When you buy coffee grown by women in Burundi, there’s a double impact. Yes, they receive a premium for delivering the highest quality cherries, but they also receive lessons in personal finance.
In the past few months, a group of women (and a few men) have taken those lessons to heart, pooled their funds, and in Ngozi Province, a new washing station is rising from the red soil. This cooperative venture is named Together We Can (Turihamwe Turashobora).
A group of women investors prepare the soil to build a new washing station in Ngozi Province.
Bought and built primarily by women, the washing station represents the fruits of their careful saving. When they attended financial literacy classes, they listened closely to learn how to save their hard-earned money.
Women investors pool their funds to build a new washing station.
Seven women and three men recognized they could earn and save even more if they could process their cherries at their own washing station. So they pooled together $60,000 to build their own wet mill. By processing and selling their own coffee, they will generate more income for their families and community, and inspire others to find new paths to better lives.
Bricklayer helps to build new women’s cooperative washing station.
Other smaller coffee farmers in the community will soon have the opportunity to own a small part of this cooperative as well for an investment of as little as 10,000 Burundian francs, or $5 in US dollars. When women take their coffee directly to market, they receive all the proceeds themselves. And their families and communities benefit together with them.
The cooperative group planned for future growth. The new wet mill/washing station will have greater capacity than standard facilities, with six fermentation tanks and a minimum of 150 raised African beds, able to produce enough high-quality green coffee to fill at least two containers.
This is such an exciting development. Education is empowering women in Burundi!
Women move bags of soil on building site of new wet mill in Ngozi Province.
Right now, we have two new lots from this 2018 harvest, ready to ship from origin -- all IWCA Women Burundi coffees looking for one or several buyers. These sales alone could generate nearly enough premium payments to complete this significant wet mill project.
You can be part of this movement by buying these women’s coffee. Contact us at info@jnpcoffee.com.