Coffee for Peace (CFP) and Malipayon Peace Hub (MPH), located in Purok Malipayon, Barangay Managa, Bansalan, Davao del Sur, serve as a community-based Learning Site supporting the Department of Agrarian Reform’s Value Chain Innovation for Sustainable Transformation in Agrarian Reform Communities (DAR-VISTA) Project. The Learning Site integrates coffee value-chain development, inclusive livelihoods, Indigenous community development, environmental stewardship, and peacebuilding through experiential learning and practical demonstrations. It provides farmers, agrarian reform beneficiaries, community enterprises, and development practitioners opportunities to explore sustainable coffee production, post-harvest processing, value addition, enterprise development, and market engagement. Situated within the ancestral domain of the Bagobo Tagabawa people, the Learning Site emphasizes respect for Indigenous knowledge, cultural identity, community participation, and responsible land stewardship. In partnership with PeaceBuilders Community, Inc. (PBCI), it connects agricultural innovation with trust-building, constructive conflict transformation, and inclusive economic opportunities, advancing resilient agrarian communities and sustainable rural development through coffee enterprise and collaborative learning.
MPH: A Community-Based Learning Site
Malipayon Peace Hub (MPH), located in Purok Malipayon, Barangay Managa, Bansalan, Davao del Sur, is growing its reputation as a community-based Learning Site, supporting various programs of government and non-government organizations. MPH currently supports the objectives of the Department of Agrarian Reform’s Value Chain Innovation for Sustainable Transformation in Agrarian Reform Communities (DAR VISTA) Project.
The Learning Site integrates practical coffee value-chain development with inclusive enterprise development, environmental stewardship, Indigenous Peoples’ participation, and peacebuilding. It provides an experiential learning environment where farmers, agrarian reform beneficiaries, community enterprises, and development practitioners can explore approaches to strengthening rural livelihoods and building sustainable, community-based coffee enterprises.
Coffee for Peace, a social enterprise based at MPH, brings together coffee production, processing, roasting, product development, and market engagement with a commitment to building relationships across cultural, economic, and social differences. Malipayon Peace Hub provides the facilities and community environment that support learning, demonstration, dialogue, and collaboration.
Together, Coffee for Peace and Malipayon Peace Hub connect technical agricultural learning with the social relationships and community capacities essential to sustainable development.
Learning and Demonstration Areas
1. Coffee Value-Chain Development: From Crop to Cup
The Learning Site provides opportunities for experiential learning across the coffee value chain, including farm production, post-harvest handling, processing, drying, storage, roasting, quality improvement, product development, and market engagement.
Participants explore how decisions at each stage influence coffee quality, production costs, market value, and the livelihoods of smallholder farmers.
2. Post-Harvest Processing and Coffee Quality
Through the Post-Harvest Processing House, Drying Shed, and related facilities at Malipayon Peace Hub, participants can engage with practical approaches to coffee processing, proper drying, storage, and quality management.
The learning process emphasizes the importance of appropriate technology, consistent standards, and locally adaptable practices in improving the market readiness of smallholder-produced coffee.
3. Coffee Roasting, Enterprise Development, and Market Linkages
The Coffee Learning House and Roastery and Storage provide an environment for learning about coffee roasting, product development, branding, costing, packaging, and market engagement.
Participants examine how farmer organizations and community enterprises can capture greater value from coffee rather than depending exclusively on the sale of raw agricultural products.
4. Inclusive and Community-Based Enterprise
Coffee for Peace promotes approaches to enterprise development that recognize farmers as active economic participants and community partners.
Learning activities address enterprise planning, collaboration, organizational development, responsible business practices, and relationships among producers, processors, buyers, and other stakeholders.
The goal is to strengthen the capacity of communities to develop viable enterprises while promoting fair participation in the benefits of the coffee value chain.
5. Indigenous Peoples, Culture, and Environmental Stewardship
Situated within the ancestral domain of the Bagobo Tagabawa people, Malipayon Peace Hub provides a context for exploring the relationships among Indigenous knowledge, community identity, land stewardship, and sustainable livelihoods.
The Learning Site recognizes the importance of respecting Indigenous institutions, customary practices, community decision-making, and applicable Indigenous Peoples’ rights safeguards.
Environmental learning also emphasizes soil and water conservation, biodiversity, climate resilience, and responsible land use as essential foundations of sustainable coffee production.
6. Peacebuilding and Conflict Transformation
In partnership with PeaceBuilders Community, Inc. (PBCI), Coffee for Peace integrates peacebuilding into its approach to coffee enterprise development. It recognizes that sustainable livelihoods depend not only on technical knowledge and market access but also on trust, cooperation, mutual respect, and the capacity to transform conflicts constructively.
Through experiential learning and facilitated dialogue, participants explore how economic cooperation can create opportunities for relationships across cultural, social, and economic differences.
Peacebuilding is therefore integrated into the learning process as a practical dimension of inclusive and sustainable community development.
7. Women’s Leadership and Youth Participation
The Learning Site encourages meaningful participation by women, young people, Indigenous farmers, and other community stakeholders in agricultural production, enterprise management, technical learning, and leadership.
It supports intergenerational knowledge exchange and the development of opportunities that enable rural communities to strengthen their economic and social capacities.
Contribution to DAR VISTA
As a Learning Site, Coffee for Peace and Malipayon Peace Hub contribute to the broader objectives of the DAR VISTA Project by supporting practical knowledge exchange, farmer capacity development, value addition, inclusive enterprise development, and environmentally responsible agricultural practices.
The Learning Site offers opportunities for agrarian reform beneficiaries and participating communities to examine approaches that may be adapted to their own agricultural, economic, cultural, and ecological contexts.
Its learning approach connects technical competence, viable livelihoods, community participation, and peacebuilding as mutually reinforcing dimensions of sustainable rural development.
Continuing Commitment
Coffee for Peace and Malipayon Peace Hub continue to develop a learning environment where coffee serves not only as an agricultural commodity but also as a platform for enterprise, relationships, community development, and peace.
Through practical demonstrations, experiential learning, dialogue, and knowledge exchange, the Learning Site contributes to the pursuit of more inclusive, resilient, and sustainable agrarian communities.
From crop to cup, from enterprise to community, and from relationships to peace: Coffee for Peace and Malipayon Peace Hub bring coffee value-chain learning into the wider work of community transformation.
