CQI’s Partnership for Gender Equity launches Equal Origins

In celebration of its third year, Coffee Quality Institute’s Partnership for Gender Equity (PGE) is launching Equal Origins, an industry-wide initiative that seeks 100 sponsors, from individuals to large businesses. Each sponsor will contribute US$1000, giving each of them an equal voice in a shared commitment to equity and healthy supply chains. The first ten companies to commit to Equal Origins include Santa Cruz Coffee Roasters, Batdorf and Bronson, Salt Spring Coffee, Reunion Island Coffee, Blue Bottle, Dean’s Beans, Peace Coffee, Tate Coffee, Metad PlC, and Single Origin. “Equity, such a simple thing, is a generations-long struggle for hundreds of thousands in coffee,” says Charlie Habegger, coffee buyer for Blue Bottle Coffee. “While I resent constantly that initiatives such as Equal Origins are necessary in our world, they absolutely are. I participated in a PGE workshop for household-level change in Myanmar, and I think any rational person buying coffee would have seen the stability and profit potential this work can bring to communities when done well. Equity in supply chains should be the future we seek.” Thomas Haigh, head of coffee from UK’s Tate Coffee, says: “PGE’s research has been fundamental to our understanding of equality and sustainability in the coffee value chain. Contributing to Equal Origins has presented us the opportunity to be part of the wider conversation about gender equity and youth engagement in the coffee chain.” Supporters will have access to specialised quarterly issue briefs and the chance to participate in the design of new tools that will advance knowledge, awareness, and action on the issue.