Direct IMPACT
Achievements in the Agriculture Industry
FOCUS: Health & Safety
As of summer 2010, Project Cultivar has established relationships with 30 farms across the banana, melon and sugarcane sectors in the CAFTA-DR region. Through multi-stakeholder meetings and interactive seminars, Project Cultivar has trained a total of 2,270 workers, managers and government representatives on topics such as Occupational Health & Safety (OHS) and techniques for improving communication between workers and managers.
RESULTS: Safer Farms
Since Cultivar's start in 2008, participating farms have made significant improvements in distributing and monitoring the correct use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) by workers. Through direct observations of farm activities and one-on-one interviews, managers and workers report the following positive changes in working conditions:
- An increase in the supply of PPE to workers
- An increase in the amount of training provided to workers on the proper usage of their PPE
- An improvement on workers' consistent use of PPE during the course of their work
Today, 8 farms maintain first aid kits on their premises and cover routine and preventive medical examinations for employees after receiving training on OHS with Cultivar - a 55% increase in the number of Cultivar farms with these new policies for a total of 15 farms. |
 Advancing
Labor Rights in Agriculture
Project Cultivar's mission is to increase compliance with national and international labor standards and increase the competitiveness of the agricultural sector through sustainable mechanisms and strategies in Honduras, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic. Project Cultivar works in partnership with socially responsible brands and retailers, international and local trade unions, NGOs, ministries and/or secretaries of state and grassroots organizations to achieve their goals.
SAI Project Cultivar
Regional Office
Planes de Altamira
de Pizza Hut Villa Fontana
1c abajo y 2c al lago
Condominio Arana
Apartamento No.3
Managua, Nicaragua
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SAI is a multi-stakeholder non-governmental organization (NGO) that promotes decent work worldwide. SAI recognizes that compliance with voluntary standards is only part of what is needed to increase compliance with labor standards in the world. To that end, SAI has developed programs with local grassroots efforts, such as Project Cultivar to ground the work in a context that is both broad and specific. With such projects, SAI contributes to the building of an enabling environment for labor rights and a culture of compliance.
SAI Global Headquarters
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 Spring/Summer 2010 |
News & Events
Bettering Lives with Better Work Nicaragua
USDOL Secretary Attends Round Table Talks on Labor Rights Initiatives in Managua
US Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis announces USDOL's funding of Better Work Nicaragua. (Photo courtesy of www.dol.gov)  |
In her second visit to the CAFTA-DR region under the Obama Administration, U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis visited Managua, Nicaragua on July 28, 2010 to meet with local stakeholders to promote the International Labor Organization's (ILO) Better Work initiative. As part of her agenda, Secretary Solis participated in a round table discussion with officials from the labor ministry as well as local and international labor rights organizations implementing programs funded by the U.S. government. They discussed ways to improve compliance with labor standards and the competitiveness of local producers in global supply chains. Project Cultivar, Proyecto Ent�rate, Catholic Relief Services, Comply & Win and UniRSE participated in the talks with Secretary Solis, U.S. Ambassador to Nicaragua Robert J. Callahan and Nicaraguan Labor Minister Jeannette Chavez.
U.S. Secretary Hilda L. Solis participates in a round table with U.S. Ambassador to Nicaragua Robert J. Callahan, Nicaraguan Labor Minister Jeannette Chavez, ILO representatives and others to discuss Better Work Nicaragua. (Photo courtesy of www.dol.gov)  |
Representatives of SAI's Project Cultivar, Dr. Rafael Barrera, Dr. Carlos Morales and local partner PASE
(Professionals for Corporate Social Auditing), conveyed key examples of
Cultivar's activities, all of which focus on the facilitation of
worker-manager communication and the implementation of management
systems by agro-businesses to protect workers' rights as their
businesses grow. >>Read more |
Migration Matters
INCAP Hosts Round Table on Haitian Workers' Rights in the DR
On the same day that Secretary Solis led discussions on labor standards in Nicaragua, Project Cultivars's Local Partner INCAP (Institute of Popular Culture and Local Self Reliance) led a multi-stakeholder discussion in the Dominican Republic on labor issues affecting the Dominican banana industry.
Dominican NGOs, banana companies and others convene in Mao to discuss important issues concerning Haitian migrant workers in the region.  |
Attendees included representatives from the Ministries of Labor and Migration, social organizations such as Junta de Asociaciones Campesinas "Rafael Fernando Dominguez" (JACARAFE) and Centro Diocesano de Asistencia y Asesoria Legal Juan Pablo II, companies such as ASOANOR, Banamiel, and Bananeras de la Santa Cruz as well as a representative from the military.
Participants focused on the legal status of Haitian migrant workers in the agricultural sector in the country's Valverde Province. INCAP Director Alsides Brea Franco facilitated a debate on the practical matters surrounding the issuance of state identification cards or work visas to Haitians, who are otherwise working illegally and denied access to social benefits. >>Read more For more information on INCAP's work on labor issues in the agricultural sector in the Dominican Republic, please contact them at +809-572-5644/8396 or [email protected].
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Project CULTIVAR is..."particularly relevant at this moment in time, when the role of the colonos (independent sugarcane producers) in the Dominican sugarcane sector is being re-defined to help the industry meet diverse demands."
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 M�ximo Mercedes President of FUNDAPRIN and Member of the Board of Directors of Colonos de Consuelo, Dominican Republic. Colonos de Consuelo is an association of 15 independent sugarcane producers with whom Project Cultivar's Local Partner CIAC coordinates the project's technical assistance program for the producers. |
Dominican Republic
Drawing on their Knowledge
CIAC and INCAP Illustrate the Design of Decent Work for Haitian Workers
Braceros or "field laborers" work virtually waist deep in muddy waters as they cut down stalks of sugarcane on the farm.  |
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. For the thousands of braceros, field workers in the Dominican Republic, wrestling with stalks of sugarcane and rustling banana leaves under the blistering sun for US$3.40/day, a picture illustrating the challenges to their human right to a safe and healthy working environment is worth substantially more.
Members of CIAC and INCAP of the Dominican Republic meet to discuss the design of health and safety materials for Haitian workers. In the photo (left to right): Cesarina Mendoza (INCAP), Nicomedes Castro, President of CIAC, David Figueroa (CIAC), and Antonio Galan (INCAP).  |
Drawing on best practices of popular education to contribute to the education of braceros on their human rights as workers, SAI's Local Partners CIAC (Center for Cultural Research and Support) and INCAP,
teamed up in June to create a series of illustrated educational
materials in Creole for agricultural workers in the sugarcane and
banana sectors of the Dominican Republic, most of who are of Haitian
descent. >>Read more |
Honduras Great Expectations
CDH and Local University UNAH Team Up to Promote Labor Rights Compliance
Students in the Certificate Program on Social Dialogue, Labor Rights, and Management Systems attend their first lectures.  |
In July, Cultivar Local Partner CDH (Center for Human Development) and the National Autonomous University of Honduras (UNAH) inaugurated the first Degree Program on Social Dialogue, Labor Relations and Management Systems ever offered in Honduras. The diversity of the inaugural classes demonstrated the public interest in a national dialogue on critical labor rights issues. Students enrolling in the degree program at the Choluteca and San Pedro Sula campuses included people from the business sector, trade unions and government.
Students form small groups to perform class exercises.  |
Characterizing the importance of this program, Dr. Wilfredo Dominguez,
Director of UNAH's Regional University Center of Litoral Pac�fico in
Choluteca stated, "The academic-societal connection with the alliance
of CDH-UNAH is historic. This alliance is defining
the perspective on labor rights in the region." >>Read more
For more information on the Diplomado, please contact CDH at [email protected] or +505-221-4809. |
Nicaragua
Step by Step
PASE Helps Clear the Path for Health and Safety in the Banana Sector
Banana workers equipped with safety gloves and aprons conduct quality control.  |
In Nicaragua, banana production represents an important sector in the country's economy, and the implementation and maintenance of management systems that will insure the health and safety of the industry's workers is critical to the sector's vitality.
Finca Coquimba's Joint Commission for Health & Safety assembles to discuss health and safety issues affecting its workers with PASE as an invited guest.  |
Project Cultivar has
trained management, workers and trade unions of all six banana farms
that account for 100% of export banana production in the country. In
February, Cultivar Local Partner PASE
further spurred efforts to raise the bar in occupational safety and
health management when they signed an engagement letter with Finca Coquimba,
establishing the farm's commitment to improve its management system for
Occupational Health and Safety. Through its commitment, Coquimba leads
its peer farms in assuring safe and h ealthy conditions at its
facilities, as it is the first in the industry to take such a step. >>Read more |
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This newsletter was produced with funding from the United States Department of Labor (USDOL) under Cooperative Agreement E-9-K-7-0005.
This newsletter does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of USDOL, and the mention of company names, commercial products or organizations does not imply endorsement by the government of the United States of America. |
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