TerraFund's Living Wage Guidance

TerraFund requires all partners that receive funding to provide a living wage to their employees. The living wage can be defined as remuneration received for a standard workweek by a worker that is sufficient to provide a decent standard of living for the worker and her or his family, in a particular place.

Elements of a decent standard of living include food, water, housing, education, health care, transportation, clothing and other essential needs, including provision for unexpected events. The living wage is location-specific and based on the cost of living in a country or a region within a country.

Living wage standards differ from minimum wage standards. Often, the minimum wage standard in a country is not high enough to enable a worker to pay for their essential needs. Some countries have no minimum wage standard at all. If your project is selected to participate in an interview, we will ask you several questions about your pay rates and practices for full-time and part-time employees.

WRI is currently conducting a review of living wage benchmarks in the areas where TerraFund projects are based and will soon share standard information for all projects to reference. We will continue to refine our standards over time, in consultation with project developers, other stakeholders, subject matter experts.

All employees of funded projects should receive a living wage as a minimum requirement. While we are in the process of identifying location-specific living wage benchmarks, we will not accept proposed remuneration unless it is above the established minimum wage for the country of operation and above the international poverty line. As established by the World Bank, the international poverty line is USD $2.15 per day for low-income countries and USD $3.65 per day for lower-middle-income countries.

In most cases, these minimum wages are not sufficient to compensate for a day's work to ensure a decent standard of living. Living wage is also only one component of benefits employers can offer to ensure the health and well-being of employees and their families and communities, such as training and professional development, community solidarity and support measures, and other indirect benefits. TerraFund will work with each project developer to measure the gap between their current wages and the living wage in the region and propose a plan for closing that gap as soon as possible, immediately or over time, in accordance with the local context.