2022 highlights at our partner cooperatives
As we look back on 2022, we’re immensely grateful for the growth we experienced and the support we received throughout the year. In the second half of 2022 alone, we added three new team members, bringing the DLG crew a total of ten! Whether from a coffee producing family or simply coffee drinkers with a curiosity for this industry, we’re united by our commitment to generate opportunities for small-scale producers in Guatemala. This growth was made possible by a robust community of supporters who chose to contribute to our mission whether that meant buying a bag of coffee, visiting us in Guatemala for a Coffee Tour, donating during our end-of-year-appeal, or engaging and spreading the word about De La Gente on social media.
Here are some 2022 highlights at our partner cooperatives in case you missed them.
Ija’tz Cooperative leads University of Wisconsin Eau-Claire students in construction project
We kickstarted 2022 with a faculty-led trip from the University of Wisconsin Eau-Claire. Together in a 16-passenger van, university students and DLG staff made our way down the windy highway (and a couple backroads!) to the Mayan Kaqchikel and Tzutujil town of San Lucas Tolimán where we were hosted by Ija’tz Cooperative. Under their leadership, students were given the task of building a small warehouse at the cooperative’s wet mill, where coffee growers bring the ripened cherries to be processed. Completing the project in three days, the warehouse is now used for storing the cooperative’s depulper (the machinery that takes the outer skin, or pulp, off the coffee cherry). Before, the cooperative was using a wood base to support the machine, exposed to the elements and unable to withstand more than one harvest season. Now, they have a secure and sturdy warehouse built specifically for the depulper that will last many years.
La Familia Collective opens the first specialty coffee shop in San Miguel Escobar
In October, our partner cooperative, La Familia Collective, opened their very own specialty coffee shop in San Miguel Escobar, the first café of its kind in the community! While Guatemala is known for its high quality coffee, an overwhelming majority of those beans are exported and enjoyed in other countries. In 2020, coffee was one of the top five products exported from Guatemala, which is why it’s especially impressive and commendable that La Familia Collective has made it part of its mission to promote high quality coffee consumption and appreciation in the very region and among the very people where it’s produced and processed.
The Union of Small-Scale Producers inaugurate new facilities
We brought 2022 to a close with a ten hour drive out to the remote mountainous state of Huehuetenango to visit our partner cooperative, The Union of Small-Scale Producers (UPC). The cooperative welcomed the extended coffee-growing and commercializing community for a special event to celebrate the inauguration of additional facilities — a brand new conference room and an area for roasting coffee that they package, brand, and sell within Guatemala.
UPC is our largest partner cooperative with a well-developed business model, several full-time paid positions, and various international export contracts. We particularly support their work because of their nearly 170 cooperative members, more than half are women who are determined to make coffee production a vehicle for empowerment for themselves and their families.
