Partnership for Gender Equity Exploring Field Project Results in Nicaragua

Partnership for Gender Equity photo.

The Coffee Quality Institute and project partners in CQI’s Partnership for Gender Equity are hosting a two-day event next month near Jinotega, Nicaragua, to explore the findings from a year of field-level work toward improving gender equity at origin.

Called “Strengthening the Links of the Coffee Value Chain,” the workshop-style event is part of the field project funded by the UTZ Sector Partnerships program, involving two major Northern Nicaraguan coffee cooperatives, PRODECOOP and SOPPEXCCA.

“The workshop will serve as a final critical input to the methodology from male and female farmers, producer organization representatives and end market actors,” CQI said in an announcement of the event, which is additionally supported by PGE partner S&D Coffee & Tea. “Participants will also have a unique opportunity to learn firsthand about the impact of gender inequity on the value chain and what they can do about it.”

The fieldwork has followed the PGE’s guiding research document, “The Way Forward,” which was released in 2015, and it also follows the program’s Theory of Change (ToC), which is that greater equity can be achieved more quickly and sustainably if it involves actors at three levels of the value chain — the end market, producer organizations and coffee farming households. Trainings have been implemented at all of those levels since 2017, and the PGE has called the results “inspiring.”

“The coffee industry has demonstrated a noteworthy commitment to collective action and collaborative initiatives that drive resiliency and sustainability at origin,” PGE Strategic Director Kimberly Easson said. “Gender equity is a topic of growing interest linked to this sustainability focus.”

The Sustainable Agriculture, Food and Environment (SAFE) Platform of the Interamerican Development Bank is also involved in the partnership, documenting the field methodology so that companies throughout the industry can have something of a template for building more sustainable and gender-equitable supply chains.

The free event is taking place Feb. 27-28, with participants responsible for their own lodging and transportation costs. CQI is encouraging roasting companies to attend.