About our Chapters:

Guatemala

 Established in 2008, the Guatemala chapter consists of 26 women.

Our mission is based in achieving women leadership and participation through voting in forums and groups of coffee producers as well as other parts of coffee production. We wish to contribute to the production and internal consumption of quality coffee because it is our belief that Guatemalans should drink the same quality they produce. The effort of women is equal to, or greater than, that of men’s, therefore it should be recognized. We also wish through our work in the Association, that we can create alliances that will increase our sales and improve coffee prices, which will enrich our lives and provide all women who produce it with more options. In the near future, we wish that Guatemala is enhanced by its women who are leaders in the production of quality coffee.

 

In 2009, one of the chapter’s goals is to create a minimum operative structure (with processes, systems and structures that includes roles of each person). Additionally, the chapter has a goal to hold three, quality training activities with international speakers. Topics will focus on characters and paradigms, as well as technical assistance including information about coffee, administration and personal value.

In 2009, the chapter is also dedicated to enrolling 50 farms and to publish at least 25 profiles on the web site. Further, the chapter aims to collaborate with the IWCA, participating in the World International Coffee Organization in February 2010.

 

For us, Guatemalan Women in Coffee and its alliance with IWCA is important because it is a natural associate that gathers women involved in the coffee industry internationally. With IWCA, we look forward to creating work alliances to improve the conditions of women working in any area in the coffee chain.

In IWCA we find wonderful women, committed and passionate about coffee. It is an alliance of women leaders who produce quality coffee with a great demand; a reason to differentiate our daily job activities. IWCA is not only an association that gathers women, but an association that helps other women.

 

For more information about the chapter and becoming a member, contact Lorena Calvo, lcalvo@intelnett.com

NEWS FROM OUR COSTA RICA CHAPTER

Canadians Will Drink Costa Rican Women's Coffee: Women in Coffee Alliance of Costa Rica will export for the first time

Ana Cristina Camacho Sandoval
(Translated from Spanish into English by Connie Gonzalez)
From: El Financiero, No. 622, June 25-July 1, 2007

Coffee has always been a part of Lydia Matamoros' life. For decades now, her family has harvested and sold this golden bean at the Monterrosa mill in Naranjo de Alajuela.

Tradition has led Silvia Hernandez and Elsa Sanchez from the La Candelilla mill in the Tarrazu region to live and breathe coffee.

All of these women have one thing in common: they decided to make their work in a traditionally all-male sector more visible by creating an organization in October 2005. This organization has helped them take the first steps toward exporting.

This July, one container (250 bags of 69 kilograms each) will be shipped off to Canada. There, Timonthy's Coffee will sell a blend of coffee from several of the country's producing regions in the local market.

The Ideal Blend

The business deal was done after a group of women roasters from the United States, Canada, Australia and El Salvador came to Costa Rica on a visit in February. They traveled throughout the country, hosted by the Women in Coffee Alliance of Costa Rica (WCACR or Alianza de Mujeres en Cafe de Costa Ricain Spanish). The WCACR is an organization made up of 30 women representing 17 coffee companies or organizations. (See "The Coffee Ladies".)

Nature's Best Coffee, one of the alliance members, made the sale. Nature's Best Coffee is an exporting company dedicated to commercializing quality coffee in Europe, Australia and North America. Since the coffees differed in their origin and quality, the price per quintal (approximately 100 pounds) ranged between $120 and $200. Assistant Manager Michelle Filloy said that Nature's Best was founded in 2006 to promote the WCACR members' different coffees as gourmet in order to get better prices.

Filloy thinks that the WCACR is something positive, not only because of the importance women play in the sector, but also for the social impact it has. Next year, it is possible that Timothy's Coffee will buy more. This is one of the benefits that the WCACR has as an affiliate member of the International Women's Coffee Alliance, which is made up of producers, roasters, exporters and millers in the United States, Guatemala, Canada and Costa Rica. Grace Mena, owner of Deli-Cafe and President of the WCACR, represents the country in this international organization.

This network helps look for financing so that women working in the sector can receive training, participate in international events and make connections in a market that goes well beyond just Costa Rica.

'We can be an example in the IWCA, so that other countries get more involved in the initiative,' explained Andrea Cespedes, Executive Director of the WCACR. In fact, last May the IWCA made presentations to women in Japan, Canada, Africa and Europe.

The WCACR has participated in Sintercafe, the Specialty Coffee Association of America's Conference, the Roasters Guild's Cupping Pavilion and the Cup of Excellence. Members have been trained in marketing, milling and cupping. The WCACR signed an agreement with the Costa Rican Women's Institute, Instituto Nacional de la Mujeres, to conduct training seminars on domestic violence and entrepreneurship, as stated in a press release from that organization.