Sakami and This Side Up have been working together for the last 4 years in empowering women coffee farmers to achieve economic development through coffee trade. Led by Gloria, Sakami works mainly with women agri-entrepreneurs, young and old in Kenya. Currently Sakami has 7 farmer partners exporting high quality specialty grade coffee to Europe. Beyond trade, Sakami invests in community development in many ways such as facilitating learning experiences for farmers about market trends, technical know-hows accelerating their chance towards a higher income. Our partners are building their coffee businesses and network with great care and passion. And, the impact is evident in their community - more jobs, stable incomes, more children attend school, better living conditions for their employees. Sakami and her partners also champion different agro-ecological and regenerative projects in Kitale that also double up as opportunity to offer more jobs towards a better quality of life.
GLORIA GUMMERUS
“ Impact is the result of empowering farmers and supporting them in getting a steady income”
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Achievements so far: Women in the NORT group have received several capacity building workshops which has directly reflected in their approach to good quality. This season, Sakami started working with two new partners Sophie, Shantelle in exporting their coffees to Europe.
2023 update: Land has been purchased by these NORT women for building a central processing facility. Other than processing coffee, this facility can be used to process other agricultural produce like macadamia, avocadoes, maize and honey. This facility will also provide stable employment in the community through out the year.
What does the future holds: Constructing the dry mill, capacity building for these women farmers, improving market access and expanding production.
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Achievements so far : Gloria employs a lot of women workers and they have now formed an alliance to reap the benefits of becoming a collective. Monthly, they deposit a certain part of their earnings to build up to the fee needed to register themselves into an official SHG. This helps them access finances, resources that are needed to improve their livelihoods. Further farmers like Jane, Susan work with the same group of women employees every year to foster a healthy working relationship and offer them a stable income.
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Achievements so far : Last year for World Tree day, Sakami planted 3000 indigenous trees on the hill side and along the wetlands in November to replace eucalyptus. These trees create a buffer zone along the river front and strengths the soil.
What does the future hold : Working on more regreening projects that can provide opportunities that would benefit their community as well as create employment opportunities locally.
