Monday October 19, 2015
Kenco
At Kenco, we believe that things are better when everyone has a fair chance. That’s why we’ve led the way in sustainable coffee sourcing, and been instrumental in raising awareness of what this means for farmers and their communities.
Some of the best coffee in the world is grown in Honduras, and coffee farming is a huge part of the Honduran economy. But too often gangs lure young people away from traditional work with the promise of status and easy money.
What is Coffee Vs Gangs?
20 vulnerable young people have been chosen to spend 11 months in the Coffee Vs Gangs programme, a campaign to keep young people out of gangs, training them as coffee farmers, learning everything from the basics of coffee farming to running their own business. By supporting them with the skills and support they need to become successful entrepreneurs, Kenco is helping these young men and women find a more secure way to gain the respect and prosperity they are looking for.
Introducing James…
James is 16. He lives in Honduras with his grandparents: both his parents died before he was 10. James needed to start work before he could finish his studies, in order to get by, but now doesn’t have the skills to find a job. He’s hoping to complete his education and learn skills that will give him a chance at future work.
From Coffee vs. Gangs to Coffee Made Happy
Coffee vs Gangs is part of our parent company JDE’s Coffee Made Happy programme, which aims to empower coffee farmers to become coffee entrepreneurs. By supporting the young people in the Coffee vs Gangs programme with the skills and support they need to run successful coffee businesses, we hope that they will then choose to join the 16,500 Coffee Made Happy farmers in Honduras and become successful coffee entrepreneurs too.
Coffee Made Happy
The vision is simple – we want to make coffee farming a sustainable, productive and respected profession:
- Sustainable – they understand how to use resources responsibly and efficiently, to sustain their farm and the environment.
- Profitable – they have the expertise and market connections to manage their farm as a business, ensuring they can make a good living from farming.
- Respected – because coffee farming is seen as a profession from which you can make a good living, and one that brings real value to the farming community, the overall attractiveness of the profession increases.
We plan to do this by helping 1 million coffee smallholder farmers become successful entrepreneurs by 2020.
The Coffee Made Happy programme uses the 4C standard as a baseline for our work, and a framework to help us to track our progress.
The 4C Association aims to unite all relevant coffee stakeholders in working towards the improvement of the economic, social and environmental conditions of coffee production and processing to build a thriving, sustainable sector for generations to come.
