ANNUAL REPORT 2023 | Cotton made in Africa

Providing More Funding for Innovations and Community Projects

The Aid by Trade Foundation’s work is based on the principle of leveraging market forces to enable people to help themselves. As a result, 84 percent of revenue generated in 2023 came from business activities. Its financial growth enabled AbTF to increase its expenditure for implementing CmiA programmes to a total of EUR 3,874 thousand, which is 17.5 percent higher than in the previous year. Expenditure for the CmiA Community Cooperation Programme and its projects, which aim to improve the living and working conditions of small-scale cotton farmers and their families, increased by 60 percent, to EUR 780 thousand.

“In 2023, AbTF invested 80 percent of its total expenditure in activities directly fulfilling its mission. That is four percent more than in the previous year,” says Tina Stridde, the managing director of AbTF, continuing, “Implementing CmiA and GCS programmes requires significant resources, but since AbTF’s equity structure was further strengthened in 2023, the funding necessary for innovative programmes will continue to be available going forward.”

In 2023, 1.7 million hectares of cotton were cultivated in accordance with the criteria of the CmiA and CmiA Organic standards, with nearly 900,000 small-scale farmers harvesting enough cotton to produce around one billion t-shirts. In Inner Mongolia, 9,100 farms with 4.3 million goats produced 2,200 tonnes of GCS-verified cashmere, which represents another year-on-year increase, in this case by over 15 percent.

Combining High-Tech and Traditional Knowledge for Climate Change Adaptation

The challenges facing partners of the AbTF standards continued to grow in 2023. The effects of climate change and the reduction of biodiversity and of soil health are increasingly noticeable and represent an existential threat to people in the cultivation regions. The Aid by Trade Foundation’s standards support them on multiple levels.

To unlock the potential of satellite-supported remote sensing for sustainable cotton production, CmiA launched its first remote sensing project in Tanzania in 2023, using satellite data to increase the efficiency, productivity, and sustainability of agricultural operations. For its part, the joint programme CAR-iSMa has set itself the goal of improving the living conditions of 100,000 small-scale farming families through sustainable production methods for soil management. Multi-day workshops were held in Africa to foster connections and communication between partnering cotton companies. In addition, AbTF and the African Cotton Foundation (ACF) established the Innovations Club as a platform for regional and international scientists and experts to network and discuss innovations and the most effective, practical, and implementable practices to urgently regenerate African smallholder farming eco-systems.
(c) Emily Paul African People & Wildlife

The people in African cotton-growing regions remain a priority for the Aid by Trade Foundation’s activities in 2023. A multi-day workshop in Tanzania focussed on approaches for successfully incorporating village communities into nature and wildlife protection efforts. During the past year, AbTF also developed contemporary training materials on topics such as ways for small-scale cotton farmers to improve water management. Through the CmiA Community Cooperation Programme (CCCP), numerous projects beyond cotton cultivation were funded addressing health, education, women’s empowerment, and environmental protection. Specific measures in 2023 included drilling 142 wells, building 128 classrooms and six health centres, establishing 90 women’s clubs, and equipping 33 buildings to use solar power.

To increase small-scale farmers’ resilience against the effects of climate change, AbTF developed the trailblazing Regenerative Cotton Standard (RCS) in 2023. Its focus is on a system of cotton production that supports natural regenerative processes. To achieve this, RCS integrates small-scale farmers’ wealth of agricultural knowledge with scientific expertise and innovative digital technology. RCS’ holistic approach ensures that the farms’ entire production system falls within the standard’s scope. In addition to covering animal welfare, it supports small-scale farmers in increasing or restoring the fertility of their fields through measures including expanded crop rotation, agroforestry systems, intercropping, and biomass usage. RCS is the first standard of its kind to be explicitly directed at small-scale farming communities.

Continuing to Attract Producers, Retailers, Brands, and Consumers

The Aid by Trade Foundation’s standards once again proved to be attractive for global supply chains in 2023. CmiA is active in 54 textile production markets worldwide, working with 2,700 partners in the textile supply chain. With new clients including the internationally renowned companies IKEA and AVON, and with demand for transparency and CmiA Organic continuing to rise, it is clear that market interest in AbTF’s work remains high. CmiA had 61 retailers and brands as partners in 2023. In its fourth year of operation, The Good Cashmere Standard was already working with 54 retailers and brands to promote sustainable cashmere production and was present with GCS-verified cashmere in 16 textile production markets.

These figures show that demand for sustainably produced textile fibres continued to be high in 2023 despite an overall difficult market environment. By combining traditional knowledge with modern agricultural technology and effective tracing systems like the Hard Identity Preserved (HIP) tracking system, the AbTF standards were able to fulfil producers’ urgent desire for innovative solutions in addition to reliably providing the high degree of transparency increasingly being demanded by both lawmakers and consumers.

TRANSPARENT AND FAIR SUPPLY CHAINS PLAY A KEY ROLE

The international community is currently facing multiple overlapping crises. The number of authoritarian and fragile states is increasing. Many industrialised countries are facing major financial and domestic political challenges. In light of these challenges, what would constitute an effective approach to supporting countries in the Global South, in terms of sustainable social and economic development? We discussed this issue with IngridGabriela Hoven, a member of both the management board of GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit) and the board of trustees of the Aid by Trade Foundation.

INGRID-GABRIELA HOVEN Member of the management board of GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit)

COMPETITION AT THE LEVEL OF PRODUCTION IS COUNTERPRODUCTIVE

Promoting joint learning and the exchange of knowledge among partners is an integral part of Cotton made in Africa’s work. For this reason, the initiative regularly organises crosspartner and -country workshops and meetings with the employees of cotton companies in Africa. The meetings’ central aim is to work together on the most effective, practical, and feasible solutions to current challenges in sustainable cotton cultivation. Dr Ben Sekamatte, an agricultural expert and advisor to Cotton made in Africa from Uganda, and Younoussa Imorou Ali, a CmiA representative and advisor for West and Central Africa, have been involved in these events since the beginning. They know how joint learning works in practice and what makes it so successful.

YOUNOUSSA IMOROU ALI CmiA Representative and Advisor for West and Central Africa

DR BEN SEKAMATTE Agricultural Expert and Advisor to Cotton made in Africa

OUR ROLE IS TO UNVEIL APPROACHES AND TOOLS FOR CREATING AND SUSTAINING HOPE AND ACTION

African People & Wildlife (APW) partners with local people to protect vulnerable wildlife and critical habitats while uplifting rural livelihoods. In September 2023, representatives and partners of the Aid by Trade Foundation participated in an ACTIVE™ community engagement training programme by APW in Tanzania. In this interview, Alais OleMorindat, the director of APW’s ACTIVE programme, explains why projects can only succeed if local people are involved and how data collection can help

ALAIS OLE-MORINDAT Director of APW’s ACTIVE™ Programme

ISSUES LIKE HUMAN RIGHTS AND CLIMATE PROTECTION ARE NOT NEGOTIABLE

The Otto Group is one of the world’s largest online retailers, having grown from its origins as a Hamburg-based mail-order business into a globally active retail and services group. In the ’90s, the Otto Group started developing a code of conduct with stringent criteria for social standards and dignified working conditions that its business partners are required to follow, and it has continued to refine and expand on this approach. Lena Peleikis, the lead for human rights and responsible supply chain at the Otto Group, believes that standards like CmiA and GCS are essential, especially as regulatory requirements increase, since they strengthen human rights and environmental protections in the global supply chain.

LENA PELEIKIS Corporate Responsibility Lead Human Rights & Responsible Supply Chain at Otto Group

THE PRINCIPLES OF RCS ARE IN HARMONY WITH THE INTRINSIC VALUES OF INDIAN FARMERS

With 32 years of experience as a cotton scientist, Dr Keshav Kranthi is a leader in his field. With his in-depth knowledge, he provides insights into regenerative agriculture and offers an outlook on the new Regenerative Cotton Standard and its implementation in India.

DR KESHAV KRANTHI Chief Scientist at the International Cotton Advisory Committee

THE GOOD CASHMERE STANDARD PLAYS A CRUCIAL ROLE IN IMPROVING THE WELFARE OF CHINA’S CASHMERE GOATS

Figo Li, a project manager for animal welfare at LRQA (formerly Elevate), is a well-respected specialist on cashmere goats and animal welfare in China who has travelled to many cashmere farms in Inner Mongolia for verification purposes over the past two years. In this interview, he discusses the topic of animal welfare in China and what role GCS plays in improving the welfare of China’s cashmere goats.

FIGO LI Project Manager for Animal Welfare at LRQA (formerly Elevate)

CUSTOMERS HAVE THE RIGHT TO KNOW WHAT THEIR CLOTHES COST TO PRODUCE

In its determined pursuit of “Cleaner Fashion”, Everlane has chosen to partner with The Good Cashmere Standard. For its efforts to manufacture every product responsibly and with the lowest impact possible, the label was honoured as the Sustainable Brand of the Year 2023 at the Glossy Fashion Awards in the USA. We spoke with Katina Boutis, the director of sustainability at Everlane, about Everlane’s mission, radical transparency and pricing models.

KATINA BOUTIS Director of Sustainability at Everlane