Diversity & Inclusion

Supporting diversity and inclusion

Two people kneeling and holding seeds in their hand

Tackling all forms of discrimination and building diverse, inclusive workplaces is a vital part of creating opportunities for everyone in the supply chain. This priority area relates to UN Sustainability Development Goals 5 and 10, which aim to reduce inequality (including gender inequality).

Explicit or implicit biases are present in every work environment. They vary widely across geographies and cultures, and often result from a complex combination of traditional power structures, categorizations of economic or ethnic class, and attitudes toward gender. Prohibiting any form of discrimination is essential to give people the chance to work and advance their careers.

Our initiatives to support diversity and inclusion:

Our Fair Employment Policy that covers all forms of diversity across our operations

Establishing a Diversity and Inclusion Council
Dedicated training sessions and support for female farmers, with gender reporting by product supply chain
Our Supplier Code, which clearly stipulates that third-party suppliers “encourage gender equality, equal access and empowerment of women”

Goals and Progress

We report on the goals and targets in the Human and Social Capital sections of our 2020 Annual Report.

To have greater impact, we are also involved in sector initiatives such as:

Signatory to UN Women’s Empowerment Principles
WEConnect International – A global network that connects women-owned businesses to qualified buyers around the world

Monitoring through AtSource+

AtSource+ allows customers to track the support we are providing to the women in their supply chain. We collect data to measure the effectiveness of diversity efforts, and put action plans in place to drive further improvement. We measure a number of important metrics including:

Number of female farmers in a farmer group
Number of female farmers attending Good Agricultural Practices training
Number of women in a farmer group holding leadership positions
Percentage of female employees in ofi workforce
Number of local employees and foreign employees

Percentage of 'skilled' positions occupied by women
Percentage of females in a management role

Breaking the glass ceiling

Empowering women to take up leadership and management roles

AtSource+ metrics to track progress:

Female registered farmers in a farmer group
Female farmers attending GAP training
Number of women in a farmer group holding leadership positions

For thousands of female workers, knowledge is power. Understanding workers’ rights, gender equality and financial literacy is essential to empowering women in the farming sector.

The Women Ambassadors of Agriculture programme, in partnership with the Foundation for the Support of Women’s Work (KEDV), provides women with these key skills.

Atike Kapan, a hazelnut farm worker from Turkey, is one of 5,000 women who will benefit from the program. “The most important thing we learned was that workers' rights exist,” she explains, “We learned how to defend our rights and how to collaborate as workers.”

Through AtSource+ ofi and its customers can measure the impact programmes like these are having on the ground. From tracking the number of female farmers registered in a farmer group, to how many of those attend GAP training or hold leadership positions.

16 ambassadors have been trained so far, who have in turn trained a further 649 women. The program is already having a clear impact. Analysis found that 96 women have received benefits from government services including the Employment Agency, Social Assistance and Solidarity Association, compared with zero woman before the program started.

Read ofi news

GROWing women leaders through ofi’s women-led employee resource group

At ofi, we are working to create a stronger, more inclusive culture across our organization and supply chain. We recognize the importance of promoting and building a workplace where every individual feels not only valued, but that they belong.

Empowering Women Farmers for a Stronger Coffee Chain

With the Flor do Café project I learned about coffee quality and by that I added value to my product, through selective harvesting, the right use of products at the right time to control pests and diseases within safety standards.

Rosana de Azevedo Felet, coffee farmer, São José, Paraná, Brazil holding basket filled with seedlings

BETTER WITH BEES: MAKING MORE CASH FROM CASHEW

Beekeeping has an important role in generating and expanding the income of small-scale cashew farmers. Hives are placed in the orchards in return for bee pollination services, not only boosting cashew nut yields, but the farmer’s income also benefits from the sale of honey and wax.