With more than 170 years of experience, ECOM Trading is a world leader in sustainable cocoa, coffee, and cotton chains. It is also one of the top five global suppliers of cocoa beans.
Ecom Trading recognized that for their business to have a sustainable future, the communities where they operate need to be strong, healthy and inclusive.
In 2017, Ecom Trading piloted the Social Progress Index in the communities that are part of its supply chain in Latin America in collaboration with the Latin American Center for Competitiveness and Sustainable Development (CLACDS) INCAE and seven companies from the agriculture, tourism, and agro-industries sectors.
“Seeing the progress through the years is important to us. It’s a powerful tool to benchmark and then reassess your strategy… and to figure out how you can have a roundtable with partners and stakeholders to address the local needs.” - said Benjamin Rimaud, E&S Officer, who coordinated the SPI initiative for ECOM.
CLACDS INCAE, SPI and ECOM surveyed 1,600 people from different Nicaraguan communities of their supply chain to understand their challenges and study the areas of opportunity to support. The implementation of the Social Progress Index highlighted the poverty and the lack of opportunity the community faced which showed up in particular with gender inequality, mental health and teenage pregnancy. In rural areas, women often have little participation in their work and future, even in cases where the woman is the landowner, this economic asset is passed to her life partner. For example, most of the time, it is the woman who is the landowner, but due to gender issues, this strong asset is passed on to her life partner. We also identified high teenage pregnancy rates, showing the lack of opportunity and empowerment women had in these communities. The Social Progress Index also highlighted the high levels of depression and high suicide rates.
ECOM and their partners used the Social Progress Index to prioritize their programs and new initiatives, to build a path of action. One of the programs they launched focused on empowering women. In a three-stage program, they offered technical certifications on genetic multiplication of coffee, business administration, accounting, and leadership, and helped them create a women’s cooperative group. This group of women shared with ECOM how they were able to bring progress to their own families by becoming the owners of their businesses.
They also created the first online school in their rural area, where they also teach agricultural technical knowledge to empower children and teenagers with education and increase opportunity inside and outside their communities which creates the basis of equal opportunity for future generations. The educational program was created in collaboration with TEC de Monterrey, one of Latin America's best universities.
ECOM is committed to updating its work every three years by surveying the same communities and families to identify the improvement of social progress in the area. SMS global unit plans to use the Social Progress Index globally as part of its management impact model.
Listen to this podcast in Spanish by Professor Andrea Prado from INCAE Business School and María José Canales about the Social Progress Index in Nicaragua and its impact on the communities.
With more than 170 years of experience, ECOM Trading is a world leader in sustainable cocoa, coffee, and cotton chains. It is also one of the top five global suppliers of cocoa beans.
Ecom Trading recognized that for their business to have a sustainable future, the communities where they operate need to be strong, healthy and inclusive.
In 2017, Ecom Trading piloted the Social Progress Index in the communities that are part of its supply chain in Latin America in collaboration with the Latin American Center for Competitiveness and Sustainable Development (CLACDS) INCAE and seven companies from the agriculture, tourism, and agro-industries sectors.
“Seeing the progress through the years is important to us. It’s a powerful tool to benchmark and then reassess your strategy… and to figure out how you can have a roundtable with partners and stakeholders to address the local needs.” - said Benjamin Rimaud, E&S Officer, who coordinated the SPI initiative for ECOM.
CLACDS INCAE, SPI and ECOM surveyed 1,600 people from different Nicaraguan communities of their supply chain to understand their challenges and study the areas of opportunity to support. The implementation of the Social Progress Index highlighted the poverty and the lack of opportunity the community faced which showed up in particular with gender inequality, mental health and teenage pregnancy. In rural areas, women often have little participation in their work and future, even in cases where the woman is the landowner, this economic asset is passed to her life partner. For example, most of the time, it is the woman who is the landowner, but due to gender issues, this strong asset is passed on to her life partner. We also identified high teenage pregnancy rates, showing the lack of opportunity and empowerment women had in these communities. The Social Progress Index also highlighted the high levels of depression and high suicide rates.
ECOM and their partners used the Social Progress Index to prioritize their programs and new initiatives, to build a path of action. One of the programs they launched focused on empowering women. In a three-stage program, they offered technical certifications on genetic multiplication of coffee, business administration, accounting, and leadership, and helped them create a women’s cooperative group. This group of women shared with ECOM how they were able to bring progress to their own families by becoming the owners of their businesses.
They also created the first online school in their rural area, where they also teach agricultural technical knowledge to empower children and teenagers with education and increase opportunity inside and outside their communities which creates the basis of equal opportunity for future generations. The educational program was created in collaboration with TEC de Monterrey, one of Latin America's best universities.
ECOM is committed to updating its work every three years by surveying the same communities and families to identify the improvement of social progress in the area. SMS global unit plans to use the Social Progress Index globally as part of its management impact model.
Listen to this podcast in Spanish by Professor Andrea Prado from INCAE Business School and María José Canales about the Social Progress Index in Nicaragua and its impact on the communities.
