GLOBAL COFFEEPLATFORM

The GCP will participate of the 21st edition of the African Fines Coffees Association Conference & Exhibition (AFCA 2025), taking place in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, from February 26-28.

GCP presence at AFCA 2025 will include: Senior Manager Countries and Partnerships, Lauren Weiss; GCP Country Coordinator – Uganda, Samson Emong; and Program Manager – Kenya, George Watene.

Session: Implementing Living Prosperous Income Through Collaborative Action – 27 Feb – 11:15-12:15

GCP will participate in a high-level panel discussion focused on current efforts to ensure Living and Prosperous income for coffee farmers in Africa. Drawing from regional pilots and projects, the panel will discuss approaches to close the living income gap as well as the linkages between Living Income and compliance with market policies (in particular the CS3D) and, critically, look at ways to expand and scale-up these efforts to support the African and global coffee sector to implement a systematic, fact-based process to improve farmers’ incomes, working at the sub-national, national, regional and international/sector level. Alongside key partners including the ICO and COSA, GCP and the Uganda Coffee Platform (UCP) will share insights from our work to date on the Collective Action Initiative Youth for Coffee, as well as plans for scaling up the best practices as part of the GCP Collective Action Plan.

The panel consists of:

• Dr. Vanusia Noguiera – International Coffee Organization’s Executive Director
• Dr. Celestin Gatarayiha – InterAfrican Coffee Organization’s Director of Research and Development and Coordinator of the African Coffee Research Network
• Mr. Samson Emong – Manager of the Uganda Global Coffee Platform and CEO of Café Africa Uganda
• Ms. Suzanne Uittenbogaard – SUCAFINA’s Global Program Manager
• Mr. Joost Backer – New Foresight’s Lead of Sustainable Sourcing & Impact

Find all the conference details here: https://afca.coffee/conference/

Side event: Café Africa Breakfast – 27 February – 07:00-09:00
“Co-operation, Productivity, Sustainability, and Prosperity: Supporting the Next Generation of Coffee Farmers”

Meet members of the GCP team, including GCP Country Coordinator – Uganda, Samson Emong, Caroline Nabukwasi – Program Manager Cafe Africa, and Lauren Weiss, Senior Manager Countries and Partnerships at the exclusive Café Africa’s breakfast. The AFCA side event takes place 7.00 – 9.00 am on Thursday 27th February 2025, at the Four Points by Sheraton Hotel, corner of Azikiwe Street/Sokoine Drive, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Café Africa again will be showcasing the progress that can be made when all players in the coffee sector work towards a common goal: improving the lives of smallholder coffee farmers through increased harvests and better business skills.

Come and hear about the great work which young people, women and men are doing in improving coffee production in Tanzania, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.  Enjoy the chance to network with people who are passionate about African coffee.

Participation by invite only. For more information, please get in touch with Café Africa.

Session: Insights from the Field – 28 February – 14:30

Samson Emong – Manager of the Uganda Global Coffee Platform and CEO of Café Africa Uganda – will participate from this session, which aims to provide practical insights from experiences on EUDR. This is part of the broader 2-part session “Session: Empowering Collaboration for EUDR Compliance and Sustainability” from 11:15am-5pm organized by: Committee on Sustainability Assessment (COSA), Sustainable Agriculture for Forest Ecosystems (SAFE), European Forest Institute (EFI), and the International Coffee Organisation (ICO).