A Year On: Building Brighter Futures with Seeds for Progress

Education is one of the most powerful ways to build resilient coffee communities, but in rural Guatemala many children never get a strong start. For our 2025 holiday gift to our partners, we teamed up with Seeds for Progress, a nonprofit that works with coffee-growing families to keep children in school. Our contribution of $10,000 was matched by Macquarie Group, deepening its impact. A year on, we’re sharing how that support is taking root across four communities in Jalapa and Chiquimula, from teacher training to day camps that keep kids in school during the harvest season. 

The Challenge 

In some rural coffee communities in Guatemala, only around 2 in 10 children attend preschool, and just 31% complete elementary school. Without strong early foundations, the next generation has a harder time building a better future for themselves and their communities. 

 In coffee-growing communities, the harvest season poses an additional risk. When families head to the coffee harvest, their children often have nowhere safe to go. Some stay home and miss school, and others end up in the fields, where the risk of child labor is real. Seeds for Progress’ seasonal day camps close that gap. They give children structured, age-appropriate care while their families work, keeping them in school and out of harvest labor. 

What a Year Made Possible 

Across Las Crucitas, Sampaquisoy, La Ceiba and Montesinas, in Jalapa and Chiquimula regions, our year-end contribution has helped Seeds for Progress train 20 primary school teachers, each completing 20 hours of the Cultivando Educación model*. It has also welcomed 240 children to harvest-season day camps, where they received 7,732 meals. Those camps give children a safe, supervised place to spend their days during the season while their families work the harvest. 

• 20 primary school teachers trained, each completing 20 hours in the Cultivando Educación model 
• 240 children attended day camps during the harvest season, keeping them in education 
• 7,732 healthy meals served during day camps  

^{*Cultivando Educación (Cultivating Education) is Seeds for Progress’ teaching methodology for rural schools, from preschool through high school. Developed with the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education, it gives teachers tools and strategies to help more children start school, stay in school and get more out of their time there.} 

Support doesn’t stop when the funds arrive. It becomes a teacher better prepared for the year ahead, a safe place to spend the harvest and a warm meal. The children supported today will carry that with them as they grow into teachers, parents and leaders. 

Ongoing Support 

For the third year in a row, Macquarie’s annual fundraiser will support Seeds for Progress. On November 18, we’re joining Macquarie and the Kahawatu Foundation for Letters of Gratitude, an evening in New York celebrating what we’ve achieved together.  

“‘Thank you’ is what we say because language runs out before gratitude does,” says Melissa Arévalo, Marketing and Communications at Seeds for Progress. “The gratitude of a child who was given the chance to learn instead of labor doesn’t fade. It grows and becomes part of who they are.” 

You can also support the project through Chaak, our Sucafina Original from Guatemala, supports our Guatemala Beyond Flagship project with Seeds for Progress, funding teacher training, better classrooms and child labor prevention during harvest. Interested in purchasing? Now is a great time to reach out! 

 Want to give more? You can add a percentage or one-time amount to your purchases, or donate directly to Seeds for Progress. Get in touch with your trader to learn more. 

About Beyond Flagship projects

Beyond Flagship Projects are initiatives linked to IMPACT-verified farmer groups within Sucafina’s direct supply chains. These projects are designed to offer partners a flexible way to support IMPACT goals, create measurable impact and drive meaningful change at contribution levels below the typical minimum threshold for full project sponsorship.

Investments are made through a premium and do not need to be tied directly to coffee produced by the project’s participating farmers. Instead, support is Origin-specific – for example, purchasing Beyond Flagship contributing coffees from Colombia enables investment in Colombia-based IMPACT Beyond projects. This approach increases flexibility, expands the potential for impact at scale and supports more consistent data collection and reporting across supply chains.