We’re sponsoring a new educational project in Tanzania called Coffee Club, with the aim to improve the future for the kids in the regions we are buying coffee from, and increase the quality of the coffee in this region long term.
We will sponsor Coffee Club in one school, the school is in the area of the Shilanga CPU that we are buying from. The Sponsorship is a commitment from us to give $10,000.00 to establish a program and run it for three years (with Nordic Approach paying 5000 USD, and Ibero Tanzania matching our donation). We will also take a portion of what we make across the Tanzanian coffees and donate these earnings to this project.
Simply by purchasing Tanzanian coffees from us you will contribute to this project, and that is great! We also encourage any of you who are wanting to contribute more to please contact us.
Like many other countries in East Africa, Tanzania has been producing coffee for some time. Yet it has lacked the success and acknowledgement that its neighbours have received. The country is geographically expansive, with a number of coffee growing areas. It is also well known for its Robsta production in Bukoba. Traditionally the regions of production associated with quality have been in the North, Arusha and Moshi. This is also where the Tanzanian Coffee Board is based, and where the auction takes place every week during season.
However, it is the little known South that has captivated our hearts and pallets. The region of Mbeya has shown huge potential and must be one of the most under resourced coffee producing regions I have visited. In the four years we have been working there we have seen this change. Diversity in the cup and stability of the product have improved dramatically.
We see that this can be improved even further. We see the need for knowledge and pride to be instilled in the current farmers, and those that will come after them. For great coffees, it is essential that knowledge is shared and investment in the product is available.
Therefore we are sponsoring this programme called ‘Coffee Club’. It is a three year program that is running in schools that are located in coffee growing areas. We hope to put in place some good foundations for the production of coffee in the future, and the establishment of a strong group of farmers.
The premise of the program is that statistically a large majority of the children in these schools, whether they are aware of it or not, will fall back on producing coffee as their primary means of income. The objective is to engage young people in coffee production and to prepare them with the knowledge and skills required to make successful coffee producers in this region.
High school students will be offered the opportunity to be members in the Coffee Club. They need to get signed permission and participation from their parents. The programme requires them to have access to a small part of their families land. Each member student will be given 20 seedlings which the plant on their parents farm. They start out with these seedlings in the nursery at their school, where they will also receive guidance and education on how to nurture and look after the seedlings, as well as agronomy and basic accounts keeping training. We believe this has the potential to impact the farmers of the future.
We have been working on our selection from Tanzania since the inception of Nordic Approach. It was one of the countries in East Africa that Morten and his family spent time in when he was starting the company. He saw potential to establish partnerships in Tanzania, which at the time was not very accessible to the market. I won’t say it has been an easy or a speedy road to getting where we are today, but I will say we are starting to see results. And Tanzania is certainly a country ready to burst with potential when it comes to coffee. Read more about our work in Tanzania.
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