Odwalla’s Mango Tango Smoothie Now Supporting Haiti Reconstruction

Enjoying one of Odwalla's popular Mango Tango Smoothies will help support ongoing reconstruction efforts in Haiti.

The Haiti Hope Project is a five-year partnership between business, multilateral development institutions and civil society partners to create opportunities for Haitian mango farmers and their families. The Project investment is estimated at $9.5 million.

The goal of Haiti Hope is to double the income of 25,000 Haitian mango farmers over five years. Achieving this goal will help raise their standard of living while contributing to the long-term development and revitalization of the country. To support this goal, Haiti Hope brings together exporters and small farmers and promotes training opportunities for local producers to help build capacity of the country's mango industry. The Project will cover three geographic regions in Haiti during the first year and will expand to up to five regions over the course of the Project.

In an effort to raise awareness about the situation in Haiti and to increase involvement in the initiative, Haiti Hope invites consumers to participate in supporting the development of the Haitian mango industry. Within weeks of last year's earthquake, Odwalla juice launched Haiti Hope Mango Lime-Aid.

This month, Odwalla renews its commitment to the Haiti Hope Project by launching Odwalla Haiti Hope Mango Tango. For every bottle of Odwalla Haiti Hope Mango Tango purchased, 10 cents will be donated to the Haiti Hope Project, up to $500,000 per year of the initiative.

Who's Involved
The Haiti Hope Project is a coalition comprised of The Coca-Cola Company; the Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF), a member of the Inter-American Development Bank Group (IDB); the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID); and TechnoServe, with support from the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund and other international and local actors.

Progress to Date
Since its inception in September 2010, Haiti Hope has launched a variety of successful activities and programs. Highlights include:

• Building relationships: The Project has built relationships with 8 farmer groups, representing 3,000 farmers, and will provide ongoing support to existing farmer groups with thousands of active members.
• Providing training programs: A detailed training program has been piloted at agriculture induction rallies for farmers covering organizational, technical and commercial training.
• Convening stakeholders: The Project works closely with and regularly convenes local exporters to ensure that down-stream inefficiencies in the supply chain are addressed and that mango exports grow to benefit everyone in the industry. The Project will also build local capacity by using knowledge generated in other value chains.
• Offering financial services support: Haiti Hope promotes access to financial services for mango farmers and has partnered with local financial institutions to draft credit product criteria based on farmer credit needs, existing financial products and operating restrictions.
• Developing processing opportunities: Haiti Hope has researched and will continue to research feasible mango processing opportunities.