Dole plc operates globally and has established meaningful ties with local communities in many regions. Over the decades Dole has supported the development of these communities in many tangible ways. We identify our community stakeholders and get to know their concerns, prioritizing the most important or relevant issues to focus our involvement and available resources. The main focuses are on health, education, infrastructure improvement, and empowerment.

Prioritising wellness of employees and families

Hand-in-Hand with Dole

Dole affiliate, Standard Fruit Company de Costa Rica S.A., has been recognised by the American-Costa Rican Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) for their innovative project “De la Mano con Dole” — which loosely translates as Hand-in-Hand with Dole.

The Hand-in-Hand with Dole project is an initiative that positively impacts the social development of Standard Fruit Company of Costa Rica (aka Dole Costa Rica) employees and their families, in partnership with Horizonte Positivo using the Business Multidimensional Poverty Index (bMPI) methodology developed by the University of Oxford.

The bMPI methodology measures poverty beyond only per capita income – to include measuring access to health, education, housing, work, social protection and 16 other key indicators. This allows the organization to identify gaps in social programs and start to address some of the multidimensional poverty issues faced by their employees and relatives.

Dole is the first agribusiness company in the world to apply the bMPI methodology to challenges around social development. During the diagnostic stage of implementation, Dole Costa Rica achieved a very high participation rate of 87% in response to socioeconomic surveys of more than 5,300 employees.

Analysis of the uncovered “deficiencies” refocused short-term priorities on the prevention of disease and the health of employees at the onset of COVID, as well as on longer term strategies of social protection and health. By the end of September 2021, 500 identified gaps had been closed.

“We are very proud of being the first banana and pineapple producer to implement this system and seeing such positive results for our employees and families here in Costa Rica,” said Mr. Renato Acuña, President of Dole Fresh Fruit Latin America. “The strategies developed in this program, including social counselling and community care projects, seek to meet important needs and provide the necessary capacities for better human development.”

Dole Costa Rica was further recognised by AmCham for their employee Information and Wellbeing Centers, an integrated initiative that provides access to information from over 30 public and private organisations to Dole’s rural workforce. A myriad of paperwork and processes that workers and families are confronted with — and have difficulty resolving — or result in lost time and revenue, increased expenses, long distance travel, and diminished livelihoods. The Information Centers allow workers to access services for themselves or direct family members and resolve issues linked to their social benefits, residence, personal finance and much more. Often these issues would prove difficult or too costly to solve without assistance. This effort, initially begun at a Dole pineapple farm, has proven so successful that it has been extended to all pineapple farms and plans are in place to implement a centre at our largest banana plantation in Costa Rica.