Global Coffee Platform and Hivos to Collaborate in Latin America

Daily Coffee News photo.

Two of the leading nonprofit organizations involved in global coffee sustainability, the Global Coffee Platform (GCP) and the Humanist Institute for Development Cooperation (Hivos) have signed a letter of intent to address some of the main sustainability issues in Latin America.

The Netherlands-based Hivos is entering the relationship through its role as manager of the SAFE Platform, which is working to improve social and environmental sustainability in numerous coffee- and/or cocoa-producing countries.

Germany-based GCP, meanwhile, maintains a multi-stakeholder network of some 165 members from throughout the world to help establish and achieve various sustainability goals on a sector-wide basis and through individual country platforms.

Both organizations have identified fragmentation in the coffee sustainability sector as a hindrance to sustainable development goals. The 2018 Coffee Barometer, led by authors from Hivos, highlighted the pros and cons of these very types of multi-stakeholder initiatives:

A potential benefit of these MSIs is that they can help stakeholders to better understanding the challenges of others in the sector and identify opportunities to acknowledge successes and share best practices via collaboration,” wrote the Barometer’s authors. “Ideally, the MSIs reduce the sector’s fragmentation of sustainability efforts and enhance transparency and accountability. One of the biggest drawbacks of these initiatives is that their multitude slows down the pace of decision-making, while the urgency to act is high.

The letter of intent outlines collaboration between both organizations running initially until 2020. According to both organizations, the letter identifies the SAFE Platform’s regional co-funding portfolio as a mechanism to support GCP’s National Country Platforms efforts.

“One of the Coffee Barometer’s main findings is that the creation of multiple stakeholder initiatives within the coffee sector has been on the rise,” SAFE Platform Manager Juan Pablo Solís said in an announcement from both organizations. “This positive trend brings actors together across the chain, but the challenge lies in finding ways for these platforms to align goals, overcome fragmentation and increase impact. That’s why this collaboration with the GCP will aid in the transformation of a more sustainable coffee sector in Latin America by bringing in new stakeholders and methods of engagement and allowing for cross-cutting investment and innovation.”