Lavazza & Save the Children: our 20 years of partnership

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Children remind us, with their spontaneity, what it means to be human, inspiring us to rediscover universal values such as tolerance, inclusion and solidarity. In order to be able to express their potential, every child has the right to grow up healthy and in safe conditions, to not be discriminated, to be listened to. We must always put the protection of their well-being and all their rights at the centre if we want to safeguard the future of everyone.

We have been working for 20 years with Save the Children, the international organisation that has been fighting for over 100 years to save girls and boys at risk and guarantee them a future. As a company and through the Giuseppe and Pericle Lavazza Onlus Foundation, since 2001 we have collaborated on various programmes aimed initially at mitigating emergencies, then at promoting the health of mothers and their children, supporting youths and welcoming underage migrants. The initiatives were developed in nine different countries: Italy, Yemen, Indonesia, Nepal, India, Ivory Coast, China, Vietnam and Myanmar. The projects we have developed in collaboration with Save the Children have transformed the lives of thousands of people who, thanks to the possibility of having an education, now have a different outlook on life.

"These 20 years of collaboration make us Save the Children's longest-standing partner company. A record that makes us proud and excites us, especially when we look back at the many projects we have developed together and remember the faces of some of their young beneficiaries" – says Mario Cerutti, Chief of Institutional Relations and Sustainability Officer of the Lavazza Group. "This is a stage in a journey that continues: with a strong sense of a sincere sharing of values that place the protection of all children's rights at the centre, we are already planning together for the coming years to create targeted aid programmes in the communities where we operate as an international group".

"We are glad to have reached this milestone together. Our partnership with Lavazza Group and Foundation has been able to grow and renew itself over time, always aiming to promote the rights of the most vulnerable children. This is even more urgent now that the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic around the world is amplifying inequalities, depriving so many more children and their families of health, resources they need to survive, and of the essential means they need to grow, such as education" – stresses Daniela Fatarella, General Director of Save the Children Italy. "In addition to this, we think it is very important to develop our collaboration more and more to protect children's rights in the activities related to Lavazza Group's supply chain, in order to create positive and sustainable changes in the communities where it operates".     

In the early years, our partnership with Save the Children focused on providing support to girls, children, young people and families who have experienced conflict, humanitarian emergencies or hardship, such as the earthquakes in Central Italy and Nepal and the tsunami in Indonesia. We have also developed health and nutrition programmes in developing countries, such as India, Ethiopia and Myanmar. Over time, our relationship with Save the Children has been strengthened through programmes to protect children's rights. One example is our endorsement of the Children's Rights and Business Principles developed by UNICEF, the United Nations Global Compact and Save the Children, which is the first comprehensive set of principles to guide companies on the full range of actions they can take in the workplace, in the marketplace and in the community to respect and support children's rights. Save the Children has thus supported the Lavazza Group in the development of ad hoc projects aimed at integrating the principles into the day-to-day running of our business.

We have also contributed to programmes aimed at providing young people with vocational training, so that they can take charge of their lives, find a job and assert their rights. One example is New Horizons, a project that has given thousands of boys and girls from the world's most disadvantaged areas a chance at redemption by teaching them a useful trade that will help them find skilled employment. A Cup of Learning is part of this project, an international programme implemented by Lavazza through the direct participation of our experts, who have made their know-how and energy available by providing, first-hand in the field, theoretical and practical elements to become professional baristas to 45 young people: boys and girls who today are able to do this job with a professional certification and thus have a dignified life.

The collaboration has always had a strong international character, without losing sight of the needs of those closer to home. This is demonstrated by the recent intervention in response to Covid-19 in Italy and India and that in favour of the CivicoZero desk in Turin, a day centre for the inclusion of underage migrants, especially if unaccompanied.

The partnership with Save the Children once again confirms our Group's attention to all communities, in continuity with the values that have always guided our actions.