” We at AAK have seen some important progress within our activities in West Africa over the last year and we continue to improve our presence in the region. During the past year we have, among other things, finalized the building of our yard in Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso and refurbished our yards in Ghana where we also have started a women’s groups project. Financed by Danida, we have also started a shea tree regeneration project in Burkina Faso together with The National Agricultural and Environmental Research Institute (INERA), and TREE AID, a British development and environmental NGO. Since some ” Great progress in West Africa The Global Shea Alliance is a multi-stakeholder non-profit organization established in 2011 with AAK as one of its founding members. What is the main purpose of the alliance? The GSA focus areas are sustainability, market expansion, competitiveness, and policy advocacy. In the past few years, we have launched a number of important initiatives to achieve our mission: The GSA Sustainability Program defines guidelines for sustainable business practices and projects that improve women’s empowerment and tree populations in Africa. Registered partners are building warehouses for women collectors, offering business development trainings to women’s groups, undertaking health and safety initiatives, and much more. The program is about creating largescale impact through GSA member collaboration. We hold three international conferences and exhibitions in Africa and the US each year to promote shea-based ingredients and products. We established a quality standard for kernels and held trainings on best practices for processing and storage that benefited 30,000 collectors last year. We are supporting producing countries to undertake international policy advocacy campaigns that will open important new markets. In recent years, the number of GSA members has increased considerably. What is the reason for this? It’s been an exciting few years for the GSA and we now have 380 members including brands, suppliers, women’s groups, years back we also employ a number of deaf mute people in Ghana who are doing an excellent work in a safe environment. In addition, we continue our work regarding the compliance Joseph Funt Managing Director Global Shea Alliance 28 Exciting times for the Global Shea Alliance with the AAK Supplier Code of Conduct and our involvement as a founding member of the Global Shea Alliance. AAK has a clear vision to work in the direction of a sustainable value chain and to focus even more on sustainability and traceability. Henrik Vingaard Sourcing & Trading Director and non-profits. Our members range from small start-ups to large international businesses and are based in 25 different countries. The GSA offers a compelling opportunity to join industry-wide sustainability efforts, support international promotion, network with members, access technical support, and gain exposure. For our membership, we think it’s important to offer sustainability, quality, and promotion activities in order to drive continued interest. What are the main objectives for the alliance within the next year? We have an ambitious year planned at the GSA. We are increasing our membership and sustainability partners as well as rolling out public private partnerships to help scale the size of existing projects. We are also launching a European conference and developing an international strategy to promote shea in food and cosmetic industries.
AAK - Sustainability Report 2014/2015
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