Kraft Foods Announces Partnership With Save The Children USA.

Kraft Foods announced a partnership with Save the Children USA, a leading independent humanitarian organization dedicated to creating lasting, positive change in the lives of disadvantaged children throughout the world. Kraft, a global leader in coffee, will fund a four-year effort to develop self-sustaining community-based childhood education and development programs in four communities in El Salvador and Guatemala to benefit preschool children and the families of coffee farmers and workers. Coffee farms in these communities are providing certified sustainable coffee to Kraft as part of the company’s previously announced partnership with Rainforest Alliance, a leading international conservation organization.

Save the Children USA, which has a long history of working successfully in Central America and in children’s education, recently examined the conditions affecting children in these communities and identified a need for improved access to child development and early education. Kraft has agreed to donate $480,000 to fund four centers where young children will receive stimulating early education. The centers will provide an engaging and structured learning and play program that better prepares these children for future educational success. Parents also will benefit by working with the staff, participating in activities, and learning parenting skills to better promote their children’s growth and development. A total of 1,300 children and parents are expected to benefit from these centers.

To ensure success, each community will be involved from the beginning, identifying what they most need and helping to develop suitable plans and programs. The goal for each center is to become self-sustaining over the four-year period, with the community transitioning to full responsibility for the programs over that time.

“Kraft is working in many ways to help make a difference in the long-term future of the coffee community and this program is another step in our efforts to do our part for a sustainable future for coffee farmers,” said Annemieke Wijn, senior director of commodity sustainability programs for Kraft Foods. “We are proud to partner with Save the Children, an expert in the area of helping create positive and lasting change in the lives of children.”

“Early childhood development and education programs give children the right start in life and a better chance for their future,” said Charles MacCormack, president and CEO of Save the Children USA. “Children who participate in these programs are more prepared to go to school, are more likely to stay in school, and do better in school than children without access to these programs.”

Kraft Foods has been contributing to a sustainable future for coffee for many years. Last year, Kraft announced a multi-year partnership with the Rainforest Alliance to assist coffee farmers in gaining Rainforest Alliance certification as producers of sustainable coffee. As part of this partnership, Kraft also committed to purchase large volumes of coffee, including five million pounds in the first year, from farms in Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and Central America that have been certified by Rainforest Alliance as sustainably managed. In recent years, Kraft also has supported several partnership programs in Peru, Vietnam, Ethiopia and others, to help farmers improve the quality of their coffee and therefore command higher prices for their crop on the open market.