Over 100 million cups of tea are drunk every day in the UK. Yet many of the communities involved in producing our nation’s favourite beverage face high levels of poverty, child mortality, and exploitation.
Tea gardens are an important source of employment for millions in India, with the tea sector being one of the largest contributors to India’s economy. Despite this, tea garden communities are some of the most marginalised and underserved globally, with disproportionately high levels of poverty and exploitation.
Children belonging to scheduled tribes, who make up the vast majority of tea plantation workers, have the highest rates of child mortality amongst all groups. The reasons for this are complex and multifaceted. A historic culture of discrimination and social exclusion means many individuals have a distrust of mainstream health services. Research has found that over half of women in tea plantations do not access appropriate antenatal care, and rates of anaemia and other nutrient deficiencies are high. Distance from health facilities, poor transport infrastructure and difficulty taking time off work can all act as barriers to women accessing care.
Plantations themselves are closed communities. Workers and their families are dependent upon estate management for provision of food, housing, education, and healthcare. Climate change is leading to poorer quality crop yields and this has a significant impact on workers paid a daily wage based on how much they pick. Many families cannot afford their child’s travel costs to school. Covid-19 exacerbated the situation even further. School dropout rates, particularly for girls, have remained high in the aftermath of the pandemic, increasing the risk of early marriage, pregnancy and gender based violence.
What we’ve been doing to make a difference
CINI is currently active in over 60 plantations across West Bengal and Assam. Staff have earned the trust of residents and forged partnerships with tea companies, other charities and local government. As well as our health programmes, CINI has established initiatives to strengthen child protection mechanisms in plantations and improve education for children struggling in the aftermath prolonged COVID-19 school closures. CINI’s work was featured in a recent edition of Sip magazine http://sipmagazine.tea.ca/books/qhvl/?fbclid=IwY2xjawFDuAxleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHbs4ecAercKZCjesqIo29WP3HwfQ0KmEtMU7mlzxkouoSx7qtmMvky6a_g_aem_39fWakzaesryLzoN5pkiZQ#p=52.
CINI UK is currently funding the following programmes in tea plantations.
Child Friendly and Gender Just Plantations in Assam
CINI, together with Ahmad Tea, are working to deliver broad ranging interventions within 10 Assam plantations over 3 years, to improve women and children’s health outcomes and educational opportunities. We are incredibly proud to be working with Ahmad Tea on this venture; their commitment to sustainable development saw them awarded His Majesty The King’s Prize for Excellence in Enterprise in 2023.
Learning Centres and Mobile Libraries
CINI learning centres, based in the heart of plantations, provide a flexible space for learning for children struggling or disengaged from schooling. As well as 1-1 and group tutoring on English, Maths and Hindi, children have opportunities to learn about their rights, sexual health and child marriage. CINI raises awareness amongst parents and the wider community about the disastrous impact of child marriage on girls’ future health and life prospects, and the protective role of education. Staff strive to reintegrate all children back into school. Our Sukna Learning cente is generously supported by Street Tea.
Working alongside learning centres, mobile libraries provide a range of free literature to children in plantations and their families.
Combatting malnutrition in the first 1000 days of life
Our community based health programmes work across 23 plantations in West Bengal to reduce child malnutrition and improve health seeking behaviours during the 1000 first days of life, from pregnancy to age 2.