In July 2016, Coopade created a Women’s Section with the objective of allowing women coffee farmers to control and develop their own coffee production through the whole chain from production through to export. As the women in DR Congo already do the largest proportion of the work the coffee farms, including harvest, this has meant focusing on the delivery of the coffee cherries to the washing station, and then managing the actual washing and drying of the parchment coffee. The Women’s Section have built a total of seven of the fifteen Coopade washing stations to date, of which Kirindera was one of the first. These washing stations are entirely managed by the Women’s Section. Their aims are to improve both coffee yields and coffee quality, and so to secure better livelihoods for their families. 2020 is the first year in which some of Coopade’s coffee produced by women has been kept separate from the rest of the cooperative’s production and marketed with its own identity. It is being produced and sold with pride – pride in its high quality and in the organisational efforts that have made it possible. It is being sold with a small premium that will boost the women’s incomes.
We have asked Zawadi Nziavake why the women of Kirindera chose to call their coffee Women’s Peace Coffee:

“Because of the atrocities that have been committed and which continue to be committed in Eastern DR Congo. It’s so that by growing coffee women can say no to what is happening – and in particular by employing young people we can provide them with an alternative so that they are no longer drawn to join the armed groups that are destabilizing Virunga National Park. We want to see peace for everyone living in DR Congo, and above all for those living on the borders of the Virunga National Park.”