Fairtrade Projects
Fairtrade Projects Coffex Supports
Cooperative Cafe Timor (CCT)
Cooperative Café Timor (CCT) is a cooperative organisation of the organic coffee farmers of East Timor. CCT was founded in early 2000 with business registration processes completed by December 18 2000. There are currently some 19,000-farmer members. East Timorese farmers founded CCT to fill the void in cooperatives left after gaining independence from Indonesia in late 1999. The farmers established CCT to market, process, transport and export Timorese farmers annual coffee crop, with the additional fairtrade goals of paying the highest prices for cooperative members coffee, as well as providing health programs, shade trees and a rudimentary farm advisory service.
The Clinic Café Timor initiative, a development program within CCT funded by USAID and by CCT profits gained largely from fairtrade premiums, demonstrates the benefits to disadvantaged communities from fairtrade practices. Clinic Café Timor offers primary level health services to the coffee farmers and their families in the remote mountain coffee growing districts of East Timor. The program currently reaches 115,000 in rural and coastal Timor. Historically, these families have been poorly serviced or isolated from mainstream health services.
East Timor: Airacalau clinic & CCT branded sacks / CCT Aug 2003
“With the Fairtrade premium, the co-op has invested in a health care program that
handles more than 16,000 cases each month. Its facilities include 10 fixed clinics and 24
mobile clinics that provide free services to coffee farmers and their families.”
- Sam Filiaci advisor to CCT, East Timor
CSECANOR (Peru)
CSECANOR, or Central Servicios Cafeteleros del Nor Oriente, is located in Peru and services over 2000 members. The organisation was established to provide more direct participation in the world market and to achieve better prices for their coffee with the result being improved living standards for its members.
The cooperative accords women a very positive position in the organisation with twenty percent of membership being women. Furthermore women have been delegated leading on Peru's coffee boards.
Fairtrade profits have ensured that in each of the communities of the cooperative, there is a permanent medical post and a fully equipped first aid kit. This ensures that medical emergencies are dealt with quickly and safely.
Significantly, CSECANOR has dedicated a considerable amount of time to rebuilding and improving the roads in the regions, as they are not in good condition. Many tens of kilometers of roads have been developed to assist communities to keep in contact with one another and to offer producers easier transport routes to move their coffee to processing plants.
