Sainsbury’s is committed to supporting the farmers, growers and workers across our international supply chain. In Africa, we’ve participated in a range of pioneering grassroots development programmes.
We invest significant effort and resources into empowering our suppliers in developing African countries with the skills, training and confidence they need to lead healthy and productive lives.
Skills for living
In South Africa, a Top of the Class training initiative that we backed helped to give 170 people living in the country’s fruit growing regions the chance to improve their work and life skills.
“I understand the value chain starts with us on the farm.”
Stone fruit grower
Ceres, South Africa
South Africa is one of our most important sources of food and drink products, particularly fresh fruit and wine. There is a growing demand in the country’s agricultural sector for educated and skilled employees and also concerns for vulnerable workers, particularly seasonal female labour involved in picking and packing fruit.
The Top of the Class initiative aimed to give junior managers at fruit farms better access to career development opportunities and a greater awareness of how to tackle personal and social issues. The benefits were directed not only to the participants, but also their families and wider communities.
Invaluable insights
We co-funded Top of the Class with our growers, in partnership with the UK Department for International Development (DfID). It was delivered by the National Training Institute and certified under the National Qualifications Framework (NQF).
While equipping the learners with new skills and opportunities, Top of the Class also gave them an invaluable insight into the critical role they play in the global food supply chain.
During the course, 11 growers visited the UK for the first time where they followed the journey their products take from arriving in the country to reaching our supermarket shelves.
Feedback from the participants’ managers was very positive. 91% of trainees were ‘more satisfied’ with their jobs, and 43% were promoted within 3 months of graduating.
We plan to encourage more employers in South Africa, and possibly other developing countries, to follow their lead by supporting initiatives like Top of the Class. Woman made up 38% of the participants that benefited, and we worked with an independent gender expert recommended by the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) to review this project. We now aim to develop further courses that will generate greater impact for seasonal workers, many of whom are women.