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Women and gender-diverse people represent an important constituency in the food value chain. Among all working women globally, about one in three works upstream in the food value chain. These women face increasing barriers to safety, recognition and advancement. Yet very little about their experiences has been documented. In the limited instances where the women who power global supply chains have been put into focus, most have concentrated on the experiences of women workers in the apparel sector., Through desktop research, one-on-one interviews with local organizations, case studies and workshops, this paper provides information and guidance on how investors, who are well-positioned to encourage companies to advance gender equity upstream in company supply chains, can help reshape this narrative and encourage companies to act.

This paper looks at the effect of unfair trade policies on coffee growers in developing countries. 25million coffee growers face severe threats to their livelihoods as a result of declining profit margins linked to the falling price of coffee in the international market. The price of coffee has fallen by 50 percent in the past three years to a 30-year low. Families of developing-country coffee farmers are facing severe economic challenges that many have had to pull their children out of school for lack of financial capacity. This paper examines the coffee value chain and traces the problems associated with it to the free and liberalised international market. It recommends possible solutions and makes a case for a Coffee Rescue Plan which brings together all the stakeholders in the coffee industry. The paper relies on both primary and secondary data for its analysis.

In an increasingly market-led global economy, prosperity has been created in some parts of the world while poverty continues to claim livelihoods in others. This dichotomy according to this report is created by the unfair rules that govern this global interaction called trade. The human cost of unfair trade are immense. The report states that if Africa, East Asia, South Asia and Latin America were to each increase their share of world's export by one percent, the resulting income gains could lift 128million people out of poverty. Rich country governments put up severe trade restrictions in form of tariff barriers that are four times higher than those faced by the rich countries themselves. The paper gives an in-depth analysis of the injustice inherent in current international trade rules and seeks to expose the effects of these on the poorer countries of the world. Based on extensive literature review of background research papers and use of secondary data from diverse sources, the report concludes that trade rules need to be adapted to accomodate the poor.