“Supporting women is to support all nations”

Nova Coffee in Rwanda, founded and managed by the wonderful Agnes Mukamushinja, began as a family business in 2015. Since that time, they have grown in size, maturity and understanding for how to best empower the lives of all in the community. The business uses coffee agriculture to conduct building and social sustainability work, and have recently focused on restructuring their company to become more gender diverse. They have a strong commitment to gender equality, education and health for their community whilst also building houses for the poorer families in their society, constructing roads and wells, and providing micro-facilities for their farmer members. Their focus on social sustainability alongside their environmental awareness, is something that really caught Project Origin’s attention, and we believe is a great example for how coffee can be used to better the world we see through empowerment.

The team at Nova Coffee in Rwanda have been critiquing and restructuring their company to better empower the working lives of women in their community and now demonstrate how to incorporate multiple levels of sustainability into their extraordinary projects. They recognise that women and the upcoming youth are crucial in the development and further-ment of their society, and so upon reflection of their company, they restructured to become gender friendly, and hence more socially and environmentally sustainable, with their projects Nova IKAWA SAWA (Sustainable Arabica and Women in Agriculture) and NOVA Bright Starts Early Childcare Centre.

When asked about areas that they still aim to improve upon, the Nova team said they are “always thinking about the needs of our communities” and as a result, they initiated the childcare centre project. Every purchase made of Nova Coffee has allocated funds sent towards the construction and maintenance of an on-site childcare centre, to ensure that “every child is given a brilliant start in life.” This is a large project that will not only affect the growth of the children, but will also empower women and youth to progress in their society.

“Every season, we have more than 120 amazing young women as part of our team at the Coffee Wash Station. They are an integral part of Nova and we benefit hugely from having them as part of the Nova family, with their laughter, energy and passion for producing perfect coffee.

“But each season, we lose a quarter of these young women from the team because of childcare responsibilities.

“With little or no income, it is then almost impossible for these young mothers to keep their children in primary school. This means our young generations are not receiving the education that will lift them out of poverty. […] Knowing their children are being well cared for at a purpose-built, on-site facility means our women staff benefit from the social, mental and financial well being of staying in the workforce.”

The childcare centre is a long term project with the future in mind. For the immediate present, Nova has a strategy for that too. To help women and the uneducated youth in their community, they are building support and accessibility in the coffee agriculture sector as a means of sustainable work. By providing coffee seedlings, agricultural education, shade trees, improved washing station facilities, as well as opportunities for leadership growth, Nova are positively impacting the lives of many people.

Over a two year period, Nova supplied over 200,000 saplings to increase the size of the small lots for farmers of all backgrounds so they may achieve higher yields each harvest for greater payments. To also help with the increased incomes, Nova shares that around 700 farmers are now certified organic, and receive a higher proportionate payment for their cherries. For the women and youth in particular, Nova have conducted these additional steps

• 4 hectares of land was purchased and fertilised, and transferred to the Women Co-operative
• Provided support in conducting youth and women shows and campaigns
• Provided support to improve the savings and activities for 256 women and 17 youth in coffee
• Onsite training on land preparation for 280 women and 17 youth
• Provide ongoing support for farmers conducting training on climate change adaptations, resilience and weather changes to improve coffee farming

The focus taken on social growth through the coffee sector is matched by their focus on environmental health. Nova enables constant agricultural training for their members and encourages best practices to not only raise the qualities of the coffee their members are farming, but also to ensure their natural landscape and soil qualities remain healthy and abundant. They supply trees to plant and encourage the care for the local bees as beekeeping is seen as a key factor in analysis of the landscapes’ health.

The team at Nova don’t just think and look ahead. They also look back to reflect and learn. Nova shared with us that they have learned many lessons, and they use these lessons to further expand their progress. Some of these lessons through this initiative include:

• When given the change, women and youth are enthusiastic to learn about, and participate in, the coffee sector, including being enthusiastic about owning their own land
• When the project is fully supported by the members, women and youth have increased in confidence leading the project
• When women are supported, they can perform better than their male counterparts
• Youth members have the capacity to succeed in this project if they are provided appropriate attention and constant follow up on good agricultural practices including preparing composite organic fertilisers, and feel supported within the coffee value chain based on their responsibilities.

Project Origin is proud to have the opportunity to share the ongoing work of Nova coffee, and the aspirations of their founder Agnes Mukamushinja. The vision for their IKAWA SAWA Project is to “foster a prosperous local coffee community and connect with coffee lovers across cultures.” When extraordinary people can recognise the needs of their community and empower others to join in supporting them, incredible changes can be made to the world they see. And these immense changes of support and aspirations for sustainability are made through the world of coffee.

You can support the work of Agnes and the Nova team by purchasing their coffees.