Way Way

The Women Producer coffee from CODECH is a special program, and has been one of the catalysts for our expanded Women Producers collaborations. Coffees in this lot are 100% from women-owned or -managed farms. The women growers are paid a premium to have their lots separated out for this specific offering, and the premiums are used in part by the women of CODECH to support health-initiative programs in the community. Half of the premium is collected for a women's health workshop in the municipality of Concepcion Huista, which has a high infant-mortality rate.

CODECH (Coordinator of Organizations for the Development of Concepcion Huista) is a second-tier organization located in the municipality of Concepcion Huista in the department of Huehuetenango in Guatemala. It comprises 10 different member organizations and has 476 members..

CODECH was founded in 1998, as representatives of the member organizations were in search of alternative development programs for the community in Concepcion Huista. One of CODECH’s main objectives is the participation of women in society and the workforce. Gregorio, the general manager of CODECH, is also pushing for farmers to renovate their farms. He believes they could be producing about three times their current volume on average.

The organization's organic certification is not only indicative of its commitment to being environmentally friendly, but also to be independent from transnationals which produce fertilizers. They are also want independence from the price of oil (used in fertilizers). Gregorio also believes that there is a growing market for organic products and wants to meet that demand.

Fair Trade and organic-certified coffees from Guatemala are moderately common, as many smallholder producers have organized themselves into democratically run cooperatives and have achieved certification in part to leverage the value of their coffee output. Guatemala's coffee sector sees participation from many groups of indigenous producers, who typically have a strong cultural connection with preserving and conserving the land and natural resources, making organic certification a relevant choice. As there have historically been legal obstacles to women owning their own farms and/or becoming card-holding cooperative members, some of the producing associations with which we work have begun separating out women growers' coffee to sell separately as part of our Women Coffee Producers program, which comes with a gender-equity premium paid directly to the women.