The first company in the dairy sector to implement SCORE Training Gender Equality module (MIG SCORE) in Colombia

Bogotá - Since its establishment, Alquería has put human beings at the centre of its management practices and business sustainability. That is why, in 2017, the company began to explore the possibility of developing a gender strategy. Two years later, the steering committee approved the search for a method or tool that fit the needs of the company.

It was through EQUILATERA –an Implementing Partner– that the SCORE Training Gender Equality Model (MIG SCORE) of the International Labor Organization (ILO) was identified as the best option for Alquería. The module provides in-company training and technical assistance, supporting the implementation by developing good management practices, boosting worker engagement, and providing follow-up to the Gender Enterprise Improvement Plan and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

The synchrony between MIG SCORE and Alquería's corporate philosophy led to a perfect symbiosis. Thanks to its simplicity and great potential for high impact, the Model allowed the company to make concrete progress on gender equality in less than a year. In the final stage of implementation, Alquería's management team expressed their desire to become a benchmark for equal treatment, opportunities, and participation between men and women on a national scale.

In February 2020, right before the pandemic lock-down started, Alquería began the MIG SCORE implementation. First, the firm created the Gender Steering Committee (9 management level staff - 44% women) to follow up on the progress and make decisions that support the gender initiatives, and the Gender Equality Business Improvement Team. The improvement team, responsible for implementing the gender equality projects, consisted of 9 staff members (44% women) from different areas of the company: marketing, sales, HR, logistics and environment, among others. Thanks to the active and constant participation of the Gender Steering Committee in all training, the company's commitment to gender equality was visible and strong.

Both teams received seventeen hours of training to understand gender concepts and the “MIG SCORE keys”. The keys are nuggets of self-contained good practices in gender equality that are simple and allow simultaneous application. The 50+ keys support better working conditions and business sustainability, and are conductive to productivity.

In the words of Alqueria’s Dream Coordinator (CEO), Carlos Enrique Cavelier: “Putting on the MIG SCORE gender glasses has invited us to get out of our comfort zone and take on the challenges of breaking down unconscious gender biases to become aware and generate solutions. That is why the training process with EQUILATERA has been so important. It has challenged us to open our minds, to re-educate ourselves and understand and resignify gender roles, and it clarifies the positive impact that gender equality can have on managing the company".

Besides creating the Gender Steering Committee and Improvement Team, Alqueria also applied The Mirror MIG SCORE survey to identify and understand worker perceptions and experiences regarding gender quality. Seven hundred and seventy workers (38% women; 96% operative staff) from the 10 regions of Colombia where the firm operates completed the anonymous and confidential survey.

Based on this participatory baseline assessment, Alquería designed the Business Improvement Plan in Gender Equality with a total of seven projects structured around the five MIG SCORE spheres of action.

In the area of Voice equality, Alquería developed the Gender Equality Policy. The Policy focuses on achieving biased-free workplace cooperation. In complement, the Gender Steering Committee and Improvement Team wrote “The Grand Declaration of Gender Equality”. A powerful and inspiring text that uses accessible and straightforward language to reach all staff.

The Inclusive hiring sphere focused on two projects. First, the development of job interview guidelines to assure neutrality. Second, the creation of a group for women to train them as senior forklift operators, a position traditionally filled by men.

In the area of Equal pay for work of equal value, Alquería carried out a salary and occupational analysis with a gender perspective that made it possible to make visible the progress made by the company in this sphere. The analysis also allowed a detailed understanding and discussion on the challenges to overcome glass ceilings.

To promote the Work-life harmony sphere, the company benchmarked the prevention of workplace harassment activities implemented by the 11 worker-manager committees on work climate and relations. During the baseline assessment socialization with all the representatives of the Committees, Alqueria urged the teams to apply corrective measures and strengthen complaint reception. Later, during the first trimester of 2021, Alquería established the target that each worker-manager committee should implement an annual preventive action.

In the Work – life harmony sphere, Alquería wrote in collaboration with workers a Care Economy Guide for improving the negotiation between unpaid domestic work and paid work. In 2021 the company will analyse the impact of this guide on the absenteeism rate, disaggregated by sex.

Due to the success of the MIG SCORE implementation, during 2021 Alquería will continue its path towards equal opportunities, treatment, and participation between women and men. All this based on the experience of the enterprise improvement team and the lessons learned from the previous year. The company put in place a package of initiatives, such as the official launch of the “The Grand Declaration of Gender Equality”, reaching all workers, and the analysis of occupations by sex.

For Bertha Lucia Carolina Trevisi Fuentes, ILO´s National SCORE Program Coordinator for Colombia: “With the MIG SCORE implementation, Alquería strengthened its position as a pioneer company in the country´s dairy sector, taking a decisive step to advance towards equal opportunities, treatment and participation between women and men. Also, becoming a benchmark for other companies and organizations that have close links with rural Colombia”.

For more information about the MIG SCORE, we invite you to visit the following links:

Web page: scorecolombia.org
Facebook: facebook.com/SCOREColombia
YouTube OIT Americas: youtube.com/channel/UCrlcu5KChYyHwXlIeD7oLUg
YouTube SCORE and MIG SCORE Colombia: youtube.com/channel/UCcwhS-tRn4f3XO2npcZpPKQ/videos