Coffee for Peace (CFP) was chosen as the lead enterprise among other business enterprises in Davao Region to support skills and competitiveness training for their employees. This is part of the Asian Development Bank’s SkillsUpNet Philippines (ADB-SUNPh) program, an innovative skills-delivery scheme led by employers in select locations. Under SUNPh, grants ranging from PhP1 million to PhP4 million were awarded to five networks of enterprises in five priority sectors. CFP-led “Kapehan Sa Davao” (Coffee Gathering in Davao) is one of the five networks in the country who received such grants. The 10-month SUNPh Program will allow CFP and the other enterprises in the Kapehan Sa Davao Network to provide training to their employees on new coffee roasting and brewing techniques, as well as on customer service and marketing skills.
A vision being realized
We, at PBCI-CFP Inclusive Development Team, have been envisioning to gather a group of social entrepreneurial leaders in the Greater Davao Region who share our values in promoting justice, peace, and reconciliation. This vision is being realized right now through Kapehan Sa Davao — a network of ten agricultural social enterprises in the Region 11 of the Republic of the Philippines. As a network, we are committed to using our businesses to create positive social and environmental impact. We are also committed to providing the employees of these ten enterprises with the skills and training they need to succeed in the workplace.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on our businesses. We have seen a decline in sales, and we have had to lay off some of our employees. However, we are confident that with the help of the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) SkillsUpNet Philippines (SUNPh) program, we will be able to recover and grow our businesses. The SUNPh program is an innovative initiative that is designed to help businesses in the Philippines adapt to the changing economic landscape. By providing training to employees on new skills, the program can help businesses to improve their productivity and competitiveness.
Why “Kapehan Sa Davao”
Kapehan Sa Davao is a project that aims to sustainably scale and strengthen the Philippine coffee industry and the ecosystem primarily in the Davao Region. The project will achieve this by:
- Having quality specialists recognized by international certifications. The project will provide training and certification programs for coffee farmers, processors, and traders. This will help to ensure that Philippine coffee meets international quality standards.
- Capacitating the coffee farmers and employees of 10 coffee enterprises in the Davao Region in terms of production, post-production, marketing, branding, and business management. The project will provide training and technical assistance to coffee farmers and enterprises on how to improve their production, post-production, marketing, branding, and business management practices.
- Providing coffee enterprises with support services in such areas as legal assistance communications, communications support, intellectual property rights, business development, and appropriate technologies. The project will provide coffee enterprises with access to legal assistance, communications support, intellectual property rights, business development, and appropriate technologies.
The project is expected to achieve the following results:
- Increased productivity and quality of Philippine coffee. The project is expected to help coffee farmers and enterprises improve their production and post-production practices, which will lead to increased productivity and quality of Philippine coffee.
- Improved access to markets for Philippine coffee. The project is expected to help coffee farmers and enterprises improve their marketing and branding practices, which will lead to improved access to markets for Philippine coffee.
- Increased incomes for coffee farmers and enterprises. The project is expected to help coffee farmers and enterprises increase their incomes by improving their productivity, quality, and access to markets.
- Sustainable development of the Philippine coffee industry. The project is expected to help the Philippine coffee industry become more sustainable by addressing the challenges that it faces, such as low productivity, lack of access to quality inputs and services, and limited market access.
Advanced technical skills for farmerpreneurs
Kapehan Sa Davao was launched to support local entrepreneurs. The program offers a variety of services to help coffee farmerpreneurs grow their businesses, including business incubation and acceleration, marketing services, and consultancy.
Kapehan Sa Davao is a ten-month one-stop shop for entrepreneurs. We have access to the resources and expertise to help farmers take their business to the next level.
The program’s business incubation and acceleration services include business diagnostics, technical assistance, mentoring, learning lab, masterclasses, fundraising, access to investors, and a community of practitioners. The marketing services include strategic marketing, media exposure, content creation, online and offline engagement planning. The consultancy services include expert short-term services to companies, such as strategic planning, futures thinking, design thinking, etc.
A new source of excitement
We are excited to be a part of the SUNPh program. “We believe that the skills training that we will receive through the program,” said Bai Gemma Andot of Sondawa Coffee Farmers Association, “will help us improve our businesses and to create more jobs in our tribe and in the whole Davao Region.”
Alvin Baroro, the manager-in training at the Apo Brew’s Coffee Shop see the benefits of this program: “We will use the grant to train our employees on new coffee roasting and brewing techniques, as well as on customer service and marketing skills” he said. “We believe that this training will help us to improve our coffee products and to reach new customers.”
We are grateful to the ADB for this opportunity, and we look forward to using this grant to improve the skills of our employees and to make our businesses more successful.
We are also excited to be able to share our knowledge and skills with other businesses in the region. We believe that by working together, we can help to create a more prosperous and sustainable Davao Region.
