Fair Trade Projects

Cecocafen

Cecocafen is an association of coffee producers organized in unions and multi-service cooperatives from the states of Matagalpa, Jinotega, Nueva Segovia, and the North Atlantic Autonomous Region. The coffee unions and cooperatives that make up Cecocafen’s membership represent over 3,000 small coffee producers. The main economic activity of Cecocafen is to market the coffee produced by its members. To do so it created its dry processing plant SOLCAFE.

WCCN supports Cecocafen in its goal of creating equitable markets for its producers and its promotion of fair trade practices. Its slogan Empresarial en su forma, social en su fin or Businesslike in structure, social in purpose is indicative of the social enterprise it operates. It is committed to just relationships with its members, the preservation of the environment, and active participation of women.

Although Cecocafen is not a microfinance institution, it provides credit to its membership in order to finance the production, harvesting and marketing of coffee. In 2007, WCCN began a lending relationship with Cecoocafen to help finance these activities. Likewise, Cecocafen is implementing a broad cooperative, rural development-oriented program. This initiative provides technical assistance, training and organizational support to the individual members and communities of Cecocafen’s member unions and cooperatives.

La FEM

Since 2005, WCCN has worked with the Fundación Entre Mujeres or La FEM through its women’s empowerment initiatives. However, in 2006 our work with La FEM ventured into fair trade when we helped facilitate a relationship between the Madison-based coffee roaster Just Coffee and the feminist coffee cooperatives with which La FEM works. As part of its mission of empowering of poor rural women, La FEM promotes the organization of small-scale producers into women’s cooperatives. These cooperatives are made up of over 130 female coffee producers committed to protecting the environment through the production of fair trade organic coffee. Just Coffee supports small coffee cooperatives, such as the La FEM cooperatives, around the world by working with “grower cooperatives in true partnership…We recognize fair trade as one strategy for change within a larger movement for global social justice.”

WCCN encourages you to buy La FEM coffee under the labels Las Diosas, Nicaragua, or El Corazon (a blend of dark roasted Rwandan Abakangukiyekawa and medium roasted Nicaraguan La FEM coffees). If you can’t find it at your local grocer or coffee retailer, it is also available online through Just Coffee.