Fairtrade Africa is pleased to announce that Big Lottery Fund has allocated a grant of £300,000 towards mainstreaming Gender and Youth involvement in Fairtrade-certified coffee value chains.
This grant was achieved through Fairtrade Africa collaboration with Fairtrade Foundation in response to a call for funding by Big Lottery Fund (BLF) in UK Under the theme of ‘Economic empowerment of women and girls in trade’.
The activities to be funded include capacity building activities on Good Agricultural Practices, alternative sources of energy through installation of household biogas units, value addition of coffee produced by women through branding and packaging support. Importantly the grant will support the introduction and marketing of a “women – labelled” coffee brand into domestic and international markets.
The project will be implemented over three years starting January 2015, targeting Kabng’etuny Farmers Coffee Cooperative Society, Kapkiyai Farmers Coffee Cooperative Society and Kipkelion Union.
The implementing partners include Solidaridad Eastern and Central Africa Expertise Center (SECAEC), Kenya National Federation of Agricultural Producers (KENFAP), Fairtrade Marketing Organization Eastern Africa (FMOEA) and Fairtrade Foundation UK.
Wangeci Gitata, Fundraising and Partnerships Manager for Fairtrade Africa, explains. “We are very excited; women from the three co-operatives will be trained on good agricultural practices as well as the use of biogas for their homes.
The women will have the opportunity to brand their coffee for the domestic market. The marketing work will be in collaboration with Fairtrade Marketing Organisation Eastern Africa.”
While commenting on the next steps, Marion Ng’ang’a, Member and Partnership Manager for Eastern and Central Africa Fairtrade Network (FTA – EACN) said: “We are planning to launch the project among potential beneficiaries and stakeholders in December this year in preparation for activities commencement early 2015.
