Several women coffee farmers participated in the women’s trade delegation from Ethiopia to Norway in 2015. During the visit, a need for skills development in this group was identified, and PfC now has its own skills development programme for women in the coffee industry.
The women’s trade delegation from Ethiopia to Norway in October 2015 included six women coffee producers. They had separate meetings with the Norwegian coffee information office where the largest coffee importers in Norway were present and tasted their coffee. The feedback received confirmed that some of coffee producers had excellent coffee. However, a lack of expertise was revealed among the Ethiopian coffee farmers – including sufficient know-how about coffee testing, referred to as “cupping”.
In cooperation with the Norwegian coffee information office and CAWEE (Center for Accelerated Women’s Economic Empowerment) PfC has developed a programme to strengthen the expertise of the women coffee producers. In November 2016 a seminar was held for 24 women coffee producers in Ethiopia. Women’s Entrepreneurship Day Ethiopia 2016 will focus on women in coffee, and an expertise development programme will be implemented in 2017.
