The ICO/CPPTF has established cooperation agreements with 3 regional coffee platforms to work at scale on the critical sector issues the CPPTF is addressing and to raise awareness and direct participation of producing countries. The platforms are: The InterAfrican Coffee Organization (IACO), Promecafé (MesoAmerica) and The ASEAN Coffee Federation (ACF), collectively representing 44 countries. Through these collaborations the platforms share information with their members for their approval and direct input into the design and implementation of activities. The platforms support the pilot activities of the technical workstreams by facilitating engagement between service-providers conducting assessments and the lead national coffee institutions of their members. In this way they ensure full understanding, acceptance and uptake of the methodologies and results, while supporting that the processes build upon and reflect national and regional realities and strategies.
Each platform is creating a Regional Knowledge Hub to store information on the results of the pilots, relevant policy issues and related work, to share with their members, as well as between the Regional Hubs and with the ICO facilitated Global Knowledge Hub. The focus is on creating a two-way communication channel for more information to reach producing countries through the regional platforms and for producing countries to communicate challenges, successful coping strategies and their needs to the regional and international level.
At the same time, the regional platforms help identify and build upon activities that their members are already doing to address these challenges. In this way, the sector can work at all 3 levels (with both public and private entities) to identify what are the challenges and solutions and what can be done and by whom at each of these 3 levels. In this way, the platforms help to facilitate that implementation builds on what is currently being done and fits within the approved strategies of the members to avoid duplication and/or that strategies do not fit the local reality and context. This 3-level approach, building on and complimenting existing activities, is particularly important since exporting countries do not have the means nor agency to individually address all the complex challenges the sector faces nor the ability to enact the systemic changes required at the sector level.
For these reasons, an enabling environment must be created that provides a supportive policy, investment and programming framework (from both governments and companies) that permits positive change from the farm level to the consumer. This enabling framework must consider local capacities and ability to invest in change, and in particular avoid that smallholders, who are often the most vulnerable actors (while providing valuable environmental and social services) are not marginalized in the process. The regional platforms can play a key role in dialoguing with public and private entities to ensure this framework reflects the needs and realities of their members.
The collaboration with the platforms allows for the flow of information and knowledge to work at the national, regional and international level, ensuring the active participation of their members, and building upon their efforts and strategies. The platforms also facilitate that implementation respects local contexts and realities, while creating the space for the 44 member countries to identify common challenges and common solutions and to collaborate with the ICO/CPPTF at the sector level to transition to a sustainable and resilient coffee sector internationally.