Coffee Growers Benefit $10M from Bloomberg Philanthropies

Bloomberg Philanthropies announced a $10 million grant to the Relationship Coffee Institute. This announcement came at its US-Africa Business Forum that took place on September 21, 2016. According to the report by Daily Coffee News, the grant will help in the improvement of the lives of women coffee farmers in the DR Congo and Rwanda. This will be done through training and access to markets.

This is coming after a similar donation of $2 million had seen positive results. According to estimates by Bloomberg Philantropies, the additional grant will have a positive impact on the lives of about 20,000 female coffee farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Bloomberg Philantropies said in the announcement that “The funding from Bloomberg Philanthropies allowed Sustainable Harvest to scale its social enterprise model by working with government and local NGOs” and “As a result, Relationship Coffee Institute was able to reach a larger number of women, many of them widows with limited agronomical skills.” Sustainable Harvest, a green coffee importer, is the sister organisation to the Relationship Coffee Institute.

It should be noted that the relationship between Bloomberg Philanthropies with Relationship Coffee Institute and Sustainable Harvest started out in its Women for Women International initiative. It is now 8 years old and sought to use coffee as a practical and sustainable means to promote economic growth in the region. This is to be done by creating various opportunities for thousands of small coffee growers, many of whom are women.

According to the CEO of Bloomberg Philanthropies, Patricia E. Harris, “In Sub-Saharan Africa, agricultural production, tourism and construction are rapidly growing industries that are fueling economic development.” She said that “Bloomberg Philanthropies has helped ensure that more women are not only a vital part of this growth — but emerge as strong participants and beneficiaries”(Daily Coffee News).