Working Towards Gender Equality Together

Why is gender equality in coffee important?

Robinah: Research by the International Coffee Organization (ICO) in 2018 found that a gender imbalance in the coffee sector is impeding sustainable development. Gender equality is crucial because it will enable the women and girls who perform around 70% of the physical labor on coffee farms to access resources for sustainable coffee production and empower them with information and skills.

Kevin: In Kenya, women are being left behind. Gender inequality is prevalent in coffee, and this is leading to negative consequences for everyone. Even though most farms are owned by men, women and youth do most of the labor. By promoting gender equality, we’ll not only advance the coffee industry in Kenya but also make it fairer for everyone and enable women to play a pivotal role in productivity.

What are KENYACOF and Kahawatu doing to increase gender equality?

Kevin: KENYACOF is focused on working closely with farmers supplying coffee, on how with a focus on empowering female producers to improve their incomes and their coffee yields. We’ve provided funding fo female producer groups in our supply chain to help them invest diversification projects and also in biodigesters on the farm. Biodigesters help producers transform farm waste into usable fuel and organic fertilizer. This adds value to the farm through improved yields and also reduces for the time women spend on collecting firewood. This also has positive impacts on the environment by preventing deforestation.

Additionally, we’ve organized gender trainings and sensitization workshops that help men understand why gender equality is important for everyone and how they have an important role to play. What we’re seeing is impressive outcomes where men have started allocating coffee trees on their farms to their spouses and young adult. This means those women and youths can invest their energy in trees from which they’ll be able to access and control the income. We recognize that change doesn’t just lie in men’s hands though, and we’re working to help women access land and the means of production on their own as well. There are vibrant groups of women in coffee who aggregate their coffee and brand it as women-produced. This is attracting a lot of interest from roasters and price premiums are rewarding their hard work.

Robinah:  Sucafina and Kahawatu have employed several approaches to reach out to women and youths to empower them. Sucafina and Kahawatu have built a network of people working towards gender equality in coffee communities by working with Equal Origins to train people to become “Gender Leads” across East Africa. These trainings will enable people to go into communities across East Africa to facilitate gender-related activities including talks on gender equality, designing gender-inclusive farmer services, establishing women’s village savings and loans associations (VSLAs) and more.  In our own offices, we have quarterly awareness sessions for staff to increase their knowledge on gender and sensitize them to the complexity of gender inequality.

In Kahawatu’s communities, we’ve started implementing some of those activities, including helping women build representation in producer organizations. In some cases, women now occupy 40%+ of leadership positions. Further, we’re holding workshops on income-generating activities such as additional businesses to empower women economically. All these projects serve to highlight women’s roles in coffee farming and help them access income and credit to build small businesses, and improve their homes, farms and families. Women and families in our programming now have more money to invest in healthcare, school fees and more.  

What are your goals for gender equality in the next 1 to 5 years?

Robinah: We’re focusing on expanding the projects that we know are making tangible impacts. This includes helping communities establish more VSLAs to collectively save and then lend their money at fair rates and helping women diversify their income-generating activities. We’ll also support producer groups and help them elect more women to their boards to build women’s leadership roles in the communities and professionalize women’s contributions in coffee.

Kevin: As KENYACOF works to roll out IMPACT, Sucafina’s responsible sourcing standard, we’re building networks that will enable us to continue improving gender equality in our IMPACT supply chains and enable us to develop farming services that benefit the whole household.

Why is it important to reflect on International Women’s Day?

Robinah: International Women’s Day (IWD) is a global celebration of the accomplishments made by organizations, businesses and women to further women's empowerment and gender equality overall. It is a significant occasion to recognize existing efforts we’ve made towards gender equality and it’s a time to advocate for the issues that continue to threaten women's rights and gender equality.

Kevin: IWD provides us with the opportunity to recognize the contributions that women make in coffee in terms of living income at the household level and more generally at the level of the national economy. It’s also an opportunity for raising awareness about other challenges that are still a barrier to women empowerment. 

Thank you to Robinah, Kevin and to all the people in the coffee industry who are working towards a fairer and more inclusive future within our coffee supply chain.

There are ways you can get involved now. IMPACT coffee will be available from Kenya soon.  Get in touch with your trader to express interest and hear when Kenyan IMPACT coffees will be in store. Roasters can also contribute directly to the Kahawatu Foundation to help facilitate gender equity programs. Sucafina facilitating a gender-oriented program with Sucafina’s Farmgate Initiative in Burundi that enables roasters to contribute directly to their supply chain. A community livestock chain made possible through Farmgate Initiative is helping women and families diversify their income and family nutrition. By buying coffees from select supply chains, roasters can contribute to this project and can choose to add additional contributions through their purchase. Get in touch with your trader to learn more.