CFC/ICO – Certification and Verification Project

Certification & Verification

Introduction:

In 2009, the Eastern African Fine Coffees Association (EAFCA) partnered with the Common Fund for Commodities (CFC) and the International Coffee Organisation (ICO) in the execution of a 5-year project titled “Building Capacity in Coffee Certification and Verification for Specialty Coffee Farmers in EAFCA Countries”.

This project (Project no. CFC / ICO / 45) is to be implemented in EAFCA’s 9 member countries of Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Broad Objectives:

Build capacity within national coffee institutions to undertake training in sustainability practices.

• Building certification / verification training capacity through training of Trainer of Trainers (ToT)
• Register 25% increase in regional coffee exports that are certified / verified by end of the project
• Attain stable market access for farmers engaged in sustainable production

Implementation approach:

Two approaches were undertaken with regard to project implementation according to different countries:

• Trade route: Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda and Tanzania. This is tailored to engage service providers (with the collaboration of the respective EAFCA Chapter) in the training of farmers.
• Institutional Route: Rwanda, Burundi, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe. This approach entails training of farmers through the identified national coffee institutions.
• Sourcing of Service Vendors and Technical Appraisal/ Evaluation of Proposals.

Project Activities realized so far in the CFC Project (CFC /ICO/45):

• Project Launch : Mombasa, 13th February,2010
• Launch of Training of Master Trainers
•  Conference for Standard Owners (Utz Certified, Starbucks, FairTrade, 4c Association , Rain Forest Alliance, Organic) and National Coffee Institutions (from nine project countries)
• Project Inception Report done by DCDM.
• Beneficiary mapping and Signing of Memoranda of Understanding with national Coffee Institutions (NCI).