February 2007

Hoja Verde is a Fairtrade Flower Producer Farm in Cayambe, Ecuador. It was Fairtrade Certified five years ago, in 2002. Currently, Hoja Verde employs 153 workers. Most of the workers are from the region of Cayambe but 10% come from the coast of the country.

“The Ecuadorian coast has suffered very much from the recent economic crisis. Many people have immigrated to Spain and to the United States. But the horticulture industry in the region of Cayambe is providing employment opportunities to many . We hope the sector will continue to grow and provide more jobs and wealth to the country” says Wilson Duran, Human Resources Responsible at Hoja Verde.

When asked about the empowerment of workers in the farm since Hoja Verde was Certified Fairtrade in 2002, Wilson explains: “Apart from the economic benefits that the Fairtrade Premium brought, there are also many intangible benefits… workers feel they own something, they have been empowered and are now able to develop their own projects, they want to get involved. And most importantly, they feel proud because they are not the only ones to benefit from the projects they are putting in place. The entire community is also benefiting”.

So far, the Joint Body at Hoja Verde used the Fairtrade Premium to fund the following initiatives:

• Grocery Program: every month, workers receive basic foodstuffs from the grocery at a cheaper price.

• Cancer Prevention Program for Women: the program was launched to prevent uterus cancer among local women. The first phase of the programme only covered workers. It is planned that in a second phase the wives or partner of workers who do not have social security protection will also be included.

• Scholarship Program: the objective was to assist workers in accessing formal and informal education. The scholarship covers 70% of the total educational costs and the worker has to pay the remaining 30%. Over 40 workers benefited from the scholarship program.

• Communication Program: the program is an internal hifi/radio system co-financed in collaboration with the farm. The broadcasts include music and news. The programming also keeps the workers informed about the Joint Body and Workers Committee activities. The farm doctor also uses the airwaves to provide health information to the workers.

• Computer Center Program: the program aims to provide computer training to the farm’s workers.

• Preventive Health for Children: an important part of the Premium was used to finance a preventive health campaign for workers' children. This is very important because social security only covers workers and families do not benefit from the service.

 Alejandra Macías has been working at Hoja Verde for 8 years. She has been a member of the Joint Body for the past two years: “At the beginning it was difficult, we did not have any experience and did not know anything about finances. We didn’t know how to manage the Fairtrade Premium. Fortunately, we had the support of Julia, the FLO Liaison Officer, who helped us a lot. It was a hard but also a very gratifying experience because we were able to develop projects that benefited a lot all our colleagues”.