• Improving health and safety in Indian tea supply chains

    Posted by sharmadiya on 28/03/2012

    My colleague Ranjan and I recently spent a few days on a tea estate in Assam with two of them dedicated to training 25 deputy and assistant estate managers on Occupational Health & Safety (OHS). This trip was particularly special for me as it was my first time on a tea estate. Having joined Ranjan Circar (Regional Manager, India) in READ MORE


  • A ready supply of tea bushes

    Posted by Dushy Perera on 09/02/2012

    I recently returned from a successful trip to Indonesia where I’m working closely with my colleague Nelia on the ETP / IDH smallholder project. The project is helping smallholder farmers to improve the productivity of their plots with the aim of improving their livelihoods from tea. The cooperative that we’re focusing on is located in Western Sumatra, near to the READ MORE


  • Good tea starts in the field

    Posted by Nelia Latief on 06/02/2012

    Since 2010 Ethical Tea Partnership and the Dutch Sustainable Trade Initiative have been working together on a multi-stakeholder project to help 1,000 Indonesian smallholder farmers to make a sustainable living from tea. Presented with a range of problems (small plots, remote locations, limited knowledge of good agricultural practice and a lack of finance for input materials) that can adversely affect READ MORE


  • ETP staff hit the road in 2012

    Posted by Sarah Roberts on 12/01/2012

    We are only a couple of weeks into 2012 and already the ETP staff are racking up the miles. Our two African staff, Jane and Wagurah are both in Uganda at the moment travelling with staff from ETP member companies and supporting producers to meet international standards. They’ll be returning to Kenya for another ‘train the trainer’ workshop for the READ MORE


  • Developing our programmes in China

    Posted by Hubert on 21/12/2011

    I was very happy to welcome Liz Smedley, ETP’s UK based China advisor to China recently. I’ve been working as the ETP Regional Manager in China since 2007, focusing on helping tea producers to engage with the ethical requirements of international buyers and to assist them in raising their standards. Although I speak to Liz several times a week, the READ MORE


  • Successful climate change training in Kenya

    Posted by Rachel Cracknell on 16/12/2011

    A few weeks ago I travelled to Kenya where we are delivering a climate change adaptation project in partnership with GIZ (the German Development Agency). The goal of the project is to train approximately 10,000 vulnerable Kenyan smallholder farmers in the most appropriate adaptation techniques to increase their resilience to climate change. A lot of the training focuses on good READ MORE


  • A Trip with a Minister!

    Posted by Ranjan Circar on 23/11/2011

    I have always been intrigued by one our member’s company name, The Republic of Tea. I thought it both unusual and creative, and one that was full of promise. My intrigue was further fuelled when I learned in August that I should make time from my routine activity to meet their ‘Minister of Origins,’ who would be passing through Kolkata. READ MORE


  • Training smallholder farmers for certification

    Posted by Anu Huhtisaari on 15/11/2011

    ETP has agreements in place with three key certification programmes operating in the tea sector (Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance and Utz Certified) to reduce duplication and increase our joint impact. One of my roles is to ensure that if an ETP member wishes to source tea certified under any of these programmes, we can help them achieve this efficiently. While I READ MORE


  • Positive developments in East Africa

    Posted by Sarah Roberts on 08/11/2011

    We had a very positive week in Kenya last week. Wagurah, Jane, Anu and I went through all the countries that our members buy from in Africa and made sure that we have a clear improvement plan in each case. Having Jane Nyambura on board will make a big difference to the team. Her experience of working within KTDA and READ MORE


  • Bea’s introduction to tea

    Posted by Bea Cameron on 04/11/2011

    I recently joined Ethical Tea Partnership (ETP) on an internship to gain experience in ethical trading and to learn more about international development. ETP is a really interesting organisation because it brings a large number of companies together for the sole purpose of improving the sustainability of the tea industry. My main responsibilities, helping to co-ordinate the monitoring programme and READ MORE


  • Scaling up tea sustainability projects in East Africa

    Posted by Sarah Roberts on 31/10/2011

    Just arrived in Nairobi with Anu and Rachel for what should be a very intense week. I am here for some strategic meetings with our team, donors and partners to discuss ‘up scaling tea sustainability in the East African tea sector’. We’ll be looking at how the different organisations working in this field can most effectively link our activities together in READ MORE


  • Positive response to agrochemical training (Sri Lanka)

    Posted by Dushy Perera on 30/10/2011

    I recently returned from the lovely city of Kandy in central Sri Lanka where I had been meeting the implementation team for the roll-out of our safe use of agrochemicals training programme. 18 members of the Plantation Human Development Trust, their Director of Health (Dr Ravi Nannayakkara) and myself spent an intense day reviewing the outcomes of the pilot sessions READ MORE