A whole community approach to better tea estates in Assam
We’re championing a project with the Ethical Tea Partnership (ETP) in Assam that partners with tea communities to make long-lasting change to their living and working conditions from the ground-up.
Sourcing from Assam
Assam has long been an important region to us. Tea grown here is a key part of our Yorkshire Tea blend, but the estates support large communities that face deep-rooted challenges.
We work with estates in Assam who are committed to improving standards – we’ve spent a lot of time here building long term relationships with suppliers where there’s greatest potential for us to make a difference.
With the ETP, we helped to establish a Plantation Community Empowerment Programme (PCEP) in 2018, piloting in a few key estates. The programme has proven to be so powerful in making a difference that we’re now rolling it out to every estate that we work with in the region.
Bringing the estate together
PCEPs are designed to bring everyone involved in estate communities – from managers to workers, community leaders and non-working community members together on an equal footing. The communities develop a shared understanding and ownership of challenges and create a plan to prioritise and resolve these issues. It’s an approach that empowers workers and residents to recognise and call for their individual needs and rights effectively.
An important part of the programme has been to work alongside people from the estate communities to ensure they’re able to access the government services and benefits to which they’re entitled. This can include everything from acquiring a residential certificate to gain admission to local educational services, to applying for a voter identity card, or opening a bank account – all essentials which have in the past been inaccessible for many due to a lack of the right documentation.
In 2023 over 2,500 people have been supported in accessing social protection and security benefits, and over 6,500 people have been helped to access key documents like voter identity cards, residence certificates and birth certificates.
Joyful Learning
To support access to education on estates, ‘Joyful learning centres’ have been set up with a focus on a holistic approach to education, including academics, sports, arts and crafts, and cultural education. The learning centres in Assam offer workshops which help children with their reading and writing, giving them more confidence at school and complementing other initiatives to improve student retention.
Adults in the community are also eager to learn, which has resulted in the first of several planned adult literacy centres springing up, managed by community learners with access to educational materials.
After retiring, elderly members of the tea estates often find themselves isolated and lacking opportunities beyond their daily responsibilities to look after the household and care for children. With this in mind, Elders’ clubs will give older people the opportunity to join wellbeing activities such as basic yoga. They’ll also lead storytelling sessions with Joyful Learning Centre children – bringing enjoyment to both age groups.
Building additional incomes
Each of the estates is already set up with Self Help Groups that support members to save and access government-subsidized programs for income generation. The PCEP plans to start working with these groups to train members on additional income-generating activities that can be carried out in their homestead plots or backyards.
Sangeetha Kerkata was introduced to Self Help Groups back in 2016 and has since formed her own group and gone on to join PCEP as a community mobiliser, having realised the benefits it can bring:
“Joining there gave me something. I gained some experience and with it, I can do something properly. Especially my confidence level… even if it’s a little, it has increased. There are many girls or women like me in other gardens as well who should come out and learn [from the Community Development Forum] – not just to develop income, but to develop self-confidence.”
In all, the three-year programme intends to reach approximately 100,000 people on 20 tea estates across 9 districts of Assam with a special focus on women and youth.