Participation in the UUSC Coffee Project generates about $17,000 a year for the Small Farmer Fund, which supports projects that strengthen the rights of women, youth, and indigenous members in fair trade cooperatives.

UUSC makes grants from this fund to community-based organizations helping advance human rights. This year’s program partner, Porvenir Financiero, promotes economic justice among rural farmers and artisans throughout Central America.

With support from the Small Farmer Fund, the project enhances the participation of young adult, indigenous, and female members in training for financial management, business planning, and financial literacy.

Fair trade projects supported through the Small Farmer Fund work to counter the economic and political imbalances faced by small-scale producers. This fund, made possible by congregations and other groups that participate in the UUSC Coffee Project, is another way UUSC members and supporters are strengthening the human rights of small-scale producers in the Global South.


Women and fair trade

“Fair trade has been important for women in Nicaragua. It has allowed us to have an effect on politics and in our own organizations. It has allowed us to take power in an area that has been traditionally controlled by men. Coffee farming forms the principal economy of our country, but until recently women did not enter it. Now women form a significant portion of coffee producers: 36 percent. We are found within the management structure, we are in the administration, and this is very important. Fair trade allowed this to happen.”

~ Blanca Rosa Molina, Porvenir Financiero participant from PRODECOOP, Nicaragua