Capacity Development of Plantation and Agriculture Workers Union (PAWU)

Oxfam in Malawi is an implementing partner in the Malawi 2020 Tea Revitalisation Programme, which has the objective to improve wages in the tea industry of Malawi with the goal of achieving a living wage in a competitive and profitable Malawi tea industry by the year 2020. A key stakeholder in achieving this objective is the Plantation and Agriculture Workers Union (PAWU) as it is recognized as the sole representative and mouthpiece of workers employed by the Tea Association of Malawi (TAML). Such being the case, PAWU is a crucial stakeholder in negotiating wages for the tea industry to pay living wages by 2020. The overall aim of the project is to provide coordination and support to the capacity strengthening of PAWU in order to strengthen its ability to represent the interests of workers in Malawi's tea industry. Expected outcomes include a re-negotiated collective bargaining agreement by 2018, strengthened institutional capacity for PAWU and a better coordination of support to PAWU by 2018.