For the past five years, the Palma Futuro project has built up robust social performance systems to improve conditions for workers at every level of the palm oil supply chain in Colombia and Ecuador through engagement inside and outside of the workplace.
We spoke with Palma Futuro’s Community Engagement Coordinator in Ecuador, Luisa Trujillo, about her experience engaging with communities in Ecuador and the impact of the project.
What was your role in the Palma Futuro project?
I was the Community Engagement Coordinator for Palma Futuro in Ecuador. My role was to work with the community leaders and members, as well as other stakeholders related to the communities and their needs – like plantation owners and government agencies. Throughout the project, I coordinated the creation and facilitation of Community Circles. These are groups of community members that come together each month for trainings and discussions, with the aim of generating consciousness about child labor and forced labor throughout communities and farms. The Community Circles also provided a space for us to identify issues in the community in need of support, so that we could link members to relevant stakeholders to help address these specific needs.
Why do you think that engaging with communities is an important component of Palma Futuro’s methodology?
I consider involving the communities to be the heart of the project. In the case of Ecuador, we were mainly working with small scale palm oil producers, where the farm owners and their workers are members of the nearby community. Engaging with them is an important way to improve awareness of labor rights. For example, it is common for kids to help parents at home or on farms here in Ecuador (sometimes instead of going to school), so the concept of child labor can be confused with familial work. It’s important to involve the whole community in understanding this concept, including school administrators and community leaders.
This work is an important element to the sustainability of Palma Futuro’s mission. Through the Community Circle training on labor rights, we developed the capacity of community members and leaders, so that when the project ends, they can continue this work themselves.
Social Compliance System workshop in the Miss, Ecuador community
What was the process of engaging with communities in Ecuador like?
I first developed a map of communities in the two regions where we have palm oil production in Ecuador (on the coast and in the Amazon) by engaging with industry associations and locating extractor plants. Once I had many communities mapped out, I made visits to examine their relationships and proximity to extractor plants.
After the field visits, I identified six communities for us to engage with, four in the Amazon and two on the coast. Then I began the rural diagnoses. For this, I asked community members to share about the challenges facing their communities and shared the results with the community leaders. By asking about what problems the community needs to solve, we began to build trust.
The final step in the process was to create Community Circles. These groups included various members of communities, including leaders, school administrators, farm owners, workers, and local government administrators. Once the circles were formed, we met with them monthly to deliver trainings on the different elements of the social compliance systems and connect them to resources. Throughout the project, we were able to connect leaders with people that can help solve issues facing communities. For example, we connected them with their municipalities, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Labor, fire fighters, and many other stakeholders that helped to address their specific needs.
Rural diagnosis with the Getsemani community members and Luisa (center)
What are some examples of actions that you implemented as a result of Community Circles’ discussions?
First of all, it’s important to mention that the communities themselves decided what types of actions to implement and these actions were decided by the community after considerations of their biggest needs and what would be most beneficial to them. For example, three communities are situated far away from the nearest hospital, making it difficult when medical emergencies arise. Snake bites, minor cuts from tools, or falling from palm trees are common in this area, and people needed a way to address these incidents within the community. We connected these communities to the Ministry of Health, which then sent out medical teams to provide first aid training workshops where community members practiced techniques under the guidance of doctors and nurses.
Our goal was to build the capacity of community members so that they can continue these efforts now that the project is over. For example, we connected communities with a technical expert who provided training on palm pollination – equipping many community members with a new skill that can be applied to new or existing jobs. We also provided workshops about how to identify and apply for funding opportunities from various stakeholders, which was new to many community leaders.
Now that the project has finished, how have you seen its impact?
Community leaders and members have built many new skills, and they recognize that everyone in the community must work together to be successful. For example, leaders in the community of Las Cañitas implemented a community-wide grievance mechanism after seeing the implementation on farms. They felt that providing an anonymous way for community members to communicate with leaders would be helpful. For instance, there is gender violence in homes in the area, and people had been apprehensive about raising this issue for fear of retaliation. After the issue was raised through the grievance mechanism, community leaders implemented a workshop about gender violence prevention.
Another impact I’ve seen is that communities are now more aware of and connected to relevant government agencies and other stakeholders nearby. They now know who to contact when issues such as child labor, forced labor, and gender violence arise.
Child labor workshop in the 10 de Agosto community
Can you tell us about your background and how you became involved with Palma Futuro?
I have a master’s degree in Forest Management and Biodiversity Conservation, and a doctorate in Botany. My thesis was about communities in Costa Rica and the cacao producers. After graduating, I started working with communities, coordinating different projects focused on agroforestry in Bolivia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Ecuador.
I connected with SAI through a colleague during a fellowship at Cornell University and began working with Palma Futuro. I’m very grateful to SAI for giving me new tools from trainings on the social compliance systems, training of trainers’ workshops, the SA8000 basic course, and visiting the Palma Futuro community engagement team in Colombia to learn about their work. I learned a lot from these trainings and combined these new skills with my previous experience throughout my work with Palma Futuro. This led me to develop a deeper understanding of the importance of combining the social aspects with the environmental; both components must work together to benefit producers and communities.
Funding is provided by the United States Department of Labor under cooperative agreement number IL-32820-18-75-K. 100 percent of the total costs of the project is financed with federal funds, for a total of 6,000,000 US dollars. This material does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the United States Department of Labor, nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by the United States Government.
