This year marks four years since the declaration by the United Nations General Assembly decided to designate 21st May as International Tea Day. The Day is aimed at promoting and fostering collective actions to implement activities in favour of the sustainable production and consumption of tea and raise awareness of its importance in fighting hunger and poverty.
TrustAfrica has since 2022 introduced the commemoration of International Tea Day in Reclaim Sustainability! Tea Programme countries of Malawi, Mozambique, Kenya and Uganda. Starting off in Malawi, TrustAfrica facilitated the Tea industry to commemorate its first ever event bringing together strategic stakeholders from the government, private sector, farmer organizations, civil society, and media. By May 2024, commemoration events have been observed in Mozambique and Kenya.
The 2024 International Tea Day was held under the theme ‘Honoring Women around the world, from crop to cup’ highlighting women and their role in the tea sector. In Mozambique, TrustAfrica celebrated the Tea Champion in the Tea sector who is strengthening dialogue in Gurue District bringing tea estates, workers, civil society and public sector agencies together in a functional multi-stakeholder platform to revamp the tea sector. With her leadership as the District Administrator, social dialogue mechanisms have been strengthened, leading to improvements in addressing tea worker challenges.
In pursuit of disruptive innovations, TrustAfrica supported the Specialty Tea Association in Kenya to commemorate the day on May 21 st amplifying calls for policy reforms that support value addition to tea and enhancing purple tea niche markets. On the spectrum of the commemoration, the Specialty Tea conference brought together over 200 farmers, producers, government officials and other stakeholders for exhibition and conference creating a knowledge exchange platform, facilitating farmer-buyer interface meetings and showcasing innovative solutions that deliver fair value and create impact in the tea sector.
In Malawi, over 400 people, with approximately 70% attended the commemoration event
where the Minister of Industry and Trade was the Guest of Honour and the International
Labour Organization (ILO) representative for Malawi, Zambia and Mozambique led the
launch of the the Revised Gender and Training manual on prevention of workplace violence
and harassment. The smallholder tea growers called for inclusive business models that move
the smallholder up the value chain; the workers called for decent working environment and
the Government.
Trust Africa joined its partners and celebrated International Tea Day in Dakar, Senegal –lifting Tea cups in honor of the women whilst affirming Trust Africa’s commitment to promoting democratic governance, equitable development, and African-led initiatives that impact livelihoods and economies. The need for a conducive business environment, stable markets, and support for smallholder tea growers to engage in value-added activities is much more now as the tea growing countries grapple with increasing climatic shocks, technological advancement, growing industrialization and heightened calls for inter/intra Africa trade.
United by a cup of tea ! Together for a fair and just tea societies.
