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Coffee sector strategies to empower women in Colombia

Barb MacLaren

Gender Specialist,

Canada-Ukraine Trade and Investment Support Project

The Conference Board of Canada

Sept. 15, 2016

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How can Business

Associations and

Networks Promote Women's Access to

International Markets?

Panel Question:

“Social and economic

empowerment of

rural farmers must go

hand in hand with

women’s

empowerment in

rural Colombia,as

they are inter-related

and mutually

reinforcing.”

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o Poverty high in rural areas despite recent GDP growth

o Family farm model in coffee (most < 5 HA)

o Youth = urban migrants

Colombia’s rural context

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o Export revenue (1st quarter 2016): 39 million USD

o Export volume (last 12 mo): 14 million bags of beans

o Main destinations:

o North America, Europe and East Asia

o Large buyers include Starbucks, Nespresso

Colombia’s coffee sector: some stats

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Partners:

–The North-South Institute, and

–Federación Nacional de Cafeteros (the national coffee

association associated with Juan Valdes in Colombia),

& The Conference Board of Canada

Funder: Global Affairs Canada (CATRTA fund)

Gender Based Analysis in the Coffee Export Sector: Canadian Project

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o Examine gender issues and women’s empowerment in coffee producing communities

o Improve technical capacity of the export association

o Raise awareness about the importance of greater gender equality for business and for communities

Project Goals

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1) New gender indicators and data collected

2) ↑ “Gender aware” farmers (workshops for producers in three poor producer regions); and

3) Identified areas for improvement by the national coffee association and relevant government ministries

Key achievements

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More than 300,000 women are involved in coffee production

Women-operated farms

represent 29% of 563,000

registered producers in

Colombia

Have higher education levels than men in the South Western regions (30% complete high school)

Characteristics of women coffee producers’ participation in Colombia

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Challenges facing women producers

o Women’s triple burden and its negative impacts

o Most women aren’t land owners TF loans = problematic

o Technical and financial skills lower than men

o Women are invisible in global chains, even owners

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• Instigated in 2007 based on consultations with local and regional association boards and communities

• OBJECTIVE: Empower producer families – esp. women -and help grow women operated farms across the country.

• STRUCTURE: core staff in Bogota - focal points at regional offices

Coffee Association Women’s Program

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• Encourage women to become FNC association members

• Owning the trees = access to credit

• Leadership/business/tasting training

• Address social problems adversely

impacting women

Local strategies promoting women

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• Networks that support women (IWCA, etc.)

• Voluntary certifications, such as Fair Trade, do add value (some are stronger on gender than others)

• Branding women for success

Colombia is learning from other

countries, like Peru

International Strategies

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• Training = Ensuring that women producers are accessingboth business and technical training

• Representation = Encouraging women producers to run inthe association’s elections at regional or national levels

• $$$ = Executive buy-in to invest more in women’sprogramming

Areas of future work for the association

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1. How are services and training targeted? Are they targeted equitably to female and male members?

2. What is the level of engagement of women among your associations’ members and how to improve on it?

3. Does your association have a gender equality strategy? Can donor funds be leveraged to implement the strategy?

Questions for associations in terms of gender sensitivity

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Project resources and research:

http://www.nsi-ins.ca/gender-equality-colombia-coffee-export/

Gitgo project, Caribbean cases of gender based trade barriers

https://carleton.ca/ctpl/2014/gendered-impacts-of-trade-and-gendered-opportunities-gitgo-in-the-caricom-countries/

Federacion Nacional de Cafeteros:

federaciondecafeteros.org; cafedecolombia.com

conferenceboard.ca

Thank you! Merci beaucoup!