The Coca-Cola Foundation, TechnoServe and the FNC partner to empower women
The Coca-Cola Foundation, TechnoServe and the Colombian Coffee Growers Federation (FNC) announced they will work together to help 11,000 female coffee farmers in Colombia’s Antioquia department access important training, agricultural information and services.
The initiative, called the Colombian Coffee-Growing Women’s Empowerment Project (“Proyecto de Empoderamiento de Mujeres Cafeteras en Colombia” in Spanish), is funded by a USD $100,000 grant from The Coca-Cola Foundation to TechnoServe, and will take place over a seven-month period.
Women are involved at all levels of the Colombian coffee industry – one of the country’s most important economic sectors – and have increased their role in coffee production and leadership in their communities. However, in some regions they still face many challenges, among them, limited access to coffee-farming information and training, markets and resources.
The project is designed to address these inequalities in several ways. TechnoServe and the FNC will work together to deliver training and other services with a gender-equity approach, addressing women farmer’s specific necessities and encouraging their full participation and leadership alongside men. The FNC extension workers will apply this reinforced gender-equity approach with farmers, encouraging women’s participation in rural extension activities and thus empowering 11,000 female farmers and their families.
An additional 1,700 women and youth will receive training on the farming business. This training will include lessons on joint decision-making, dialogue, negotiation, bookkeeping, and other business skills. This will equip women coffee growers and the next generation of coffee farmers with an important skill set.
Empowering female farmers in this way can have a significant economic impact on farming families. The Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that productivity on women-run farms would increase by up to 30 percent if women had access to the same production resources as men. Studies have also shown that adoption of good farming practices and technology increases when male and female farmers from the same household attend training together.
“We’re proud to partner with TechnoServe and the Colombia Coffee Growers Federation on this important program,” said Helen Smith Price, president of The Coca-Cola Foundation. “By leveraging the collaborative expertise and resources of our organizations, we have an opportunity to provide more economic opportunities for farmers and their families, creating a ripple effect of positive impact throughout communities.”
“In the 90 years that the Coca-Cola brand has been in Colombia, we have been committed to bringing development options to the communities where we operate. The empowerment of women is a priority within our value chain and we therefore seek to further strengthen this type of program,” said Louis Balat, general manager of the Andean Franchise Unit at The Coca-Cola Company.
“As Colombia embarks on a new era of peace, it is more important than ever that women are able to fully share in economic opportunities,” said William Warshauer, TechnoServe’s CEO and president. “That is why we are so excited to work with The Coca-Cola Foundation and the FNC to help equip female coffee farmers with the information and skills they need to dramatically increase their revenue from coffee and improve the lives of their families.”
“For a long time, the FNC has been promoting equal opportunities for men and women in the coffee industry and strengthening women’s empowerment with a gender, rights and family approach. Increasingly more women play a key role in the coffee value chain, from seed to cup, thanks to these efforts. And teaming up with such important partners will definitely help us leverage our work on that pathway,” said Roberto Velez, CEO of the FNC.
The Coca-Cola Foundation is the global philanthropic arm of The Coca-Cola Company. Since its inception in 1984, the Foundation has awarded more than $900 million in grants to support sustainable community initiatives around the world. For more information about The Coca-Cola Foundation, please visit http://www.coca-colacompany.com/giving-back
TechnoServe harnesses the power of the private sector to help people lift themselves out of poverty. A nonprofit organization operating in 29 countries, it works with enterprising men and women in the developing world to build competitive farms, businesses and industries.
Created in 1927 by the Colombian coffee growers themselves to represent them nationally and internationally, and to ensure their well-being and improve their quality of life, the Bogota-based FNC represents over 560,000 coffee-growing families.