CQI, SAFE Platform and S&D Collaborate in Partnership for Gender Equity

“Coffee Berries 2” by Coffee Management Services is licensed under CC BY 2.0

The Portland, Ore.-based Coffee Quality Institute (CQI) has announced that one of the country’s largest coffee companies, S&D Coffee & Tea, has committed to be part of its ongoing Partnership for Gender Equity (PGE) initiative.

Financial commitments in the collaboration have not been disclosed, but S&D joins the initiative as a member of the Sustainable Agriculture, Food and Environment (SAFE) Platform, a multi-stakeholder alliance that provides development funding and other support in places where coffee is grown.

CQI launched its Partnership for Gender Equity in 2014, with Phase 1 of the initiative involving extensive research on gender equality issues in coffee. That resulted in the PGE report “The Way Forward,” and the project focus is now on generating industry support while continuing to develop a “validated systematic approach to a more resilient coffee supply chain by improving gender equity at origin,” according to CQI.

For an example of what that looks like in real life, PGE representatives earlier this month held a household workshop with members of the Jose de La Luz coffee cooperative, a member organization of Nicaragua’s PRODECOOP. Female and male farmers measured their progress against plans developed earlier in the year, and key indicators from that work will be used to develop a common measurement framework.

“It ends with a common goal: design and test a field project methodology so that SAFE members, and other industry partners, can more easily integrate gender equity into their existing supply chain programs,” CQI said in an announcement of the SAFE and S&D collaboration today.

“We will be able to leverage the PGE tools to increase supply chain visibility by better measuring the participation of young women and men that are part of our sustainable sourcing platform, Raíz Sustainability,” S&D Sustainable Sourcing Manager Olga L. Cuellar G. said in the announcement, later adding, “By establishing specific key performance indicators around gender equality, we gain insights that will allow us to better manage our investments and maximize impact among our farming communities.”