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Enhance Gender Balance

We strive to create a business culture that provides equal opportunities for everyone and ensures people are always treated with dignity and respect. This is reflected, for example, in our promotion of gender balance within the business. 

Our progress 

In Central and West Africa, we have introduced a number of changes to promote gender balance in the workplace. 

We have changed the corporate recruitment policy, focusing on Gender Equity as a key decision-making and reference point. 

Our company has increased the employment of women in management positions by 10% across the region. 

Gender balance is a focal point during staff meetings and communications, as well as management committees and leadership training. 

We are also helping new breastfeeding mothers to balance motherhood and work thanks to the launch of the 'Nestlé CWAR Parental Policy', which is designed to support employees and their children in all its sites across the region. 

For more information on this policy, go to the Nutrition section.

Women cocoa farmers in Côte d’Ivoire 

 

We have committed to support women cocoa farmers in Côte d’Ivoire by launching the ‘Nestlé Action Plan on Women in the Cocoa Supply Chain’ in 2013, as part of the Nestlé Cocoa Plan.

Women have a pivotal role to play in the fight against child labour, as they are often responsible for taking care of the household.

Our vision is to empower women to improve their livelihoods and eliminate child labour by:
• Promoting equal opportunities
• Giving women a voice
• Helping increase women’s income

In collaboration with the Fair Labor Association (FLA), gender awareness trainings have already been organised in 29 cooperatives with the objective of opening up more opportunities for women. This will be extended to all coops by 2017.

The percentage of women running Nestlé Cocoa Plan nurseries has increased to 27% in 2015, compared to 3% in 2013. We are also helping create local women’s associations to provide support and assistance. So far, 66 women’s groups were assisted with income generating activities, such as growing and selling cassava, enabling them to send their children to school.

 

 

Maggi mammies 

Women are also developing new career paths and increasing their independence across Central and West Africa. 

The ‘Maggi Loyalty Programme’, which started in Côte d’Ivoire and Cameroon over 15 years ago, was launched as a regional initiative in 2015. 

Maggi mammies who are part of the programme receive basic training in sales and marketing skills, as well as nutrition. This enables them to become better sellers and helps to provide nutritional advice to their shoppers. In some countries like Côte d’Ivoire, they also benefit from incentives like vaccinations.