Fostering Fair and Sustainable Employment

Our mission is to contribute to the prosperity of vulnerable communities. Fundamental to this prosperity are job opportunities for all, including the most marginalised members of society, underpinned by decent wages, and safe working conditions aligned with international ethical principles of employment.

What we do to promote Fair and Sustainable Employment:

• We aim at creating employment opportunities for those who most need it, such as disenfranchised youth, smallholder farmers, people living with disabilities, women in vulnerable situations and other marginalised groups. We partner with experienced organisations who upskill vulnerable individuals with the training they need to access gainful employment opportunities.
• We support social entrepreneurs whose results-oriented and innovative ideas advance pioneering and sustainable solutions to pressing social challenges, correct market failures and create jobs for surrounding communities.

WE PROMOTE JOB CREATION AND SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP TO FIGHT ROOT CAUSES OF POVERTY AND EXCLUSION’

Interview with Céline Yvon, Head of Programmes, for the Trafigura Foundation’s 10^th anniversary book.

How would you define the concept of Fair and Sustainable Employment?

By “Fair Employment” we mean the promotion of equal employment opportunities for some of society’s most marginalised members, for example people with disabilities, disenfranchised youth, small farmers – but also women, who, for myriad reasons, may face restricted access to the job market. By “Sustainable”, we mean jobs that are stable and enduring; because we believe that access to quality employment, underpinned by a decent wage and fair working conditions, is the cornerstone of a dignified life. Fair and Sustainable Employment gives individuals a chance to be active contributors to society instead of trapping them as passive beneficiaries of social welfare. It means people can feed their children, send them to school, have access to proper medical care and plan for their future. In short, it’s about dignity and, as philanthropists, dignity is one of our core values.

Why was it chosen as a key area for the Foundation’s new strategy?

As the philanthropic arm of a successful company, we understand that economic growth is only meaningful when it serves humanity. A functional economy that actually provides fair and sustainable jobs is a means to a prosperous society, not just an end per se. Connecting the economic success of our founding company with the economic prosperity of our grant beneficiaries – the most vulnerable in particular – makes sense on both a philanthropic and strategic level.

Support for social entrepreneurs is a core focus of the Foundation. Why are these actors so important?

We support social entrepreneurs because of their innovative, results-oriented and businesslike mindset. Like us at the Foundation, they care deeply about tackling root causes of poverty and exclusion. They cultivate an obsession for their social impact, setting metrics to carry out meaningful assessments of progress.

Moreover, they experiment with new models to ensure that their solutions are durable, including financially speaking. That means building income-generating schemes that potentially embed economic viability into changemaking solutions. In sum, social entrepreneurs can be powerful allies to promote community-based development, with particular reference to the creation of fair and sustainable jobs for the most marginalised people.