How Sorwathe, Silverback Tea are supporting rural women, environmental sustainability

As rural women play a vital role in sustaining agricultural livelihoods and protecting natural resources, access to childcare, farming skills and essential services can help them balance work and family responsibilities while contributing to their communities. Sorwathe Ltd, Rwanda’s oldest private tea factory, founded in 1975 at Kinihira in Rulindo District, and its sister company Silverback Tea, which operates the Gisovu, Pfunda and Rugabano tea businesses, are addressing some of these needs through early childhood development (ECD) centres, child nutrition, women’s associations, agricultural training and environmental initiatives. The efforts are relevant to the 2026 International Day of Rural Women, marked on October 15 under the theme “Rural Women Farmers Caring for Mother Nature”, which recognises women’s contributions to food production, environmental protection and the sustainable management of natural resources. Childcare that supports women’s work At Sorwathe, four ECD centres, at Rukeri, Cyohoha, Rugundu and the factory, are caring for 130 children of plantation and factory workers this year. The centres, opened between 2017 and 2019, are run by 12 caregivers paid by the company, so mothers can work while their young children are looked after close to the fields. The company also supports 17 preschools in its catchment area, attended by 2,769 children. Together, the ECD centres and preschools serve 2,899 children. At Silverback Tea’s Rugabano Tea Company, an ECD centre accommodates between 15 and 20 children aged one to six, providing care and early learning while their parents work on the estate. Silverback Tea also provides mobile creches in steep tea-growing areas, bringing childcare closer to women working in the fields. Without suitable childcare, some women may have to carry young children while plucking tea leaves or make alternative arrangements during working hours. Access to childcare can ease this burden, allowing mothers to concentrate on their work while their children receive care. Sorwathe’s ECD programme is run in partnership with UNICEF, which has trained 12 caregivers and 15 teachers on the National Parenting Curriculum and reached more than 100 families. According to the company, the programme has served 413 ECD beneficiaries and produced 6,800 preschool graduates since 2017. Working with the National Agricultural Export Development Board (NAEB), the partnership also promotes child-friendly workplaces across the tea industry. Workers say the difference shows in their earnings. “I can pick up to 40 kg of tea per day now, from 15 kg earlier,” said Sophie Banyangiriki, a worker at Sorwathe. Her colleague Angelique Uwayisaba said: “My salary has really increased.” Nutrition for children, income for women Through the Sorwathe Foundation, registered in 2022, every child in the ECD centres and preschools receives a cup of fortified porridge each day. Children in the ECD centres also receive one egg a day, while preschool children receive one egg a week. Porridge at five preschools linked to the HOTCOOP cooperative is funded by buyer Yogi Tea. The nutrition programme costs about Rwf86.6 million a year, or roughly Rwf27,800 per child. The eggs are cooked and delivered by AFESO, the women’s association of Sorwathe, giving its members a steady source of income. Supporting women in tea production AFESO has 746 members, about 32 per cent of Sorwathe’s workers. Besides supplying eggs, the association runs a restaurant and canteen developed with Fairtrade premium funds, makes sanitary pads for tea pluckers and secondary school students, cooks porridge for pregnant women and supports vulnerable members with food, clothes and small livestock. It also offers family-planning training for single mothers and a confidential forum to raise cases of gender-based violence and harassment. In October 2025, Sorwathe was certified by the Rwanda Standards Board (RSB) under RS 560:2023, the national Gender Equality standard setting requirements for the promotion, implementation and accountability of gender equality, and was awarded the Gold Gender Equality Seal. The certificate is valid until September 2028, and RSB has scheduled its first surveillance audit at Sorwathe this month to confirm continued compliance with the standard. Women also hold senior roles at the company. Devotha Uwingabire is its first female Plantations Manager, while Stephanie Kamayirese, who joined in 1997 as the factory’s first female employee, is now Compliance Officer for sustainability certifications and a member of the management committee. Silverback Tea says women account for 50 per cent of its workforce, and that its three tea businesses support more than 11,000 smallholder tea farmers. Sorwathe works with more than 9,000 smallholder farmers through the ASSOPTHE and HOTCOOP cooperatives. Both companies provide training in tea plucking, pruning and irrigation. Sorwathe runs Farmer Field Schools and climate-smart agronomy training for its out-growers, while at Rugabano, Silverback Tea supports smallholder farmers through agronomic advice, inputs, logistics and access to credit under its outgrower arrangements. Such support can help farmers improve production practices and sustain their livelihoods. However, a breakdown of the number of female smallholder farmers in the two companies’ networks was not available. Caring for the environment and communities Tea production depends on healthy soils, reliable water supplies and suitable growing conditions. Protecting these resources is therefore important to the sustainability of tea-growing communities. In 2025, Sorwathe planted 123,591 trees and shrubs of nine species, mainly Kimbazi and Sesbania, which protect the soil and provide green matter. It also made 3,000 tonnes of compost, buying 2,500 tonnes of cow dung from local communities, and gave 10,500 fruit-tree seedlings (avocado, tree tomato and orange) to plantation workers to support household nutrition and income. About 850 hectares of Sorwathe and cooperative tea land is certified organic or in conversion. The company has also given 25 dairy cows to tea-worker households, with five calvings recorded by October 2025. With buyer Taylors of Harrogate, 40 household latrines were built in 2025 and 40 more are under construction this year, while three houses were built for community families in 2025 from Sorwathe’s share of the Fairtrade premium. Silverback Tea says it plants trees on its estates and in surrounding catchment areas to improve local microclimatic conditions. In Gisovu, the company has worked with local authorities on supporting rural electrification, roads, bridges, health centres and schools. A water pipeline installed in the area has improved access to drinking water for about 600 families, according to the company. In September 2026, Sorwathe Foundation won the Tea Sustainability Award at the North American Tea Conference for worker-led social development and ecosystem restoration. These initiatives contribute to the conditions in which rural households live and work. However, further information would be needed to establish the extent of women’s direct participation in the companies’ tree-planting and other environmental conservation activities. Expanding opportunities for rural women The International Day of Rural Women calls for equal opportunities, greater recognition of women’s contributions to agriculture and environmental protection, and stronger participation in decisions affecting rural communities. “Women are at the heart of our tea, from the fields to the factory. When mothers know their children are safe, fed and learning, they can work with confidence and earn more. Our aim is to keep widening these opportunities for women across Sorwathe and Silverback Tea,” said the CEO Sorwathe Ltd & Silverback Tea, Nzeki Samuel Munyao. The childcare, nutrition, training and community initiatives at Sorwathe and Silverback Tea address some of the practical challenges rural women face in balancing work and family responsibilities. For women in Rwanda’s tea sector, meaningful support means more than access to work. It also means having the childcare, skills and resources needed to sustain their livelihoods and opportunities to contribute to decisions about the land and natural resources on which their communities depend.

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How Sorwathe, Silverback Tea are supporting rural women, environmental sustainability