Social Innovation: SolidariTea
Our mission is to ensure that every tea plantation worker can achieve an equitable future.
Duration: 8 Weeks
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Outcome
Applied Design Strategy methodologies to uncover and address low wages of tea plantation workers in Assam, India, shifting Tea industry accountability and fostering systemic solutions for user needs through Strategic Solution - Awareness Campaigns to unite the Indian population and other national and international businesses to apply pressure on the tea industry to be accountable for its value chain.
Introduction
Problem
The current wages of Tea Plantation workers in Assam, India are 81% lower than a living wage.
Challenge
The tea industry in Assam remains largely unchanged, with the tea estates still being controlled by either tea companies or the state government.
Team
Product Designer
Design Researcher and Design Strategist (Me)
Architect
Fashion Designer
Communication Designer
My Role
Design Research:
Identified gaps in the system intervention that needed addressing, recognizing their potential ripple effects and their contribution to perpetuating poverty.
Design Strategy:
Pepsico awareness campaign: Developed a strategy for an awareness campaign that capitalized on enthusiasm and loyalty towards cricket to effectively penetrate the national market and raise awareness among consumers.
Biscuit awareness campaign: Conceptualized a strategy for a biscuit awareness campaign, leveraging the common consumption of biscuits with tea to penetrate the national market and raise awareness among consumers.
Timeline
6 Weeks
Who is SolidariTea?
Mission
Our mission is to ensure that every tea plantation worker can achieve an equitable future.
Vision
Our vision is to create a world where tea workers are empowered to live with dignity and provide for themselves and their families.
Solution
In India, awareness campaigns are met with a receptive audience, fostering a growing sense of social responsibility among the public. These campaigns have effectively yielded positive outcomes in social, economic, and health domains across the country.
Awareness Campaign 1: Every limited edition Pepsi product comes with personal stories of laborers and the challenges they experience in tea plantations. With every purchase, a donation would be made to the organization working to support tea workers in India.
Awareness Campaign 2: Limited edition Britannia biscuits with tea plantation workers' graphics and QR codes allow consumers to scan and learn about the workers. Britannia will donate INR 2 to our NGO, with no cost to the customer.
Impact
Awareness Campaign for Accountability:
In India, an awareness campaign united the population and businesses to pressure the tea industry for accountability in its value chain.
Significance of Impact:
Given India's large population and its influence on businesses, the campaign's impact is expected to be significant in driving change within the tea industry.
Addressing Exploitation:
The tea industry in India has exploited disadvantaged communities, creating a power imbalance that benefits trade unions and retailers. Raising awareness and gaining support aim to compel the industry to improve its practices.
My Process
We used a Human-Centric Design Thinking Model to tackle a major issue in the Assam tea industry, in India. Our goal is to improve the lives of tea workers by increasing their wages to a sustainable living standard, enhancing their quality of life, and addressing power imbalances within the industry.
Showcased the significance of the large tea production in the Northeastern part of Assam, India, and the importance of discussing the issues faced by tea workers and their wages.
Low wages: Identified gaps in the system intervention that needed addressing, recognizing their potential ripple effects and their contribution to perpetuating poverty.
Public awareness initiatives helps establish a feeling of community. The feeling of community is the key to further triggering their accountability to the community and sustaining people’s behavior change for a long period of time.
Developed a strategy for an awareness campaign with Pepsico and Britannia.
An awareness campaign was utilized in India to unite the population and other businesses to apply pressure on the tea industry to be accountable for its value chain.
The impact of this campaign is expected to be significant, considering the size of India's population and their ability to influence businesses through their collective pressure.
