Kilimanjaro porter welfare organizations – marketing or legitimate initiatives?

Porters employed in tourism climbs on Mount Kilimanjaro may often suffer the tragic consequences of unsafe working environments and low pay.

To understand the situation that many of these Kilimanjaro porters face, it is important to be aware of the hierarchy that exists. Unfortunately, as the situation currently stands, porters are at the bottom of the pecking order.

With so many tourism companies competing to offer the lowest prices, budget operators often try to take shortcuts to save money and this impacts porters the most, who may get low wages and poor working conditions as a result.

Most porters work on a freelance basis and many Tanzanians relocate to the Kilimanjaro region in the search for jobs. Unfortunately, however, they may even have to bribe one of the tour guides and pay an upfront ‘fee’ to get a job in the first place.

However, even those who do get a job are only slightly better off. Budget operators take advantage of the desperation of these workers and pay them the bare minimum they can get away with.

Porter welfare organizations are trying to support the fair and ethical treatment of Kilimanjaro porters.

They do this by monitoring how companies treat their porters and by providing counsel to both the company and the porters about how to ensure proper treatment. They might also lend clothing and equipment to the porters to make sure they have the appropriate gear to do their job safely. It is also possible that organizations that advocate for porter welfare, campaign for better wages on the porter’s behalf.

Even though there are a few organizations in Tanzania that focus on porter welfare, there may be differences between their monitoring procedures and their methods for objectively and independently examining a company’s treatment practices.

Consequently, companies who say they adhere to fair porter treatment standards do not always have to provide evidence of their actual treatment of porters. Since ethical and sustainable tourism is on the rise, companies may claim to be ethical to be more appealing to conscious travelers. It’s confusing for travelers to know who is really implementing fair porter treatment.

Therefore, it’s important to understand the differences between the various organizations that promote porter welfare.

There are several organizations in Tanzania that claim to improve porters’ welfare. Behind the scenes, there are important differences that clearly distinguish them from each other:

Kilimanjaro Porters Assistance Project (KPAP): KPAP supports the fair and ethical treatment of Kilimanjaro porters. They monitor every climb of the partner companies to determine if they adhere to the porter welfare standards agreed upon by the Kilimanjaro stakeholders. KPAP provides feedback to help institute procedures that safeguard fair porter treatment. These audits take place twice a year during every climbing season. The partner companies are placed on the approved Partner list if they can prove they adhere to KPAP’s minimum standards by achieving at least an 85% performance grade on their scorecard twice a year.

Kilimanjaro Association of Tour Operators (KIATO): KIATO is an association of local tour operators. Tour operators pay a fee to be a member of the association. KIATO claims that their members adhere to ethical standards. It is not certain if KIATO actually monitors whether these standards are being met. For example, some of their members may pay lower wages to porters, less than US$7 per day.

Zara’s Mount Kilimanjaro Porters Society: Zara Tours is a Tanzanian tour company and has multiple charities, one of which is their Mount Kilimanjaro Porters Society. According to Zara Tours, their internal society provides its porters with health insurance, financial planning, health education and English language classes. However, this is a porters’ society associated with a climbing company who gives these porters employment. There is no independent proof that the basic treatment standards are being met. Porters may be afraid to speak up if the company is the source of their employment.

Additional Kilimanjaro Porter Societies include the Kilimanjaro Porters Association (KPA) and the Tanzania Porters Organization (TPO). Porters are required to register with one of the Porter Societies and pay an annual fee in order to climb Kilimanjaro. Comments from porters are generally not positive about the assistance provided by these societies.
Climbing companies may claim to have their own internal porter monitoring programs. However, none of these are examined by an outside and independent organization and, as such, it is not possible to ascertain whether their initiatives are legitimate or not.

To summarize, KPAP is the only organization that is fully independent of a climbing company as well as transparent in their reporting of their findings of a Partner company’s climbs. They apply strict procedures and they monitor their partner companies who must prove their commitment to fair porter treatment practices on an ongoing basis by objective measurements in order to qualify as KPAP Partner companies. The difference between KIATO and KPAP is that KPAP can demonstrate that the standards are being met through the scorecard performance every climbing season. Furthermore, KPAP differs from Zara’s Porter Society and every other internal porter monitoring program because KPAP is a completely separate organization from any climbing company.

We believe it’s important to share with you as a traveler what those differences are so that you can choose a climbing operator where you can be sure, through independent verification, that your porters are being treated fairly. To ensure highest porter welfare standards, we at Fair Voyage partner with KPAP for all our climbs, without exception. This is our benchmark to guarantee fair porter treatment for our clients.

If you, as a traveler, want to be sure that you are booking an ethical climb, the only way to do so is by contracting your climb with an approved KPAP partner company.

The Kilimanjaro Porters Assistance Project (KPAP) is a legally registered Tanzanian not-for-profit organization that is dedicated to supporting the fair and ethical treatment of Kilimanjaro porters.

KPAP helps porters by lending them clothing for free, providing educational opportunities and performing the monitoring activities for the Partner for Responsible Travel Program.

They encourage all companies to participate with the Partner Program and educate the climbing public about the importance of selecting an ethical climbing company. KPAP's porter treatment monitoring program regularly reviews company payment and tipping practices and obtains surveys from porters. KPAP also audits partner companies and provides feedback to them.

One of the main objectives of the International Mountain Explorers Connection (IMEC) is to provide sustainable and ethical connections between tourists and people living in developing mountain regions of the world.

Since 2003, IMEC has focussed on improving the working conditions of Kilimanjaro porters, through its local initiative KPAP.

The IMEC is a nonprofit organization that provides porter assistance programs and educates the public about the importance of choosing socially responsible tour companies that treat porters fairly.

The Partner for Responsible Travel Program (KPAP) for Mount Kilimanjaro assures that porters have the proper working conditions.

The Partner Program’s activities include:

• Surveying porters to learn more about their working conditions
• Reviewing the tipping procedures of travel companies, and ensuring porters are paid correctly
• Placing a KPAP investigative porter on all partner company climbs to obtain an independent evaluation of the treatment standards
• Providing feedback and recommendations to companies to help safeguard proper treatment of porters
• Companies cooperating with the Partner Program do so on a voluntary basis.

Every climb of the Partner companies is evaluated and a company is approved and listed as a Partner if they are able to attain a minimum of an 85% performance grade every single climbing season by adhering to KPAP’s minimum porter treatment standards.

The KPAP Partner program is open to all tour operators. However, to qualify, companies must adhere to minimum fair porter treatment standards, as independently monitored by KPAP.

The criteria includes paying porters a minimum wage of 20,000 TSH per day. Wages must be paid within two days of a climb descent. Tipping procedures should be fair and transparent.

Porters must be provided with three daily meals and carry no more than 20kg during a climb. Proper shelter should also be provided as well as a check of proper clothing and medical attention for any work-related illness.

To qualify as KPAP Partners, companies must achieve an average score of 85% per season.

It is worth noting that companies enrolled with the KPAP Partner program also tend to learn a lot about their own operations through the climb audits and feedback provided by KPAP. People working at offices and selling climbs can be very detached from the realities on the mountain. Company owners and managers may have the best of intentions, but without KPAP’s independent monitoring, they may be unaware of the actual treatment of their porters.

Some climbing companies claim to have their own internal porter monitoring programs. At Fair Voyage, we question the claims of such companies because there is no review by an independent organization separate from the company. As a result, it’s not possible to verify if they truly adhere to fair porter treatment standards.

Some companies may have arguments for why it’s not necessary to be a KPAP Partner. Unfortunately, these arguments often distort the truth of what KPAP does and stands for. That’s why we want to highlight the most used arguments and clarify what is not true about them.

1. MYTH: KPAP porters are not being sufficiently trained/vetted

Some companies claim that they do not know the KPAP porters or their capacities. However, this statement does not match with reality. KPAP performs trainings twice a year with their investigative porters and makes sure that they assign porters with sufficient experience for each route. Many high-quality operators are using KPAP porters and are thereby proof that this is not an issue.

2. MYTH: KPAP collects confidential personal client info

Some companies claim they don't want to release their climb schedules because of their high profile clients. No specific client details are required. The company informs KPAP of the route, start and end dates of the climb, and the number of climbers. These are kept strictly confidential and under no circumstances will KPAP receive the identity of the climbers. KPAP has never and will never ask for the identity of climbers. Several 5 * luxury operators with VIP clients are KPAP partners and thus the best proof that this is not a concern.

3. MYTH: KPAP has its own climbing operations

This is not true. KPAP is a non-profit organization and has never sold any climbs. When KPAP receives requests from climbers or agents they refer such inquiries to their complete list of partner companies.

4. MYTH: KPAP is not necessary to bring meaningful improvement to porter welfare standards

Some companies claim that they don’t need the help of KPAP to improve their operations and porter welfare standards. In their opinion, KPAP’s involvement is beneficial when a company has no time to monitor their own work and see whether their porters and other crew members are treated in accordance with porter welfare standards.  

However, none of those internal monitoring efforts are independent and as such, it is not possible to ascertain whether their initiatives are legitimate or not. What makes KPAP different from any type of internal monitoring is that KPAP is independent. It has no specific interest in any company whatsoever. KPAP does its work to accomplish its mission of improving the working conditions of porters. As a result, its audits and criteria for companies to become partners are completely objective and transparent.

Sometimes companies misrepresent themselves as being KPAP Partners and sometimes companies think they are KPAP Partners while in fact, they are not.

Therefore it’s not always easy to distinguish which companies are really operating fairly rather than simply making bold statements about porter welfare on their website to convince conscientious travelers.

This is not only confusing for travelers, but it’s also problematic for KPAP as it distorts the truth about what they stand for and what they work on.

There is only one way to make sure that you don’t fall into this misinformation trap. That is to always verify whether your tour operator is listed as a KPAP Partner for Responsible Travel on the International Mountain Explorers Connection website and not just believe what they state on their own website.

Fair Voyage was founded by a mission to promote fair porter treatment as well as create more transparency for the climbing public.

All climbs operated by Fair Voyage are independently monitored for fair porter treatment practices by the Kilimanjaro Porters Assistance Project (KPAP) because they are the only ones who are doing an independent audit locally in Tanzania for Kilimanjaro climbs. This way, minimum fair treatment practices are ensured.

As KPAP is the only independent organization that monitors Kilimanjaro climbs, this is the best and only way to ensure that we are promoting ethical climbs.

We believe that responsible tour operators who treat your porters fairly are also more likely to offer you, as a client, higher quality standards, and that porters who are treated fairly by their companies are also more likely to have your best interests in mind. That means first and foremost not your summit success, but your health and safety.

Amongst others, you rely on your porters for your water and food to be treated properly. In the worst case, you might have to rely on them for a safe descent. Will your porters be able to do a good job if they are hungry, cold and get paid significantly less than their colleagues camping right next to your group?

While there is no guarantee, we believe that booking your climb with a responsible tour operator and guides who treat your porters fairly will be the safer choice for you.