Thursday, January 15, 2009

Program Update: Nicaragua

On our first field visit of 2009, Coffee Kids Program Staff went to Nicaragua to visit the Organization of Northern Coffee Cooperatives (CECOCAFEN) and the Society of Small Producers for Coffee Export (SOPPEXCCA), Coffee Kids’ partners since 1998 and 2006 respectively. We met with project beneficiaries and learned about their initiatives in education and microfinance.

CECOCAFEN is the second largest federation of coffee cooperatives in Nicaragua comprising more than 2,000 farmers. Their efforts to support community members outside of coffee include the Groups of Women Saving in Solidarity (GMAS) and the Rural Education Project. Both projects were modeled on Coffee Kids’ programs in Mexico and Costa Rica.

Our journey began in Matagalpa, the department where CECOCAFEN is based. For 2 days, we met with women and students from various cooperatives in the municipality of El Roblar, who benefit from the GMAS and the scholarship programs. The participants shared their successes and discussed challenges for the future.

In 2008, 735 women and men in 28 groups were involved in the GMAS project. Low-interest loans were provided to 430 participants who invested in small businesses like grocery stores, tortilla shops, clothing and handicrafts stores, honey production, cattle and chicken-raising and medicinal herbs. CECOCAFEN recently launched a plan to foster closer collaboration between people with similar business interests and promote sharing with other groups in the surrounding area.

CECOCAFEN’s education project awarded 485 scholarships to high school, university and technical school students in 2008. Students said that while the scholarship increases their personal responsibility, it gives them the chance to continue with their studies without having to migrate to other countries.

In one of our meetings, former scholarship recipient, Exolina Aldana, expressed that the education project helps cooperatives identify new leaders in their communities and improve the standing of the cooperative.

On the second leg of our trip, we headed to the neighboring department of Jinotega to visit SOPPEXCCA, which represents 650 farmers. The cooperative manages the Environmental Youth Movement (Jóvenes Ambientalistas) and Coffee Children (Muchachitos del Café) projects.

The Muchachitos del Café program served 545 children in five schools in 2008. Children received lessons on cultural identity, music, and painting. The Jóvenes Ambientalistas program attracted 180 young people to learn about environmental issues, leadership, communication, management and gender issues.

The meeting with the students from the community La Isabel, in the mountains of Jinotega, was a humbling and enriching experience. When our vehicle arrived, the students had decorated the classroom of a rural school with beautiful paintings they had created. After a brief presentation, they shared dreams and plans for the future.

Although most of the children and teenagers had to walk nearly an hour to attend the courses, all of them expressed their satisfaction with the program. In the near future, with the help of SOPPEXCCA, the students discussed plans to offer printing services in Jinotega to make the project self-sustaining.

We also learned that the music classes are only offered on Sundays since many of the students live in remote areas and cannot attend weekday classes. Their dedication to learning amazed us. Our visit ended with a performance of traditional and European standards by the Flor de Jinotega Band.

We were happy to meet these future leaders and look forward to continuing our collaboration with CECOCAFEN and SOPPEXCCA as they cultivate a new generation of leaders and business people.

Monday, January 12, 2009

Costa Rica Earthquake and How to Help

Over 34 people died in an earthquake that struck Costa Rica on Jan. 8 (“34 dead, dozens missing from Costa Rica quake”). The 6.1 magnitude earthquake left more than 1,200 people stranded, with no way to get out of towns or homes, and another 1,000 are living in shelters.

COOCAFE, which established Coffee Kids’ partner FHC, has created a relief account to collect funds for their members affected by the earthquake. Many of the families reported total loss of homes and heavy damage to their coffee fields. If you would like to contribute, please contact for more information.

Wednesday, January 07, 2009

Landslide in Guatemala Hits Coffee-Growing Area

I saw this story, “More than 30 dead in Guatemala landslide,” in the news on Monday. It hit home for me since I did a couple marketing lessons in the town of San Cristobal Verapaz at a coffee cooperative during my Peace Corps service and I traveled that road a number of times. It says that most of those who died were on their way to harvest coffee.

There’s also coverage of the story on the Prensa Libre Web site (in Spanish).