Rainforest Alliance will improve the Rainforest Alliance Sustainable Agriculture Standard through innovations that: [1] Protect farmers' and workers' rights and wellbeing, specifically enhanced requirements on Shared Responsibility [transparency, investments and incentives for sustainable production in producing origins], Assess & Address [a site-level human rights due diligence system covering child labor, forced labor, discrimination and workplace violence/harassment], and Living Wage [a process to identify and close the gap to paying Living Wages over time], and [2] Conserve nature, specifically enhanced requirements on Regenerative Agriculture [practices to improve soil health, increase biodiversity and reduce pesticide use through Integrated Pest Management] and non-deforestation [to identify areas that have been potentially converted/deforested, supporting deforestation-free supply chains].

Rainforest Alliance will also work to strengthen demand for coffee certified against the Rainforest Alliance Sustainable Agriculture Standard through global market activities - in both importing and exporting countries - including partnering with coffee supply chain actors and supporting the development of consumer engagement campaigns.

In partnership with: Rainforest Alliance partners with producers and supply chain actors globally to reach our target.

As part of our mission to make sustainable farming the norm, we launch our Sector Partnerships program in Central America to strengthen the capacity of farmers (especially smallholders and female farmers) and local civil society organizations to lobby and advocate for sector change in coffee in their countries. We will support them to work with governments and companies to engage in issues that require a sector wide approach. We will work with the coffee industry, farmers, workers and local NGO’s on advancing the policy agenda with local governments on the topics of: climate change, productivity for farmers, living wage for workers and gender equity in coffee farming communities. We will implement at least one project in Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua on each of these issues with local NGO’s and farmers. We will include the coffee industry in our lobbying and advocacy efforts and will share our learnings with the coffee community at large.

With our Sector Partnerships program, we want to ensure that:

• Smallholder farmers have better access to knowledge, tools and services to increase productivity;

• Farmer groups are strengthened and inclusive with regards to smallholders and women;

• Farmers adopt climate change adaptation practices supported by companies and improved government policies;

• There is progress towards a living wage for workers, and the gap between women and men’s wages is reduced;

• Women have equal opportunities and do not face discrimination or violence in the workplace.

Goals:

• At least 4 projects total on topics of climate change, productivity for farmers, living wage for workers and gender equity for coffee farming communities implemented by 2020 in Central America

• Results from projects will be shared by farmers, workers and local civil society organizations directly with the broader coffee community on international forums. Including the 60,000 coffee farmers and workers part of the UTZ program in Honduras, Nicaragua and Guatemala

• At least 1 million dollars invested on these projects.

In partnership with: Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Update

July 23, 2021

During the course of five years, we spent a total of almost 3 million euros [2999295.37] in Central America on 12 projects – going beyond our original commitment – focusing on gender [2], climate change [3], living wage [1], productivity [5] and farmer organization strengthening [3]. Producer organizations improved their services to coffee producers with the development and piloting of tools to mitigate the impacts of climate change; developed with the input from smallholders. Coffee platforms were set up in Honduras and Nicaragua where coffee stakeholders discuss how to move towards a more sustainable coffee sector. In Honduras, the project supported an organization representing women in coffee to grow both in terms of members as well as recognition by the sector. A living wage benchmark was also released and validated, laying the ground for future projects to increase remuneration in the sector.

January 29, 2018

We have started 9 projects in Central America (4 in Nicaragua, 3 in Guatemala, 2 in Honduras) focused on the following themes: gender (1), climate change (3), productivity (3), farmer organization strengthening (2). We have already released over 900,000 euros (over US$1M) to our partners to start implementing those projects.