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Big Picture
JTI (Japan Tobacco International) is a global tobacco and vaping company focused on innovation and social responsibility. In response to the rise of child labor on tobacco farms (more than 1.3 million in 2011), they founded ARISE. By 2019, JTI’s integration of BanQu’s non-crypto Blockchain technology allowed it to keep its tobacco supply chain and small-holder farms accountable, while bringing much needed transparency.
One of the main reasons for the high prevalence of child labor is the burden of debt. Often seeing no other option, families turn to using their children in the fields as unpaid labor. This practice is particularly rampant in tobacco-growing communities.
Problem
One of the main barriers to withdrawing or preventing child labor is identifying risks and remediating abuses in the tobacco supply chain, which would require:
- A simple, reliable way to collect manual data
- A transparent, exception-based way to track performance indicators
- A meaningful alternative to the fields
Solution
Eager to normalize corporate social responsibility and digitize the child-monitoring process, JTI integrated BanQu’s technology into its ARISE initiative. The technology ensures that communication and collaboration among subcontractors in the tobacco community is simplified. It also ensures that transparency drives financial empowerment for laborers, while filling a major blackhole in sustainability metrics — and that (via ARISE) children are put in educational programs, not in the fields.
Mafalda Pippi, Principal of Jose Luchese School says, “ARISE After School Programs grant the children with opportunities and options that they did not have access to before. The happiness of the children is priceless.”
