How We Work
Advancing Women Coops
We advance women producers in business through coffee with our vocational coffee training program to build their professionalism throughout the value-chain — from being producers at the grassroots level to enterprising leaders who can stand confidently on the international market. Sustainable Growers also facilitates women-led cooperatives to participate in local and international events.
Sustainable Growers works to promote women involvement in leadership. The organisation has partnered with a consultancy firm to conduct storytelling for leadership, aiming to increase women's confidence and desire to take up leadership positions in cooperatives. Gender trainings in partnership with government at various platforms have increased gender inclusiveness — by the end of the second phase, a 6% increase in board membership by women was realised.
Gender inclusiveness is a key part of the Sustainable Growers program. Through partnerships with government agencies and other non-profit organisations, Sustainable Growers invests in gender-inclusive training to create mindset changes and joint participation in farming as a family business. The programme seeks to increase women's involvement in decision-making around school enrollment, use of finances and health in their households.
Agnes Nyinamumuntu, President of Twongere Umusaruro wa Kawa (TUK) with 160 women members, was featured in National Geographic magazine. Agnes shared her thoughts on changing Rwandan values and expectations for women, and how she's been inspired to lead. The women of TUK were also recognised for their song and dance in celebration of the coffee harvest. Question Coffee was mentioned alongside.
Leveraging Agri-Tech Practices
Sustainable Growers partners with a state-of-the-art agri-tech company to cost-effectively track impact delivery. Using an Android mobile application, the organisation uses its network of community-based Relationship Coffee Women to collect household data at different stages of the program — tracking behavioural change and agricultural practices to realise increments in production. The same approach is used to track cooperative governance and business growth.
Home roasting is one way to increase domestic coffee consumption. Nyirabarore Drocelle, a member of Gashonga Coffee Cooperative in Western Rwanda and a Relationship Coffee Woman (RCW), travelled to the Democratic Republic of the Congo for the first time with SGR staff to train all 8 RCWs in roasting coffee using locally available materials. It was exciting to see an experienced RCW impart skills on newer RCWs in another country. Of the targeted 519 team leaders, 288 have already been trained across Idjwi Island and Mwenga territory. With these skills, women farmers can taste their coffee, drink it in their households and sell it in their communities to generate more income to support themselves and their families.
Using an Android-based mobile application, Relationship Coffee Women collect household data at multiple stages of the program. This technology allows Sustainable Growers to accurately track behavioural change, agricultural practice improvements, cooperative governance indicators and business growth — making impact reporting transparent and evidence-based for partners and funders.
Linking Women Co-ops to Buyers
We link women cooperatives to buyers to sell their coffees at premium prices all over the world. The coffee program includes building business skills in cooperative management for women producers to position them to access credit from financial institutions, negotiate and sign contracts with buyers. Facilitating participation in local and global events increases visibility for women producers and their coffees. Building washing stations, equipped cupping facilities and skills leads to increased market access opportunities.
In March 2018, Sustainable Growers and RwandAir announced a groundbreaking partnership to serve Rwandan specialty coffee on RwandAir flights. TUK was the cooperative trading partner, providing the coffee for the first Rwandan soluble coffee served in-flight on the national carrier, giving passengers an opportunity to support smallholder women farmers and their families in Rwanda.
Several program beneficiaries — including TUK, Mayogi Coffee and Nyampinga cooperatives — have upgraded their facilities to include brand-new, fully-stocked cupping labs. These labs drive coffees into stronger global markets, giving producers the facilities to assess quality throughout the season and determine what adjustments are needed at seed level for a better harvest and final cup.
LTC Rwanda is the go-to biennial event in Africa for coffee professionals and aficionados connecting with key stakeholders across the value chain. The event brings buyers closer to farmers to ensure access to international markets, featuring coffees from cooperatives trained by Sustainable Growers — representing over 42,000 women coffee farmers from East Africa. Workshops cover climate change, access to finance, domestic consumption, multi-crop farming, data collection, quality improvement and farming as a family business.
Sustainable Growers facilitates access to capital for women cooperatives by linking them with financial institutions — helping them prepare the right documentation, ensuring they access market opportunities to repay working capital borrowed. This strengthens cooperatives' long-term financial resilience and independence.