Business as a force for good
Covid-19 had devastating consequences for agricultural and factory workers across Africa and Asia. Falling demand and supply chain disruption meant many thousands lost their jobs and faced great economic and social pressures.
Through UK aid and private sector funding, Business Partnerships for Global Goals (BP4GG) invested in partnerships with 20 multinational companies and not-for-profit organisations to support vulnerable workers hit by the pandemic and build future supply chain resilience.
Business partnerships
Managed by a Mott MacDonald-led consortium, BP4GG targeted garment workers in Asia and agricultural workers in Africa providing food aid, PPE and Covid-19 safe workspaces, vaccination awareness, and direct monetary assistance.
The programme also tested and scaled initiatives focused on longer-term systemic changes to promote greener, fairer and more responsible supply chains. In Africa, BP4GG supported cocoa farmers and flower farm workers to cultivate other crops and diversify their incomes through climate-smart farming. In Kenya, BP4GG trialled sea freight to ship over five million flowers to Europe, demonstrating huge cost savings and the potential to reduce carbon emissions by up to 97%. BP4GG also supported economic empowerment interventions, enabling 650,000 women to be more resilient to future economic shocks.
Greater resilience for people and planet
Between 2020 and 2021, BP4GG drove progress against eight of the Global Goals reaching 1.42 million people, 63% of whom live on less than $5.50 a day. In the final review, BP4GG was awarded the highest possible rating of A++ by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.
