Six Rwandan coffee producer cooperatives feted on the International Day of Cooperatives 2012

Six coffee producer cooperatives who are clients of SNV, received awards at the celebrations of the International Day of Cooperatives on 8th July 2012 in Rwanda. The theme for this year was Cooperative Enterprises Build a Better World. The annual event is held on the first Saturday of July.

Nominations were drawn from a nationwide exercise in which each district selected three top-performing cooperatives to compete at provincial level. The five provinces then voted their representing cooperatives for the national awards. The selection criteria was based on good governance, best practices in accounting and bookkeeping, financial statements, adherence to regulations and procedures, profitability, job creation, and impact.

The event was organised by the Rwanda Cooperative Agency in collaboration with the National Confederation of Cooperatives.

Rwanda’s coffee sector contributes about 20% of the country’s exports. More than 400,000 smallholder farmers work in the sector. SNV has been supporting the development of the coffee value chain in Rwanda since 2006. Interventions include support to cooperatives and processors in developing viable businesses, as well as strengthening the enabling environment for the sector. SNV currently supports 30 cooperatives that own coffee washing stations throughout the country. In addition, SNV works in collaboration with the National Agricultural Exportation Development Board and the Rwanda Development Board, as well as with four local organisations. Other development partners in the coffee sector include IFAD, The Fair Trade Labelling Organization (FLO) and AgriProFocus (Netherlands). 

Clients of SNV in the coffee sectors were recipients of the Rwanda Cup of Excellence Awards in 2010 and 2011.

For more on SNV's work in Rwanda, please click here.

For more on SNV's work in the Agriculture sector, please click here.