Open Wing Alliance 2021 Year in Review: Our Biggest Victories for Chickens
Alexandria Beck
This year, we welcomed new member organizations, strengthened our advocacy with new trainings and funding, and won our most ambitious campaigns to date.
What’s a more powerful force: a global industry worth hundreds of billions of dollars, or a relatively small group of dedicated activists? Well, when members of the Open Wing Alliance (OWA) join forces to advocate for animals, we send shockwaves through the global agriculture industry. This year, we influenced some of the world’s biggest companies to make real change for chickens.
Thanks to our collective strength, we’re closer than ever to a future where no chicken has to spend her life suffering in a cage. Let’s look back at all the progress we made in 2021 as we continue our fight to end the abuse of chickens worldwide.
Our most impactful victories yet
Over the years, we’ve campaigned against hotels, restaurants, and retailers that are household names around the world, and we’ve won meaningful cage-free policies for chickens everywhere. But, this year, we took on our most ambitious campaign target: Yum! Brands, the world’s largest restaurant company, which owns Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and The Habit Burger Grill.
After OWA activists made waves on social media, took to the streets, and gathered nearly 170,000 petition signatures, Yum! Brands finally released their new global cage-free policy. The company pledged to eliminate cruel battery cages from its global supply chains in approximately 150 countries and regions—the most impactful policy the OWA has ever secured.
This victory will spare millions of chickens from a life of intensive confinement and marks a milestone achievement in OWA history.
Remarkably, it was just one of many victories for chickens this year. Together, OWA groups secured 18 global cage-free policies and over 165 regional cage-free policies from major retailers, restaurants, and manufacturers, with many first-time breakthroughs. In Africa, partner organizations secured the first ever cage-free commitment from a local company in Tanzania. Latin American organizations secured commitments from Cencosud, a major retailer, after their most difficult regional campaign yet. OWA groups in Taiwan and the Phillipines saw major legislative victories, as well, after successfully campaigning their governments to strengthen cage-free standards.
In addition to cage-free progress, groups in North America, Europe, and Oceania demanded better standards for chickens raised for meat, securing over 75 corporate policies from companies such as Domino’s and Subway that will improve these chickens’ lives.
All of these wins bring us closer to a future where no chicken has to endure the worst forms of abuse in our broken food system. Through building our capacity and reach, we set ourselves up to go even further for chickens in years to come.
Expanding our reach and building our capacity
Open Wing Alliance reached another milestone this year. We welcomed seven new groups to our alliance, representing China, Croatia, Hungary, Nigeria, Tanzania, South Africa, and Kenya. Now, we have 80 member organizations total, advocating for animals across six continents and 63 countries. Our reach is wider than ever before—making us a more powerful force for animals around the world.
We also bolstered our capacity with new trainings, resources, and grants, including:
- Distributing $1,425,000 in grants to groups across the globe
- Training eight groups for corporate campaigning
- Welcoming 32 members to our peer mentorship program
- Hosting 16 webinars
- Equipping seven individuals from five regions to be global campaign leaders
- Launching a Welcoming Committee to deliver culture-specific support to new OWA member organizations
Our biggest event, the Global Summit to End Cages, took place virtually for the second year in a row. Nearly 250 people from 59 organizations gathered to share resources and take action toward a cage-free future. We also hosted regional summits for groups in Africa, Latin America, and Asia to develop effective strategies to advocate for animals in their home countries.
Looking ahead
Overall, the OWA had a huge year in 2021. And we’re planning even bigger and better things for 2022. We’re working to recruit and support new organizations so we can make our mark in more countries. We’re also expanding our team to provide even more support to our member organizations and foster further collaboration.
This year, we proved that we’re a force to be reckoned with. Thanks to our passion, dedication, and collaboration, the world’s most influential companies are making meaningful change for chickens. As we enter the new year, we’ve already paved the way for even more groundbreaking campaigns and victories for chickens.
A cage-free future is in our reach. Learn more and get involved with our work.
