitments to international development (eg, Fairtrade, microfinance). This money is financing new initiatives, supported by various businesses (including The Co-operative Travel, Funeralcare, Pharmacy, Food and Financial Services), with a focus on community development projects, supporting overseas co-operatives and campaigning. Find out more aboutcommunity investment to tackle global poverty

This is in addition to a whole host of existing activity

We’ve continually pioneered Fairtrade, we’re committed to managing labour standards in our supply chain, donations from sales of our own-brand ethical water have funded water systems in Africa for over 600,000 people and we’ve created a $50m microfinance fund to provide loans to the working poor. Find out more about our long-standing commitment to tackling global poverty

Community investment to tackle global poverty

Community development projects

Meeting a community's basic needs - such as access to clean water and sanitation - is the foundation of sucessful community development. With this in mind we are backing large-scale projects to provide support to communities where The Co-operative has an existing relationship. These projects focus on providing clean water, sanitation and low cost renewable energy solutions on a scale that goes beyond what current Fairtrade or similar schemes can realise alone.

• In Malawi, one of the world’s poorest countries, we are supporting the Fairtrade sugar producer communities who provide the own-brand sugar we sell in Food stores. We are providing boreholes, latrines and fuel-efficient stoves, and helping facilitate the planting of over 100,000 trees. This will give much needed assistance to 10,000 people in an area where access to water and land degradation are major challenges.
• In an area of Mozambique, where The Co-operative Financial Services has worked previously with Save the Children, water and sanitation coverage is less than 10%. We are supporting the installation of boreholes, latrines, and sanitation education and renewable energy solutions to benefit around 2,000 people – a quarter of whom are children.

Overseas co-operative development

We believe firmly in helping people to help themselves. We are prioritising support for overseas co-operatives, championing our co-operative difference and showing the important role co-operatives play in helping people lift themselves out of poverty.

• In Kenya, a project match-funded by the Department for International Development is supporting 8,000 smallholder tea farmers to organise into co-operatives. This will increase their market opportunities, negotiation power and help them diversify into other product areas. Assistance will also be provided to help them achieve Fairtrade certification, making them eligible to supply tea for The Co-operative‘s flagship 99 Fairtrade tea blend.
• In Turkey, research revealed a fantastic opportunity to link an existing agricultural co-operative with local hotels used by The Co-operative Travel. The Travel business has committed to making this happen from 2010, funded through its support for The Travel Foundation, and is seeking to link local farmers with resorts throughout the country.
• In South Africa, an innovative project to set up and run pilot funeral co-operatives is being supported, with involvement from a number of partners including The Co-operative Funeralcare. This will not only help provide low cost services to poor communities, vulnerable to rising death rates and funeral costs, but will also provide models that can be replicated throughout the country, at a time when interest in co-operatives amongst the populace and the Government is growing.

Campaigning

We are engaging our members and customers in campaigns, in recognition of the fact that ethical shopping and voluntary giving will never be enough to ‘make poverty history’ and that mass mobilisation is also essential.

An estimated 2,500 Co-operative Members and their families participated in The Wave, a march held in London on 5 December 2009. The Co-operative organised 50 coaches and three trains, bringing members to London from 30 locations across England and Wales - the largest mobilisation of The Co-operative’s membership base in recent times. Our members called for world leaders to agree a safe and fair climate change deal at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December. Of the 300 million people already seriously affected by climate change today, 98% live in developing countries.

Our longstanding commitment to tackling global poverty

Fairtrade and ethical trading

The Co-operative has been trading ethically and fairly for over 160 years, guided by our founding values and principles.

The sale of fairly traded goods was supported before the Fairtrade Mark was even introduced in the UK, and over 260 Fairtrade products are now available in Co-operative Food stores. We’ve had a whole host of ‘Fairtrade firsts’ too, such as being the first retailer to launch an own-brand Fairtrade product. Through ongoing campaigning, product innovation and leadership, we have helped develop the UK as one of the largest Fairtrade markets in the world, supporting millions of growers and producers in developing countries. Read about more of our Fairtrade achievements

We are committed to managing labour standards in our own-brand supply chain. We were a founding member of the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) and have our own Sound Sourcing Code of Conduct, which all businesses within the Trading Group committed to adopt in 2009. Since 2005, The Co-operative Food has been a member of theSupplier Ethical Data Exchange (Sedex); an internet-based electronic database holding extensive information on labour standards in supplier operations. The Co-operative Clothing also uses Sedex, and The Co-operative Travel joined the Travelife sustainability scheme in summer 2009, to assist with monitoring and management of labour standards. Find out more about our approach to ethical trading in our Sustainability Report

Ethical finance

We believe people should be given the opportunity to trade their way out of poverty. So, The Co-operative Bank has created a US$50m microfinance fund which provides loans to small business in poor countries around the world. Find out more on our microfinance blog

The Co-operative Bank’s customer-led Ethical Policy states that through its investments, the bank will seek to support poverty reduction. In line with this, it will not finance organisations that fail to implement basic labour rights; take an irresponsible approach to the payment of tax in the least developed countries; impede access to basic human necessities; or engage in irresponsible marketing practices in developing countries. Find out more about The Co-operative Bank’s Ethical Policy. The Ethical Engagement Policy of The Co-operative Insurance and The Co-operative Investments states that they will seek to protect workers from exploitation; support poverty reduction; advocate an end to trade which fuels conflict or undermines human rights; and encourage the promotion of co-operative enterprise.Find out more about the Ethical Engagement Policy

Charitable products and services

The Co-operative Bank offers a range of credit cards in support of development and human rights charities, including Action Aid, Amnesty International, CAFOD, Children in Crisis, Christian Aid, Oxfam, Save the Children, Tearfund, and WaterAid. In total, our credit cards have raised over £5.4m for development and human rights charities. Find out more about our charitable credit cards

In 2007, we became the first retailer to launch an own-brand ethical water. Every time a customer buys The Co-operative Fairbourne Springs water, we make a donation to The One Foundation to help fund the installation of a PlayPump (TM) Water system in Africa. To date, The Co-operative and Somerfield customers have raised enough money to fund some 400 pumps in Africa, which will provide one million people with access to clean, safe water.
Find out more about The Co-operative Fairbourne Springs water

In 2008, The Co-operative Group became the first high-street retailer to sell ethical One Condoms. These help fund HIV and AIDS awareness projects in Africa. A donation is made from the sale of each pack of condoms, which goes towards funding HIV testing and for outreach teams of doctors, nurses and councillors to visit rural communities to help educate and raise awareness of AIDS and HIV-related issues. Find out more about One condoms

By helping our customers to recycle their old mobile phones, we have raised over £310,000 for Oxfam. Working handsets are refurbished for resale, while broken handsets are recycled within Europe. Recycling bags are available in Co-operative Food, Bank, Travel and Pharmacy stores.
Find out more about recycling your mobile phone

We offer carbon offsets are offered in certain products and services, providing both environmental and social benefits. We pay Climate Care – an organisation dedicated to helping to combat climate change – to deliver carbon offset projects in the developing world. We have built offsetting into our mortgages and car insurance services, and also offer The Co-operative Travel customers the opportunity to offset the emissions produced by their flights. The projects we fund all take place in the developing world, so bring additional social and developmental benefits to local communities. Find out about some of the carbon offset schemes we help to fund

Influence and action

We are using increasingly innovative communications channels – such as theatre and film – to educate and generate support amongst our members and the wider general public on international development issues.

In 2009, The Co-operative supported the UK distribution of the award-winning film Burma VJ. The film tracks young ‘video journalists’ who risk their lives to tell the story of the 2007 Burmese uprisings and subsequent repression by the ruling military regime. In July 2009, the film was launched at a one-off ‘Saffron Premiere’, when 40 cinemas across the UK were linked live via satellite to the BAFTA in London.