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4C

Association Annual Report 2007

Engaging the worlds coffee growers,

traders, processors, marketers and civil society
to continuously increase the sustainability
of coffee through responsible social,
economic and environmental stewardship

Common Code
for the Coffee
Community

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An idea
whose time
has come

Why have a common code for

the coffee community? And
why now?
Very simply, its time has come.
Today, 4C is not just necessary,
but inevitable. Social and market
changes, especially the
increasing awareness of what
consumers eat and drink in
terms of quality and sustainability, initially led to discussions within the coffee sector,
and eventually to the implementation of the 4C project.
The need for a common set of
standards that apply across all
geographies, cultures and
markets was clear, as was
transparency and a constructive cooperation between all
stakeholders, and these standards
are embedded in the working
principles of the 4C Association.

In the coffee sector, perhaps more

than in any other agriculturalbased commodity market, it is
the smallholders, often single
individuals, who in their tens
of thousands form the broad
base of the pyramid. They, and
other producers from cooperatives to bigger plantations,
need strong initiatives aimed at
improving their living conditions
to the point where growing
coffee is predictable -- and
profitable enough to prevent it
from being replaced by more
lucrative crops.
Founded in December 2006, the
Organization elected its first
Council and Executive Board
in April 2007. These governing
bodies, plus a highly motivated
4C Secretariat, enabled the
organization to become fully
operational in October 2007,
when the first 4C-compliant
coffee appeared on the market.
So has this, our first official year,
been a success? The answer
must be yes in the past year
4C has already doubled to
almost 80 members representing
the three branches of the 4C
community (producers, trade
& industry and civil society).
And our verification and
training procedures are in place
and functioning.

As for the future, it is now in

the hands of the 4C members
to meet the ambitious target of
50% of the total coffee market
to be 4C compliant by 2015
just seven short years from
now and to offer verification
and training in at least 15 more
countries.
We believe that not only can
these goals be met, they must
be met if we are ever to achieve
that simple two-word target.
Sustainable coffee.
Joaquim Libnio Ferreira Leite
President, 4C Executive Board
May 2008

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The Common Code for the

Coffee Community Association
known as the 4C Association -was set up to bring the worlds
coffee growers, traders, processors, marketers and civil society
together and promise to uphold
a code of conduct that would
lead to lasting social, economic,
and environmental sustainability for all members of the
coffee sector. To help our
members, as well as the com-

munity at large, understand

what we are all about, we have
identified these four aims and
beliefs:

Our vision
That by year 2015, at least fifty
percent of the worlds production of coffee will meet the
baseline sustainability criteria
of the Common Code for the
Coffee Community (4C).

4C

What we are

Our responsibility

Our mission

A global association that collectively engages producers,

trade, industry and civil society
for the economic, social and environmental stewardship of the
coffee sector to continuously increase the sustainability of coffee.

To provide a code of conduct,

rules of participation and
effective support, as well as a
transparent and participatory
governance to all members of
the Association to ensure that
the entire coffee sector continues
to be managed in an increasingly
sustainable way.

To be universally recognized as
the global baseline standard
that enhances economic, social
and environmental production
to all who make a living in the
coffee sector.

Whats it all about?

80
70

A year of solid growth

and still growing

60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Dec. 06

March 07

June 0 7

S ep t. 0 7

D ec. 0 7

4C has shown a steady and positive

growth pattern throughout its first
year, with total membership more
than doubling from 37 at the start of
2007 to 76 members in December.
Particularly gratifying is the fact
that this hundred-percent increase is
reflected right across the board.

Trade and Industry

Producers
Civil Society
Associate (organization)
Total

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4C originally came about through

the auspices of the German
Coffee Association (DKV) and
the Deutsche Gesellschaft fuer
Technische Zusammenarbeit
(GTZ) on behalf of the German
Federal Ministry for Economic
Cooperation and Development
(BMZ), and was aimed at coordinating more sustainable coffee
production. As a result, this
private-public partnership created
the "Common Code for the
Coffee Community", which
combined the coffee roastersand

tradersdesires to create a code of

conduct for their coffee purchases
and civil societys concerns for
the wellbeing of the coffee producers.
In 2004 the Code was presented
to members of the International
Coffee Organization, and soon
4C became a platform for dialogue for sustainability issues.
For the first time, competing
elements in the coffee business
-- producers, traders, marketers,
NGOs and trade unions --

found themselves discussing

common issues in a positive
and productive atmosphere.

A bold new idea

In 2005 4C welcomed the Swiss
government and the British
Development Cooperation, and
the European Coffee Federation
replaced the DKV as private
partner, reflecting better the
international role of 4C. But by
the end of 2006, public and
private funding was drying up,
so the 4C stakeholders proposed

So to encourage them to take

the first step, "pre-registration"
to be a founding member of
the Association was offered,
with the provision that they would
only become full members if all
constituent groups (producers,
trade and industry and civil society) also joined by a certain date.

A 37-member teleconference
With just one week to go
before the deadline, much to
everybodys relief, most of

coffee chain finally made it

happen on December 1st,
2006: the 4C Association
was formally founded and
officially registered at the
Chamber of Commerce in
Geneva, Switzerland, with
operating headquarters in
Bonn, Germany. From its
very first day, the Association
consisted of around 65% of the
potential worldwide demand
for green coffee and almost
50% of the coffee supply. Since
then a number of important

4C Association: How it happened

the concept of the 4C Association -- something tangible
that could stand on its own and
drive the means to increase sustainability in the entire coffee
sector. It was a bold step,
needing the support of pioneers
and visionaries who had the
courage to turn this idea into
practice.

We will if you will

Potential members began to
show interest, but had difficulty
committing beyond the "Well
join if youll join" threshold.

the founding members had

pre-registered. This led to the
"4C Commitment Call", a
unique conference call which
took place on November 17th,
2006, with 37 pre-registered
participants joined in a worldwide telephone hook-up, the
result of which was a complete
transformation in the way business is done in one of the most
special and fascinating commodity markets in the world.

4C Association is born
Those 37 founding members
from across the world and
along the entire length of the

civil society organizations have

also joined 4C, and the resulting tri-partite structure is set
to become the future basis for
4C and for sustainable
coffee production worldwide.

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Did you know?

Common Code for the Coffee Community Association in a nutshell
4C is an open membership association, representing coffee producers, coffee trade and industry
and civil society.
4C has been growing significantly; membership rose from
the founding 37 to 76 by the end
of 2007, representing around 50
percent of the potential coffee
supply and over 65 percent of
the demand.
4C is funded by membership
fees and public contributions.
Small-scale producers pay a onceonly entrance fee of seven fifty
euros. Trade and industry members pay up to 160,000 euros
annually, 30% to 70% of which
goes directly into support mechanisms for coffee producers.

The 4C Code of Conduct includes

baseline requirements for sustainability and the elimination of
worst practices. It provides guidance for and commitment to continuous improvements in coffee
production, processing and
trading and encourages growers
and other business partners to
improve standards.
4C addresses 90% of the coffee
producers with limited or no
access to the markets of certified
or specialty coffees. 4C provides
support, training and access to
tools and information that should
result in better quality, productivity and marketing conditions
for farmers in the mainstream
coffee sector.
4C aims at increasing coffee
producers net incomes through
cost reductions, quality improvements, increasing efficiency,
optimization of supply chain
functions and improved marketing
conditions.

4C verification is conducted at
the container level by independent
third parties. External verification
is important to both buyers and
suppliers, and focuses on the
improvement process. 4C verification checks the respective internal monitoring systems, combined with sampled field audits.
4C Support Services offer
access to tools, training and
information for producers to
support their efforts towards
attaining more sustainability.
These services build on a global
support network that is itself
based on local cooperation.
4C Rules of Participation impose
clear responsibilities on trade
and industry members who
cover the cost of verification
through the membership fees.
Additionally they contribute to
capacity building, training, workshops and educational efforts
with at least 30% of their annual
membership fees. 4Cs roasters
members commit to buy increasing amounts of 4C compliant
coffee over time, and to reporting
on these amounts.

4C is an initiative of the entire

coffee sector. More than 100
representatives of more than 25
countries have actively participated in the design of the concept,
including significantly more
producers than industry or trade
representatives.
4C Producer members come
from Colombia, Brazil, Uganda,
Kenya, Tanzania, Vietnam,
Indonesia, Guatemala, Ivory
Coast, Mexico, Ecuador and
Zambia. Through their participation they reflect the different
production systems (small producers, cooperatives and estates),
coffee types (Arabica and
Robusta) and interests.
4C Trade and Industry participants
include small, medium and large
trade houses, roasters and soluble
manufacturers, representing a
majority of mainstream coffee
consumption. 4C Civil Society
organizations are NGOs and
unions such as Pesticide Action
Network UK, and the Christian
Initiative Romero. Oxfam International, (represented by Oxfam
Novib, The Netherlands.) the
International Union of Food and
Agricultural Workers (IUF) and the
Rainforest Alliance.

4C cooperates closely with international organizations such as

the International Coffee Organization, the World Bank, ILO and
regional development banks.
Partnerships with these organizations enable 4C to offer its
tools and instruments across all
coffee regions.
4C facilitates a dynamic improvement process towards sustainability. This also assists producers
who so wish to access more
demanding standards such as
organic, Rainforest Alliance or
Utz Certified.
4C does not compete with other
standards. Its step-up approach,
the absence of an on-pack label,
its focus on membership instead
of product, and the improvement
potential for the entire sector
make clear that 4C is a complementary rather than competing
approach.

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The Spring of 2007,

following several
years of informal
discussions and
meetings in various places
between various representatives
of the coffee community, marked
a key moment in the evolution
of the 4C Association: on April
18 and 19, 2007, seventy-one
delegates and observers met in
London for its first General
Assembly.

Producers
To ensure that Council members representing producers
are balanced in terms of geography and different production
systems, the seven producers
seats were allocated as follows:
- South America/Brazil:
Conselho Nacional do Caf
(CNC)Brazil
- Andean Countries:
Federacin Nacional de
Cafeteros (FNC)

The official birth of this unique

association came when thirty-

- South Asia: an individual

from India
- South-East Asia:
Vietnamese Coffee and
Cocoa Association (VICOFA)

Civil Society
Five Council members representing labour, environmental,
social and economic aspects of
civil society were also selected:
- Labour rights: International
Union of Food and
Agricultural Workers (IUF)

The first General Assembly: starting o

seven members representing
producers, trade & industry,
civil society and governmental
organizations from the main
coffee producing and consuming
countries, made a democratic
and balanced decision to create
a Governing Council with a
mandate to foster new sustainability conditions for the entire
coffee sector, and to elect an
operational Executive Board.

Members agreed unanimously

on key issues such as their
mission, statutes and bylaws of
the 4C Association, a commitment to abide by all antitrust
regulations, and future collaboration with public partners
such as the Deutsche Gesellschaft
fr Technische Zusammenarbeit
GmbH (GTZ) on behalf of the
Federal Ministry of Economic
Cooperation and Development
(BMZ) and the Flanders
International Cooperation
Agency (FICA).

Setting up the
governing structure:
the Council

- Central and North

America/Caribbean:
Asociacin Nacional de
Caf (Anacaf) Guatemala

One of the most important

actions taken at the first General
Assembly was the election of a
17-members decision-making
governing council. Made up of
members fairly representing all
three branches of the coffee
community producers, trade
and industry and civil society
they will remain in office for
two years, when new elections
will be held at the next General
Assembly in 2009.

- Western/Central Africa: an
individual from the
Ivory Coast
- Eastern/Southern Africa:
Fairview Estate Ltd., Kenya

- Environment: Pesticide
Action Network UK
- Social interests: Oxfam
International, represented by
Oxfam/Novib, NL
- Human rights: Christliche
Initiative Romero, Germany
- Economic empowerment:
Rainforest Alliance.

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Trade and Industry

Five seats were allocated for
Council members who represent
different areas of the trade and
industry side of the coffee sector:
- Exporters: European
Coffee Federation,
The Netherlands
- Green Coffee Trade:
Volcafe International Ltd.,
Switzerland
- Roasters: Associao,
Brasileira da Industria de
Caf (ABIC), Brazil

To advise them the Council

created a Technical Committee
chaired by the Instituto Agronomico Campinas & EMBRAPA,
Brazil, and appointed Mr. Joppe
Vanhorick as chairman of the
Mediation Board, functioning
as an ombudsman.

Decision making:
The Executive Board
To aid efficient and timely
decision making, the Council
created a representational
Executive Board from their

- Vice-President, representing
Civil Society: Albrecht
Schwarzkopf of Christliche
Initiative Romero CIR,
Germany
- Treasurer, representing
Trade and Industry: Roel
Vaessen of the European
Coffee Federation (ECF)
- Chairman of the Technical
Committee:Bernardo van Raij
- Chairman of the Mediation
Board: Joppe Vanhorick
(Ombudsman)

g off on the right foot

- Soluble: Nestl,
Switzerland
- Retailers:
Coop, Switzerland

group, operational for a period

of three years. Consisting of
three members representing
the main interest areas of the
4C, plus representatives of the
Mediation Board and Technical Committee, the Executive
Board comprises:
- Board President,
representing the Producers:
Joaquim Leite of the
Conselho Nacional do Caf
(CNC) Brazil

Making it all work:

putting the 4C system into practice
The first General Assembly
also gave its approval for the
Operations Plan for 2007
and 2008. This included the
formal establishment of the
4C Secretariat in Bonn, planning future activities such as
verification and support services, and further development of 4C in several coffee
regions.

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The 4C Code of
Conduct and its
verification system are two
important pillars supporting
the baseline criteria that stimulate continuous improvement
towards sustainable coffee
production practices. They are
key in pursuing the path towards
higher efficiency and productivity
in order to secure adequate
social standards, protect natural resources in the coffee
growing regions, and enhance
organizational structures.

All members of the 4C

Association commit themselves
to these principles of sustainability, and they must agree to
eliminate these bad practices.

The 4C verification
system: the first results
The 4C verification system
was officially launched at the
beginning of the 2007/2008
coffee year, in October 2007.
By December the 4C Secretariat had registered thirty-two
4C Units in fifteen main pro-

The 4C Code of
Eliminating
unacceptable
practices
The Code of Conduct demands
the complete elimination of ten
unacceptable practices, and includes thirty baseline principles
that lead towards more social,
environmental and economic
sustainability through continuous
improvements over time.

ducing countries worldwide,

of which six had been successfully licensed, seven were in
the process, and nineteen
more verifications were being
prepared. Between them they
accounted for two producer
groups, four cooperatives and
27 exporters representing
around 30,000 individuals.
By the years end, 2,068,178
bags of green coffee, 3,446
business partners, and 78,240
hectares of coffee production
were within 4C criteria.

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Independent
verification
To be completely free of any
undue influence and to ensure
the long-term credibility of
the application of the Code of
Conduct, the 4C verification
system depends on external
inspection by independent
third-party verifiers. At the
same time, the 4C Association
covers the costs for the verification from its membership
fees, so that producers pay no
extra costs for verification.

Training Verifiers
The verification system was set
up by the Secretariat through
intensive training in different
regions and in several languages.
The first training sessions were
conducted in April 2007 in
Bonn, and by autumn others had
been successfully concluded in
Brazil, Vietnam, Guatemala and
Colombia. By the end of 2007,
a total of 23 different auditing
companies had been qualified to
participate in the verification
process in all of the main coffee

f Conduct and its verification

producing countries of South
and Central America, Asia, and
Africa. These companies are
required to meet several important
criteria including past experience
and involvement in coffee
certification as well as for
other standards.

Benchmarking
Cooperation between different
initiatives working in the coffee sector is crucial to meeting
4Cs objectives. Therefore, the
ISEAL Alliance and an expert
working group are working
with 4C to define a technical
benchmarking procedure with
a more demanding set of
standards against the 4C code
of conduct.

First verification results:

32 registered 4C units
15 main producing
countries
2,068,178 bags green
coffee verified
30,0000 individuals
3,446 business
partners
78,240 hectares of
coffee production

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Page 10

Because coffee is an
evergreen broad-leafed
shrub it contributes
positively to carbon
sequestration. It also
stabilises soils and
encourages the formation of stable social
communities. In fact
under almost all conditions of production
coffee makes a positive
contribution to the
environment.
ICO

During coffee year

2006/2007, the
market continued to
consolidate its
recovery from the
depressed levels
that prevailed in the
crisis that lasted
from 1999 to 2004.
ICO Annual Report 2006/2007

10

"Our producers and other business partners

applauded the 4Cs traffic light system as a guide to
step-by-step improvement in their operations. They
also appreciate the better communication, feedback
channels and improved flow of information with us.
I strongly believe that 4C as a baseline and guidance
for gradual improvements will change a lot in the
attitude of people involved in the coffee business."
Samuel Thuo Mungai
Coffee Management Services Limited
4C Verified Unit in Kenya

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Dress rehearsal for

verification
To ensure a high level of
credibility and practicality
the 4C verification system
was developed in cooperation with Pricewaterhouse
Coopers (PwC), together
with feedback from a number
of different stakeholders in
the coffee sector. The system
was first field-tested on
seven farms in Zambia in
September 2006.

Later, three potential 4C Units

were selected for pilot verification in the Central Highlands of Vietnam (with the
support of IPSARD, VICOFA,
and PwC, among others).
Finally in early 2007 a full
dress rehearsal for the 4C
verification system took
place in Brazil, where a real
scenario was simulated to
optimize the self assessment
document and verification
questionnaires. 4C, together
with several cooperatives
and two Brazilian verification bodies, carried out the
first verification test.
Inspections were done at

different levels of the 4C

Units structures and four
test verifications were completed. Producers were very
positive about the efficient
way that improvements
were revealed by the results
of the trial verification tests.

11

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The movement to adopt

sustainable coffee
practices across the
globe, though now
well and truly launched, has
still barely scratched the surface:
studies show that currently just
ten percent of the coffee global
market is covered by a social,
environmental, specialty or sustainable certification scheme.

Challenge
To put it mildly, the remaining
90 percent is still a something of
a challenge. But 4C plans to

The battle for

sustainability begins
In 2006 the first shot in the
battle for coffee sustainability
was fired when 4C, the
Federacin Nacional de
Cafeteros de Colombia, GTZ,
FICO and FICA all joined
forces to implement a project
in the Santander district of
Colombia. The project aimed
at analyzing the viability of
4Cs verification programme
and gauging the resulting
continuous improvement.

To achieve this a team of six

agronomy engineers and professionals was established to
support farmers activities.

to support further training, all of

which have contributed significantly to the success of the project.

Training is the key

Continuous
improvement

The projects activities were

structured on established 4C
criteria: training of trainers, 4C
Code matrix, socialization, soil
management, food security,
computer skills and quality
control. More than a hundred
farmers training programmes
on these subjects have been conducted, together with materials

Janeth Duarte Pico, from El

Pajonal, says, "What I found
very positive was that the 4C
process is a relatively easy way
to get started if the code had
been more complicated, people
would not have been so enthusiastic about starting the process
of continuous improvement."

The Santander Project a first step t

tackle that challenge head-on.
On the production side, the
Association aims to influence
the unconverted 90 per cent
through the adoption of a baseline standard, plus various
support mechanisms, to drive
continuous improvement in
quality and production methods.

360 farmers from six municipalities were integrated into

twenty-four groups of fifteen,
and an organizational structure
was established to train producers, improve infrastructure,
implement the 4C Code of
Conduct and increase quality
and income as well as food
security.

The Preamble of the

2007 Coffee Agreement
of ICO specifically
acknowledges the
contribution of a sustainable coffee sector to the
achievement of international development
goals, in particular
reducing poverty
ICO Annual Report 2006/2007

12

At the latest count, 125 Santander

farmers have gone through 4C
verification and started along the
road towards continuous improvement, and as a result they
are now finding certification
through the Rainforest Alliance
Certification much easier.

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Page 13

Domestic consumption
in exporting countries
is estimated at 31.3
million bags and consumption in importing
countries at 89.1
million bags
ICO Annual Review 2006/07

p towards global sustainability

13

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London
Switzerland

With the aim of enabling

coffee producers to increase
their social, environmental
and economic performance
through the application of
good agricultural and management practices, the 4C
Support Services are a core
element of the 4C system.
They demonstrate how a global
operating system such as 4C
can reach producers wherever in the world they are
and assist them in improving
their performance.

Catalyst
However, given the limited resources of 4C this can only be
feasible if we act as a catalyst
and multiplier. For this reason,
Support Services are particularly
crucial if the Association is to
succeed in its sustainable coffee
goals -- so in its first year 4C
concentrated on building solid
foundations for the Support
Services and establishing partnerships with well-known coffee,
extension and research institutions.

trained at these sessions. Additionally, local 4C partners also conducted training programmes in
Brazil, Colombia and Vietnam,
reaching a further hundred trainers and extensionists.

Partnering with international organizations

Another key to achieving early
success in preaching the sustainability gospel to farmers is to
build a strong network of support
organizations, research institutions
and 4C members. To this end, the

4C activities cover the main coffee producing and

consuming countries around the world.
4C Verifiers: Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica,
Ecuador, El Salvador, Germany, Guatemala,
Honduras, Indonesia, Kenya, Mexico, Nicaragua,
Peru, Switzerland, Tanzania and Vietnam.
4C Registered Units: Vietnam, Brazil, Colombia,
Kenya, Uganda, Papua New Guinea, Guatemala,
Mexico, Costa Rica, Indonesia, El Salvador,
Nicaragua, Honduras, Peru, Cote DIvoire.
Training activities: support services
Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, El Salvador,
Honduras, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Mexico and
Vietnam.

Costa Rica
Mexico
Guatemala

El Salvador

Honduras

Nicaragua
Colombia

Ecuador
Co
Peru

Dissemination activities:
In 2007 communication activities were aimed at
key players on five continents, in Ivory Coast,
Ethiopia, USA, London, Belgium, Ecuador,
Mexico, Japan, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras,
France, Germany, Uganda, and Colombia

Brazil

Support Services: hands-on help where i

In the late 1980s earnings by coffee producing countries were
some US$10-12
billion. Today coffee
producing countries
only receive around
US$5 billion.
ICO

14

The crucial first step:

training
Instructors and field staff were
trained to meet the increasing
demand for information about
how to use the 4C tools and
improvement options for producers and organizations, mills,
exporters and other parties involved in the coffee chain. Six
training sessions to instruct over
178 trainers and coordinators of
4C Units took place in Brazil,
Colombia, Guatemala, El
Salvador and Vietnam. Participants from Honduras, Ecuador,
Nicaragua and Mexico were also

last months of 2007 saw 4C

formalizing agreements to collaborate at various levels with
the International Trade Centre
(ITC) in Geneva, and the
Eastern Africa Fine Coffee
Association (EAFCA). For
2008 it is expected that, among
many others, the Centre
National de Recherche
Agronomique (CNRA) in Ivory
Coast, the Coffee Quality Institute
(CQI) and the Indonesian Coffee
and Cocoa Research Institute
(ICCRI) will formalize their
long collaboration with 4C.

Spreading the word

around the world
In order to disseminate the 4C
message as efficiently as possible, 4C launched an intense promotion to announce the formal
establishment of the Association.
Communication activities targeted exporters, governmental
representatives, producer organizations and industry and focused
on introducing 4C as a fullyfledged operation thats ready to
hit the ground running -- as
demonstrated by its balanced
membership, the Code of

Conduct and its verification process and, importantly, the effectiveness of its Support Services.
In 2007 communication activities
were aimed at key players on
five continents, in Ivory Coast,
Ethiopia, USA, United Kingdom,
Belgium, Ecuador, Mexico,
Japan, Guatemala, Nicaragua,
Honduras, Costa Rica, France,
Spain, The Netherlands,
Germany, Uganda, Vietnam,
Indonesia and Colombia.

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Page 15

Germany

Belgium

and
France

Japan

Ethiopia
Vietnam
Uganda
Kenya
Tanzania

Papua New
Guinea

Cote DIvoire
Indonesia

e it matters most
Constructive dialogue
These dissemination activities
also offered the opportunity of
opening constructive dialogues
between interested parties, and
added value to the further development of 4C.

The enthusiastic approach

developed during the sessions
helped bring participants to the
4C fold and become active in
its development by becoming
members.

Getting the word out:

2007, a busy year of
communication
February, West Africa: 4Cs
information dissemination activities started with the Worlds Wildest
Coffee Conference of the Eastern
African Fine Coffees Association
(EAFCA) where 4C Secretariat
presented the Association to members of the Board, who agreed to
strengthen the cooperation in 2008.
In Ivory Coast, during a consultation with the Inter-African Coffee
Association, 4C was seen as a good
way to improve the production processes and the mechanisms along
the supply chain, especially those of
a Robusta-growing country with
many small producers.
March, United States, Indonesia
and Vietnam: the Secretariat introduced the 4C Association to organizations such as the Inter-American
Development Bank (IADB), the
World Bank, the International
Finance Corporation (IFC), the
World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and
Conservation International (CI). In
Indonesia, 4C met with key stakeholders to discuss further cooperation, and in Vietnam 4C was invited

Through our development cooperation, we will be helping to fund the establishment of

support services. I would appeal to everyone, both to my colleagues from the public sector
and development agencies and also to industry, to actively support this exemplary initiative
with a positive impact on development
Karin Kortmann, Parlamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, Germany.

to introduce its concept to the

Coffee Outlook Conference participants in Hanoi.

and in Tegucigalpa a joint information workshop was held with GTZ

Honduras and IHCAFE.

May, Latin America and Europe:

4C Secretariat met with key stakeholders in Ecuador and Mexico
where export organizations and
producers decided to join the 4C
community and strengthen their
representation in the Association. In
Spain 4C was invited to participate
in a panel on sustainability at the
"Spanish Coffee Day" and to attend
the Annual Meeting of the Spanish
Coffee Trade Federation in Valencia.
In The Netherlands, the Douwe
Egberts Foundation and the Dutch
Third Chamber organized an information meeting on sustainable coffee
initiatives with 30 representatives
from overseas who provided an
excellent forum for discussion on 4C
and other sustainability schemes.

October, Paris: 4C was presented at

the Intertek annual corporate
responsibility event as a successful
example of a sector-wide approach
towards greater sustainability. 4C
was also presented at the conference
on sustainable trade in Berlin and at
the sustainability workshop of the
United Nations Environmental
Program (UNEP)

July, Japan: A workshop sponsored

by the Specialty Coffee Association
of Japan (SCAJ) served as a setting
to present 4C to a several key stakeholders.
August, Central America: 4C visited
a range of coffee stakeholders in
Guatemala, Nicaragua and
Honduras. In Guatemala meetings
were held with Anacafe, representatives of the Sustainable Agriculture
Network (SAN), Oxfam Intermon,
Fedecocagua and Landpastoral, a
Christian movement which assists
small coffee producers. In
Nicaragua, 4C was invited to join a
panel discussion at Ramacaf and a
booth at its international conference

November, Central America: 4C

again met different public and private stakeholders and members in
Nicaragua, Costa Rica and El
Salvador to share information as
well as practical recommendations
and experiences of 4C application.
December, Kampala: 4C was introduced to the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative Platforms coffee
working group session, where participants had the opportunity to visit
the first 4C-verified farm in Africa.
December, Colombia: 4C Secretariat joined an international delegation which visited the 4C project
in Santander (Colombia), which is
run jointly by the Federacin
Nacional de Cafeteros de Colombia,
Efico, the Efico Foundation, the
Flemish International Cooperation
Agency (FICA) and GTZ. 4C was
also introduced to several coffee
producers from other coffee areas
in Colombia.

15

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Decentralization: p

16

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4Cs plan has always been

to have significant local
presence in the global
coffee sector through a process
of decentralization. The goal of
this process is to link existing
organizations in producing countries and thus act as a catalyst to
increase ownership and commitment at the local level.

Two-phase approach
This objective is being achieved
using a two-phase approach. The
first phase is to locate staff from
the 4C Secretariat in main coffee

Local contacts
However, as a first step, 4C is
focused on identifying local
contact persons to act as entry
points for the mutual exchange
of information and coordination
of activities identified by 4C
during the first phase, with the
intent of evolving this network
into the 4C Forum.
Once established, a local contact
person will cooperate closely with
a coffee organization or institution
in their producing country.

As the activities and information

exchanges grow, this local
contact person will be encouraged to partner with other 4C
members and stakeholders to
discuss how sustainability-related
measures can be better addressed in their region.

Sharing experiences
and lessons
A priority will be to adapt all 4C
tools so as to bring the 4C Code
down to a local context. Activities
may include the organizations

: putting down local roots

regions (Brazil, Asia, Central
America, Andean countries
and East and West Africa). The
second phase is to create 4C
Forums which, in close cooperation with the 4C Secretariat,
will identify the most urgent
issues related to the 4C system
as they are applied in their
respective country or region,
as well as the results from the
4C verifications.

of information sessions, training activities, and meetings to

share practical experiences and
lessons learnt among the 4C
members and the Secretariat.

First East Africa,

then Latin America
and Asia
Early in 2008, in partnership with
the Eastern African Fine Coffee
Association (EAFCA), 4C began
its decentralization process in
Africa. The Secretariats Decentralization Manager will be based
at the EAFCA headquarters for
approximately six months to work
closely with the Eastern African
coffee network. The first steps of
this decentralization process
involve the facilitation and coordination of 4C activities to ensure
proper transfer of responsibilities
to local staff or contact persons,
plus the early establishment of a
4C Forum. Similar activities
are to take place in Latin
America in the second half of
2008, and Asia in 2009.

In the aftermath of the

2001 coffee crisis,
millions of families in
four continents who
are dependent on
coffee are going hungry.
They cant afford
schooling for their
children or pay for
medicines. The first to
suffer are women
and children. Some
farmers are turning to
growing coca instead.
Grounds for Change, Oxfam
Coffee Report,2002.

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Page 18

Income 2007 by Source (EUR)

Income 2007
Membership fees
gtz in-kind contributions:
27.5%

Trade & Industry

Producers
Support Contribution

Interest: 0.2%
Verifier Trainings: 1.7%
Public Funding: 1.1%

Kick-Off
Contributions: 19.0%

Support contributions:
14.3%

Membership fees: 36.2%

18

The first year of the Associations existence has been a

setup phase for the establishment of functional office
structures, the recruitment of
personnel and the elaboration
of operational procedures. In
financial terms this is reflected
in a high share of one-time
investments, not only for the
administrative setup, but also
e.g. in the design of a verification system. At the same time,
in the yearly aggregate, the operational and support expenditures have not yet reached their
full operational level.
For the first two years of its
existence, several founding
members provide an additional kick-off contribution to
the Association that is to
cover the initial investment
costs within the starting period of a consolidating membership base.
The 4C Association has received
non-monetary contributions
by the German Federal
Ministry for Economic Coo-

Support Trade & Industry

Support Civil Society
Support Associate Members
Kick-Off Contribution
Other Income
Public Funding
Verifier Trainings
Interest
Total Cash Income (4C budget)
Value of contribution through gtz
Total (4C budget + in-kind contribution)

peration and Development

(BMZ) and the Swiss State
Secretariat for Economic
Affairs (SECO), channeled
through the Gesellschaft fr
Technische Zusammenarbeit
(gtz), with a total value of
EUR 485,054 in 2007. This
contribution has predominantly been directed to the Associations support component
and the provision of office

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Page 19

EUR

% of total

644,125

35.8

573,260
70,866
283,975

15.8

267,512
3,200
13,263
335,000

18.6

52,447

2.9

20,000
28,925
3,522

on)

1,315,547

73.1

485,054

26.9

1,800,601

100.0

infrastructure and will be

continued over the next years.
In 2007, the 4C Associations
total income exceeds its expenditures by EUR 494,922, a good
portion of which is incorporated
into the 2008 budget to cover
continued setup costs in the light
of a lower kick-off contribution
and increased operational
expenditures.

Expenditures 2007

EUR

Administration Non-Recurring
Software
Hardware
Office Equipment
Legal Advice/Documents
Administration Recurring
Personnel
Running Office Expenses
Data Management & Hosting
Bank Charges
Accountancy
Tax Consulting
Other Expenses
Operational Component
Verification
Dissemination
Communication/Reporting/Printing
Travel
Cooperation with Experts/Consultancies
Translation
Meetings/Governance
Support Component
Contribution through 4C - budget
Value of contribution through gtz1
Subtotal (4C Budget)

110,995
41,849
27,421
20,780
20,944
248,309
188,958
15,607
7,248
3,641
9,610
10,320
12,925
396,881
162,870
17,421
59,046
31,194
22,051
16,076
88,223
549,493
64,439
485,054
820,625

Total expenditures

1,305,679

% of total
8.5

19.0

30.4

42.1

100.0

1) Contributed by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic
Affairs (SECO) This statement is preliminary as of Feb 2008

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List of members of the AC Association

Total number of members as of 2 May 2008: 81 - Founding members: 37
Producers
1 Adecoagro
Brazil
2 Busaanyi Farm
Uganda
3 Cafs Andes Amaznicos
Peru
4 Conselho Nacional do Caf
Brazil
5 Cooperativa Cuzcachapa
de R.L.
El Salvador
6 Cooperativa de
Cafeicultores e
Agropecuaristas
(COCAPEC)
Brazil
7 Cooperativa dos
Cafeicultores da Zona de
Trs Pontas (Cocatrel)
Brazil
8 Cooperativa Regional de
Cafeicultores de
Guaxup (Cooxup)
Brazil
9 Cooperativa Regional
dos Cafeicultores de So
Sebastio do Paraiso
Ltda. (COOPARAISO)
Brazil

20

10 Eakmat Limited
Company for Consulting
Investment in
Agriculture and Forestry
Development (Eakmat
CO., Ltd)
Vietnam
11Cooperativa dos
Cafeicultores do
Cerrado Ltda.
Brazil
12 Fairview Estate Limited
Kenya
13 Federacin de
Cooperativas Agrcolas
de Productores de Caf
de Guatemala
(Fedecocagua)
Guatemala
14 Federacin Nacional de
Cafeteros de Colombia
(FNC)
Colombia
15 Kagera Cooperative
Union Ltd.
Tanzania
16 La Esperanza Coffee Farm
Colombia
17 Mullege PLC
Ethiopia
18 Sociedad Cooperativa de
Cafetaleros de Ciudad
Barrios de R.L. (CAFE
CIBA)
El Salvador

19 SOPROCPCAM
Cameroon
20 Union Rgionale Victoire
(UIREVI)
Ivory Coast
21 Zambia Coffee Growers'
Association Zambia
Trade and Industry
22 Alois Dallmayr Kaffee
OHG (including Azul
Kaffee GmbH&Co.KG,
Heimbs Kaffee
GmbH&Co.KG)
Germany
23 Armajaro Trading
Limited
United Kingdom
24 Bernhard Rothfos
GmbH for and on behalf
of Neumann Kaffee
Gruppe
Germany
25 Complete Coffee
Limited
United Kingdom
26 Coex Coffee International
USA
27 Coop
Switzerland
28 Ecom Agroindustrial
Corp Ltd
Switzerland

29 EFICO S.A. Belgium

30 Expocert Caf S.A.
Costa Rica
31 Finlays
United Kingdom
32 Icona Caf
Spain
33 J. Th. Douqus Koffie
BV
The Netherlands
34 Kampala Domestic
Store Ltd.
Uganda
35 Koffiebranderij en
Theehandel "Drie
Mollen sinds 1818" B.V.
The Netherlands
36 Kraft Foods Global Inc.
USA
37 Lano - Comrcio de
Matrias primas
Portugal
38 Lfbergs Lila AB
Sweden
39 Melitta
Germany
40 Mercon Coffee Corp.
United States
41 Nestl SA
Switzerland

42 Olam International Ltd

Singapore
43 Sara Lee International
The Netherlands
44 Strauss Commodities AG
Switzerland
45 SUCAFINA SA
Switzerland
46 Tchibo GmbH
Germany
47 VOLCAFE Ltd.
Switzerland
Civil Society
48 Christliche Initiative
Romero e.V. (CIR)
Germany
49 IUF
Switzerland
50 OXFAM International,
represented by Oxfam
Novib
Netherlands
51 Pesticide Action Network
United Kingdom
52 Rainforest Alliance USA

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Individual Members

Associate Members

53 David Eugenio Cant

Cant Mexico
54 Dr. A. Damodaran
India
55 Ada Hartmann
Switzerland
56 Hein Jan van Hilten
South Africa
57 Patrick Leheup
Switzerland
58 Jeanne N'Goran
Ivory Coast
59 Simeon Onchere
Kenya

68 Asociacin Nacional de
Caf (Anacafe)
Guatemala
69 Associao Brasileira da
Industria de Caf
Brazil
70 Asociacin Mexicana de
la Cadena Productiva del
Caf A.C. (AMECAF)
Mexico
71 British Coffee
Association
United Kingdom
72 Caf Africa
Switzerland
73 Coalicin de Fuerzas
Productivas for and on
behalf of Constitucin y
Republica, Nuevo
Milenio A.C.
Mexico
74 European Coffee
Federation
The Netherlands
75 Federal German
Ministry for Economic
Cooperation and
Development (BMZ)
Germany
76 Flanders International
Cooperation Agency
(FICA)
Belgium
77 German Coffee
Association
Germany

60 Diego Pizano-Salazar
Colombia
61 Morten Scholer
Switzerland
62 Bernardo van Raij
Brazil
63 Sri Saroso
Indonesia
64 Albrecht Schwarzkopf
Germany
65 J.A.J.R. Vaessen
The Netherlands
66 Joppe Vanhorick
The Netherlands
67 Annemieke Wijn
Germany

Of the listed members, the following are founding members:

78 Millenium Management
Consultants (MMCA
FRICA)
Kenya
79 Norwegian Coffee
Association
Norway
80 Swiss Coffee Trade
Association
Switzerland
81 Vietnamese Coffee and
Cocoa Association
(VICOFA)
Vietnam

Asociacin Nacional de Caf (Anacafe), Associao Brasileira

da Industria de Caf, Bernhard Rothfos GmbH for and on
behalf of Neumann Kaffee Gruppe, Caf Africa, David Eugenio
Cant Cant, Christliche Initiative Romero CIR, Complete
Coffee Limited, Conselho Nacional do Caf, Coop, Cooperativa
Cuzcachapa de R.L., Cooperativa de Cafeicultores e
Agropecuaristas (COCAPEC), Ecom Agroindustrial Corp Ltd,
EFICO S.A., Federacin de Cooperativas Agrcolas de
Productores de Caf de Guatemala (Fedecocagua), Federacin
Nacional de Cafeteros de Colombia (FNC), Flanders
International Cooperation Agency (FICA), Hein Jan van Hilten,
Koffiebranderij en Theehandel "Drie Mollen sinds 1818" B.V.,
Kraft Foods Global Inc., Lfbergs Lila AB, Millenium
Management Consultants (MMCAFRICA), Nestl SA,
Norwegian Coffee Association, Olam International Limited,
Simeon Onchere, Pesticide Action Network UK, Diego PizanoSalazar, Bernardo van Raij, Sara Lee International, Sri Saroso,
Albrecht Schwarzkopf, Tchibo GmbH, J.A.J.R. Vaessen, Joppe
Vanhorick, Vietnamese Coffee and Cocoa Association (VICOFA), VOLCAFE International Ltd., Zambia Coffee Growers'
Association

21

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The development and success

of 4C as it stands today would
not have been possible without
the strong support and commitment from our major donors
and members who not only
have made this first year of the
4C Association possible, but
also the five years it took to
get this far.
The German Government,
through the Deutsche Gesellschaft fr Technische
Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) on
behalf of the German Federal

The Swiss State Secretariat for

Economic Affairs (SECO),
through GTZ, has provided
in-kind contributions to 4C for
many years to strengthen our
support services in producing
countries and to disseminate
the 4C concept through comprehensive communication
efforts. SECO has also donated funds to enable coffee producers to participate in the 4C
development phase, further
strengthening the voice of the
production sector in the stakeholder discussions.

the tools used for certification

and verification to be harmonized. FICA has also generously supported the 4C pilot
project in Santander,
Colombia.
To all of them, as well as the untold many around the world who
so generously supported us in a
hundred different ways, we simply say thank you -- we couldnt
have done it without you!

Thank you to our generous donors:

Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development
(BMZ) has provided unstinting
support for the whole development of the Association by
generously seconding GTZ
staff to help us, by strengthening 4C Support Services, and
by providing professional
consulting services for several
key areas of our development.

22

With the valuable support of

Flanders International
Cooperation Agency (FICA)
4C has been able to move forward to develop the benchmarking system which will
enable certified producers to
sell their coffee as 4C-verified,
thus helping producers to add
value to their coffee which
otherwise could not enter to
the certification markets. This
not only underlines the strength
of 4C as a baseline setter of
standards, but also supports
the collaboration with existing
certification schemes to enable

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Directory
(Executive Board, 4C Secretariat)
Executive Board

4C Secretariat

Joaquim Libnio Ferreira Leite

Conselho Nacional do Caf
(CNC)
Brazil
President

Andrea Brstle
Office Manager

J.A.J.R.Vaessen
European Coffee Federation
(ECF)
The Netherlands
Treasurer
Albrecht Schwarzkopf
Christliche Initiative Romero
CIR
Germany
Vice-president
Joppe Vanhorick
The Netherlands
Mediation Board
Bernardo van Raij
Brazil
Technical Committee

Annette Pensel
Manager Decentralization
Carsten Schmitz-Hoffmann
Director Support Services
Cao Thanh Van
Verification Manager
Catherine Vogel
Communications Manager
(Sept. 2007)
Lars Kahnert
Administration Manager

Written by Andrew White Creative

Communications, Geneva, Switzerland

Martin Meyer
Interim Director Operations
(from March 2008)

Designed by Johan Hedqvist, Geneva,

Switzerland

Marion Baak
Office Manager
Melanie Rutten,
Director Operations
Petra Heid
Support Manager (end 2007)
Zandra Martnez
Communications Manager

Photos credits:
Juan Carlos Reyes
pages 9 & 22: NESTLE
pages 3 & 11: Annette Pensel
page 10: Cooxup
page 16: Christian Nusch
Printed in France by naturaprint, on Aconda
Verd Silk using vegetable oil-based inks and
water-soluble varnishes.
Aconda Verd Silk is made from recycled postconsumer waste paper and wood fibre from
well-managed forests certified in accordance
with the rules of the Forest Stewardship
Council AC.

23

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Common Code for the

Coffee Community (4C)
Contact Address Secretariat:
Friedrich-Ebert-Allee 40
PO Box 120623
53113 Bonn, Germany
Telephone: +49-228-850 50-0
Fax: +49-228-850 50-20
E-mail: info@4c-coffeeassociation.org
www.4c-coffeeassociation.org

The Common Code for the

Coffee Community Association is
registered with the Register of
Commerce in Geneva,
CH-660-2928006-4.
C/o CR Gestion & Fiduciaire S.A.,
Route des Jeunes 9, 1227
Carouge-Geneva, Switzerland

4C