AGROAMERICA PARTICIPATED IN THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE “TOWARDS CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY ALONG SUPPLY CHAINS”, IN PRAGUE

Guatemala, November 2012. Bernardo Roehrs, director of Agroamerica’s Corporate Affairs, participated in the conference “Towards Corporate Social Responsibility along the supply chain: How and why should companies behave responsibly” which took place in Prague, Czech Republic, last month.

This conference was held on International Day of the Eradication of Poverty and the participants included civil society organizations, corporate actors, union members, public and academic sector, policy designers and representatives of workers and small producers in the Caribbean, Africa and Latin America. The objective was to discuss the role of companies along the supply chain, the working conditions of the workers, their communities and the diversity and sustainability of the environment in which they live.

Topics such as the impact of the corporate behavior at the wage level and gender rights were approached, using examples of supply chains of tropical fruits; identifying where and how progress is possible. The participants, among them, representatives of the fruit companies, suppliers, union members and persons of the civil society of all of Europe, had the opportunity to share their experiences firsthand on the problems and their possible solutions.

Bernardo Roehrs, representing Agroamérica, said the company was invited to present the issue of a dignified wage (living wage) because they are pioneers in the region and to show that in Guatemala, workers are well paid because it is a highly productive country.

The conference was organized by Frutas Justas! A consortium of European NGO’s: Banana Fair (Germany), Banana Link (United Kingdom), NaZemi Czech Republic and Peuple Solidaire (France) as part of the project, “Moving support for the fair and sustainable supply chains of bananas and pineapples” co-funded by the European Union.