THIRST invites you to join business leaders, workers' representatives and subject experts in a constructive, solutions-oriented discussion to help plan for a fairer, more resilient post-coronavirus tea industry.

Coronavirus is spotlighting the vulnerabilities of global agricultural value chains and putting existing fault lines under extra pressure – not least in the tea sector.

Many tea industry actors are already working to improve its human rights record. But those efforts urgently need to be redoubled. To secure the tea industry’s future, fresh, innovative solutions are needed to ensure that tea workers and farmers don’t just survive the pandemic – but have decent work.

The discussion covers some key enablers of decent work:

• fair business models
• fair pricing and purchasing practices
• strong social dialogue
• empowered women workers

This could be the start of a sector-wide dialogue to make sure the tea industry is fit for the future. We invite participants to propose follow-up sessions to explore solutions and regions in more detail, and to plan collaborative actions.

Stakeholders from every part of the tea sector are welcome.

Details of speakers and agenda to follow.