KVTC objectives include a commitment to social responsibility, in ensuring a better quality of life for the local community in Tanzania, now and for future generations to come.
KVTC provides jobs for several hundred people in one of the poorest areas in Tanzania. When harvesting and processing commences, several hundred further jobs will be generated directly and indirectly.
Over the years, KVTC has spent significant amounts of money through its Social Fund and has contributed to the establishment of schools and dispensaries in both the Ulanga and Kilombero Districts.
Villages have always been an important aspect of KVTC’s operating philosophy and are encouraged to provide services such as patrols and boundary maintenance to KVTC. Incentives to prevent uncontrolled wildfires and poaching are also part of this formally structured village contract. Annually this generates about $25,000 income to some of the poorest villages in the country.
KVTC actively supports and participates in HIV/AIDS awareness programs by providing training to the local communities as well as distribution of condoms and medicines.
In addition, the expertise developed by KVTC and the seedlings it distributes to the local communities have made teak familiar to hundred of small-scale cultivators. These communities form an integral part of the KVTC processing operation by establishing a sustainable and complementary out grower industry where teak is established and harvested on a continuous basis, thus ensuring a constant income to participants over time.