Vanilla For Change

Vanilla For Change: Empowering young people in Madagascar

Since 2016, Wall’s has been working with Save the Children, government development agency GIZ, and leading vanilla supplier Symrise, to improve the lives of  vanilla farming communities in the SAVA region of Madagascar, securing a sustainable source of vanilla whilst ensuring the local communities can go on to build a better future.

Known to be the ‘vanilla belt’ of Madagascar, SAVA is the vibrant community at the heart of Vanilla for Change. Vanilla is the centre attraction in so many of our ice creams and for us it’s not just important for it to taste good, we also want it to be doing good. That’s why Vanilla for Change is so important to us: we know it tastes good but it’s also positively impacting and changing the lives of entire communities.

The Vanilla for Change programme has already made a difference to the lives of more than 60,000 people. The project supports 10,000 households, reaching every village within Unilever’s extended vanilla supply chain in Madagascar. It has also trained and supported nearly 2000 young people in its Youth Committees, improving their life-skills and career prospects for the future. The programme is building a robust evidence base to:

• inform industry discussions on sustainable business practices across the globe
• empower young people to build sustainable livelihoods for the future
• cultivate sustainable and climate smart farming techniques
• develop a Child Safeguarding Code of Conduct and guide for all businesses to ensure better protection of children living in vanilla farming communities.
• provide a holistic approach to enhance communities and ensure vanilla farmers increase their incomes and households are resilient to financial shock…including 5,764 households with access to health insurance.