Preventing Child Labour in DR Congo
In this project, Agriterra is working on professionalising cooperative RAEK and improving the income of its members, i.e. improving the economic security of RAEK member coffee producers/households. This professionalisation consists of:
- Supporting RAEK members to have better access to training, supervision of activities, technical support, tools, and inputs: this implies better quality of coffee, better positioning on the specialty coffee market, and therefore better prices, all supported by sustainable and regenerative agricultural practices.
- Provide support to RAEK members to diversify their income through alternative income generation, with a focus on increasing women's participation;
- Strengthen RAEK's governance, staffing, and management/operational processes.
- This Side Up is the consortium leader but has no office in the DRC, so Agriterra represents their responsibilities in the field and is required to report to them.
WHAT:
Decreasing the risk of child labour in coffee chain by addressing two main identified challenges - poverty and economic insecurity of farmers, and poor education opportunities for children of coffee farmers, both through regenerative ecosystems approach.
WHERE:
Kabare, South Kivu province, Democratic Republic of the Congo
WHO:
Fonds Bestrijding Kinderarbeid (FBK) - Fund Against Child Labour (funder) of the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO), Regroupement des Agriculteurs et Eleveurs de Kabare (RAEK cooperative), This Side Up (project lead), Agriterra (technical assistance, consortium partner)
TIMELINE:
The project started in 2021.
The project entails the establishment of two micro coffee washing stations and an expansion of drying tables and collection points for RAEK. This will be complemented by the technical capacity building of RAEK in the fields of organic farming, agroforestry, extension services, and cupping. Additional capacity building and investments will be done in the accounting and cherry traceability systems of the cooperative, the updating of the bylaws, the member database, and the implementation of the second payment system. The consortium will hence support smallholder farmers in the creation of alternative revenue streams, with activities related to intercropping and the establishment of village savings and loan groups (VSLA, or AVEC in French).
The project hence aims to improve local education for children, for which separate funding will be mobilized, probably for the construction of new schools, improvement of existing schools, and improving the education itself.
Read more about the project on: https://thissideup.coffee/preventing-child-labour-in-congo
