Promoting Decent Work and Inclusion of Youth and Women on the Agenda of Brazil’s Coffee Exporting Segment

Since 2015, International Coffee Day has been celebrated on October 1. Created by the International Coffee Organization (ICO), the date aims to create a unique day of celebration for coffee lovers around the world and to raise awareness of the work of millions of coffee families and the main challenges in the global chain.

Each year, International Coffee Day focuses on a theme related to sustainability, and in 2023, the celebrations will focus on the social dimension. To this end, the ICO and the International Labor Organization (ILO) jointly launched the #CoffeePeople campaign, with the theme “Promoting the right to a safe and healthy working environment in the coffee supply chain”.

The ninth International Day of Coffee is an opportunity to promote sectoral actions to promote decent work in the coffee sector. In this context, the export segment’s commitment to environmental, social and governance issues, as embodied in the Cecafé Code of Ethics and Conduct, stands out.

Through the Code of Ethics and Conduct, member exporters extend the precepts of ethics and commitment to legal requirements in force in Brazil to their supply chain, including those related to occupational health and safety and respect for human rights.

In addition, the export segment, represented by Cecafé, develops and supports social responsibility actions carried out in collaboration with various partners.

With the aim of promoting decent work throughout the Brazilian coffee supply chain, Cecafé has been a member of the National Pact for the Eradication of Slave Labor Institute (InPACTO) since 2016, after participating in the Brazil Coffee Table Project, which resulted in the first Sectoral Pact for the Social Sustainability of Coffee.

Since 2021, Cecafé, together with InPACTO, has been the coordinator of the Collective Action Initiative “Social Well-Being in Coffee”, promoted by the Global Coffee Platform (GCP). The main lines of work for this action, which aims to reach 2,000 coffee farmers and 60 technical multipliers, include:

Communication strategy with suppliers: training field technicians in the “Nonviolent Communication” methodology to improve dialogue and enable social change, introducing a novel approach to promoting decent work in the farming regions.

Due diligence: training field technicians to identify, monitor, prevent and mitigate social risks on coffee farms, based on the social indicators in the GCP Coffee Sustainability Curriculum;

Living income: a study comparing different farm sizes and productivity levels associated with wellbeing income in the states of Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo;

Communication and training in good labor practices: production and dissemination of educational materials on the promotion of decent work and the main points of Brazilian labor legislation. The distance learning platform of the Cecafé “Informed Farmer” program is also a tool for training in good social practices;

Institutional engagement for the continuous improvement of working conditions: collective construction of a Sector Pact for the coffee sector, coordinated by InPACTO;

Construction of the InPACTO-Coffee Vulnerability Index: a community indicator, developed by InPACTO that identifies opportunities to improve social conditions in coffee-growing communities and outlines collective action plans to promote social welfare in coffee-growing regions; and

Water & Sanitation: o diagnose and develop actions to continuously improve the sanitary conditions and the potability of water on coffee farms.

In an era of mandatory due diligence in supply chains, Cecafé participates in actions aimed at adapting the national production sector to the new regulations and laws approved in the main destination markets for Brazilian coffee, in order to guarantee the protection of labor and human rights.

In the case of the German law on corporate due diligence in supply chains, Cecafé was part of the technical group that supported the project developed by the NGO Solidaridad, which aims to adapt a common complaint mechanism for the Brazilian coffee production chain, with a view to strengthening decent work in the countryside.

The promotion of actions to ensure the inclusion of women, with equality in the workplace, and young people, encouraging family succession in coffee growing, is also fundamental to ensure progress in the social responsibility of the Brazilian coffee chain. In this regard, Cecafé is one of the supporters of the “Semear” (Sow) and “Florescer” (Blossom) programs of the Neumann Foundation of Brazil, which have held regional meetings to promote the development of competencies and skills so that women and young people can achieve their maximum performance in all the activities in which they wish to engage.

Cecafé’s “Informed Producer” program, through its distance learning platform, is a valuable tool to support the digital inclusion of youth, women, coffee growers and rural workers, promoting the improvement of their professional skills in the age of the digital economy.

In addition, the sustainability course, offered in partnership with GCP, raises awareness of good practices related to a decent working environment, with health, safety, freedom, equity and adequate remuneration for a dignified life.

With all these actions and partnerships, Cecafé celebrates the ninth International Day of Coffee with the certainty that Brazilian coffee is at the forefront of sustainability in the global coffee sector and is a vector for human development in the regions where it is grown.

Marcos Matos
CECAFÉ CEO

Silvia Pizzol 
CECAFÉ Sustainability Manager