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Equal Exchange and Women's Coffee

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Equal Exchange and Women's Coffee Scotland and Fair Trade Case study: Equal Exchange and women’s coffee Equal Exchange is dedicated to the promotion of Fair Trade and organic production methods, ensuring a fair deal for farmers and the environment. Choosing Equal Exchange makes a big difference to small- holder farmers who are often victims of unjust economics. They aim to enable smallholder farmers to achieve a more sustainable way of life. They are an Edinburgh-based worker co-operative with a vision of creating a set of conditions in which producers of all kinds of products can earn a fair reward for their labour, in an environmentally sustainable, ecologically sensitive way. The origins of Equal Exchange date back to 1979 when three voluntary workers, recently returned to Scotland from Africa after working on aid projects, began buying instant coffee from Bukoba on Lake Victoria, Tanzania. Campaign Coffee Scotland was born. Collaboration between Campaign Coffee Scotland and GreenCity Wholefoods co-operative in Glasgow led to the establishment of Equal Exchange in 1989. In 1991, Equal Exchange, together with Oxfam, Traidcraft and Twin Trading, went on to launch Cafédirect, the UK’s first mainstream Fairtrade coffee brand. In 2008, Equal Exchange was nominated for Ethical Business of the Year at the Observer Ethical Awards and in 2012 it was awarded the Small Co-op, Big Achiever Award by Co-ops UK. Equal Exchange interacts with producer organisations all around the globe, and has been purchasing Fair Trade coffee from the Gumutindo Co- operative Coffee Enterprise Limited in Uganda since 2001. Equal Exchange producer organisation: Gumutindo Co-operative Coffee Enterprise Limited Gumutindo Co-operative consists of eleven primary co-operative societies and has a membership of 7000 farmers. The coffee farms of Gumutindo members are located in eastern Uganda on the lower slopes of Mount Elgon. Due to the nutrient rich volcanic soil, coffee has been grown on Mt Elgon for decades. Gumutindo, which means ‘excellent quality’ in the local Ligisu language, aims to ensure a reliable supply of high quality coffee whilst securing long term returns to farmers. Women at Gumutindo Uganda is a traditional, patriarchal society in which women are subservient to their husbands, even though many women traditionally run the farm and do much of the work. Equal Exchange uses the farmer’s own internal control systems (developed to assure consumers that each bag of coffee is grown organically and is Fairtrade) to also identify the women’s coffee. This special selection process ensures we get the best coffee and the women make their own spending decisions. Jennipher visited Scotland during Fairtrade Fortnight in 2011 and 2012. She is a member of the Nasufwa Growers Co-operative Society, which is one of the co-operatives affiliated to Gumutindo Co-op, and also sits on the Fairtrade Premium Committee. Jennipher’s coffee farm is approximately two acres in size and produces around 500kg of parchment coffee every year. Jennipher says, ‘As a woman, being involved with Fairtrade is very helpful. They transport the coffee by lorry so we don’t have to carry it on our backs. We understand the coffee business now and Fairtrade has taught us how to improve the quality of our coffee. It also helps women sell their coffee, we have a good market now. Fairtrade is also giving women freedom of speech. When we are paid we buy what we want and don’t have to ask our husbands and we know how to budget for our household needs.’ Jennipher Wattaka .
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