WCA – I
The Women’s Coffee Alliance - India (WCA-I) is the India chapter of the IWCA and was formed in July 2012, with the primary objective to sustain women’s productive participation in coffee farming, ensuring food and nutrition, and economic security at all levels -household, community and global.
The WCA-I was registered as a Charity Trust on 10th July 2012, by a small group of coffee enthusiasts, whose goal was to see women in India’s coffee world recognized for their immense contribution to the industry and to society.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Ms. Sunalini Menon
Ms. Renuka Gangadhar
Ms. Hamsini Appadurai
Ms. Radhika Uthappa
Ms. Urvashi Malhotra
Ms. Poornima Jairaj
Important Dates:
| Legal Structure | July 2012 |
| Signed LOU with IWCA | February 2013 |
Mission:
“Sustaining Women Coffee Farmers, including the Women Coffee Plantation Workers and their Families, by ensuring Food, Nutrition, Health and Economic Security at all levels – Household, Community and Global"
Vision:
“Empower Indian Coffee Women, including Women Coffee Plantation Workers and their Girl Children”.
Members:
Farmers:
Female: Ms. Radhika Uthappa, Ms. Divya Belliappa, Ms. Poornima Jairaj, Ms. Lekha Chandrashekar, Ms. Sumati Basavaraj, Ms. Ivy Mercian
Male: Mr. D M Purnesh, Mr. Suresh Jagannathan, Mr. Joseph Valentine Rosario
Barista:- Mr. Merlin Jebaraj
Exporter:- Ms. Hamsini Appadurai
Roaster:- Mr. D S Shravan Tejas
Others
Trainer:- Ms. Bhavana Parekh
Taster:- Ms. Dora Jain, Ms. Omana Chetan
Evaluator:- Ms. Sunalini Menon, Ms. Renuka Gangadhar
Counsellor:- Ms. Vandana Bijesh
Marketeer:-Ms. Chandini D Purnesh, Ms. Tapaswini D Purnesh, Ms. Sushmitha Shreedev, Mr. Hanuman Jain, Ms. Ujwala Ranade
Consumer:- Ms. Deepali Gupta, Ms. Amulya Jayadev, Ms. Priya Harikrishnan, Ms. Urvashi Malhotra, Ms. Teja Gadhoke
Strengths:
- Guided by well known (in India and abroad) name in coffee quality
- Board represents entire coffee value chain
- Directly associated with thousands of women working on coffee farms in traditional and non-traditional coffee growing areas
Office Bearers and Contact Information:
•Sunalini Menon - President
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•Hamsini Appadurai - Treasurer
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•Deepali Gupta - Secretary
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History:
Rural women form the most productive work force in the economy of a majority of the developing nations including India. Agriculture, the single largest production endeavour in India, contributing to 16% of the GDP, has a large participation by women. Agriculture sector employs 80% of all economically active women; they comprise 33% of the agricultural labour force and 48% of self-employed farmers. At another level, almost all women in rural India can be considered as ‘farmers’ in some sense, working as agricultural labourers, unpaid workers in the family farm enterprises or a combination of the two.
Women in agriculture are unequal to men farmers in many ways. They do not have access to markets and products. More importantly, they are not recognized as farmers because land ownership documents may not be in their name. In spite of having a law stipulating equal wages for equal work to men and women, invariably, women are paid less. Due to multiple roles that a woman has to perform within the family and the farm, her access to knowledge and information, is constrained and therefore, her opportunities get limited.
The plight of women in coffee cultivation is no different, especially in the coffee growing regions in the tribal belts of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka State. It is the women who nurture the coffee plants as they would nurture their own children, carrying out the innumerable tasks connected with coffee. While they carry out these tasks, comprising the sorting of the harvested ‘just ripes’ from the ‘over ripes’ and the ‘under ripes’, carrying the same to the processing unit and returning the processed coffee to the drying trays / patio, for stirring the coffee to ensure uniform drying, it is the men who own the land on which the coffee is grown and it is the men who receive the cash that comes in after the sale of the coffee beans. The women may or may not have the access to the cash. In most cases they do not. The tribal women coffee farmers also have the onerous tasks of ensuring that the family is kept together and the children are fed and sent to school.
In a country such as in India, where the majority of her cultivators are small and marginal farmers, it makes obvious sense to look upon improved and sustainable agriculture as a means of improving the standard of living of the masses. For the quality of lives of small and marginal farmers to improve, we need to make sure that they adopt sustainable cultivation practices and are able to get a fair price for their produce.
The India chapter of IWCA seeks to do exactly this – with women at the centre of the whole process of sustainable agriculture in coffee, playing a critical role in the coffee farms, in the processing units, in cupping and ensuring quality and in the sale of the coffee. Not only do they play a critical role, but they also get their due recognition in terms of access to the income generated from the coffee, and decision making within the household. The India chapter is striving to bring a transformation in the lives of women, who are at the bottom of the coffee value chain, by providing support – technical, emotional and financial, to women in every stage of the coffee chain – from sapling to cup.
The WCA-I is small and comprises 28 members and is growing with the addition of new members year on year. The members represent the different facets of the coffee value chain, comprising Coffee Growers, Exporters, Tasters, Coffee Evaluators and other Experts in the field of coffee. Our pledge is to enhance health, education and livelihood opportunities for the less privileged women in the coffee value chain.
This website will provide you with all details of the WCA-I.
Summary of events since the formation of the WCA-I in July 2012
To pursue our mission, we commenced our projects from 2013, starting with ‘Su Prana’ or ‘Health Camps’ being conducted in the non-traditional coffee growing region of Araku Valley in Andhra Pradesh and in the coffee growing region of Sakleshpur, in Karnataka State in 2016. Two follow-up health camps were also carried out in the Araku Valley, to ensure that the findings at the health camp were addressed. The funds for these camps at the Araku Valley were received from two of our own members, as we had no funds, when we started our journey. For the second health camp at Sakleshpur, the proceeds from our annual fund raising event “Coffee Santhe 2015” were utilised. Since 2015, we have continued holding “Su Prana” / “Health Camps” with the kind support of a donor from the coffee industry.
In 2014, to pursue further our existing projects of 2013 and to introduce new projects, we needed to raise funds for these activities. We decided to hold a coffee market or Coffee Santhe in Bangalore, which is the coffee capital in India. We held this Santhe on a weekend in December 2014, at a well known boulevard in Bangalore, which sees a lot of footfalls on a daily basis. We brought together various cafes, coffee roasters, coffee exporters, coffee accessory makers, coffee artists, coffee equipment manufacturers under an umbrella, to showcase coffee in all its forms and to educate the public of the city. We even encouraged new coffee products to be launched at the event. We held lectures and seminars on coffee, to educate the public on the various aspects of coffee around the world. The entry was free and footfalls were high! We were able to generate funds from the Santhe, besides receiving small donations to sponsor some of the events at the Santhe.
From 2015, at the Coffee Santhe, we have been holding the Women Stars Brewing Skills Championship, to provide an opportunity to the women baristii of the cafés in India to not only upgrade their skills, but also to provide them with a platform for recognition and for strengthening their confidence, determination, perseverance and enthusiasm for coffee and thus, empowering them.
Art competition for children is also being held successfully, year after year, attracting a large number of school children to participate in the painting and fancy dress competitions, with the theme on coffee and thus, spreading the message of coffee to the very young also.
Since 2014 to-date, we have been continuing to hold the Coffee Santhe or market at the end of every year, to not only generate funds for our projects, which have since increased, but also to disseminate the aroma and flavour of coffee far and wide and at the same time, to help the less privileged coffee women plantation workers and their girl children.
See you at our Next Coffee Santhe Soon!!