WOMEN IN AGRICULTURE
Root Capital
Showcase by Adam Finch
ROOT CAPITAL
‘10 years ago Root Capital launched the Women in Agriculture Initiative to expand access to finance and technical assistance to more women-led and gender inclusive businesses.’
RWANDA
JACQUELINE
“In the past, a woman was to look after children, cook and go to work for coffee in the field. A woman was fully dependent on her husband in everything. She did not have anyway to have her own money. Without money, life becomes no easier. It requires investment, there’s nothing you can do without money.”
Jacqueline | President of Hingakawa Association
VENERANDA
“I was the only girl among many boys at home, so my mum told me to drop out from school and help her raise my siblings. I started getting money from coffee slowly and once the factory came, I joined the cooperative and things started falling into place.”
Veneranda | Team Leader at Maraba Coffee
A COOPERATIVE
“We used to grind and hang our coffee by ourselves and deliver them to the local market. Later the cooperative was founded in 1999. They buy women’s coffee harvest at a good price in a cooperative.”
Veneranda | Team Leader at Maraba Coffee
AGRONOMY
“Root Capital has helped us to become professional farmers. They gave us agronomists, to train us in different things including working for coffee and making our own compost fertiliser. Moreover, with the knowledge and money they granted us, it helped us to expand our coffee fields. A women in a coffee field is now very valuable, she is like an engine to many others.”
Jacqueline | President of Hingakawa Association
GUATEMALA
HILDA
“For us, the support of Root Capital is very important. We have the pre-harvest loan that helps farmers to start cutting and trimming their first coffee beans. This gives them a way to pay their people, so they can start their harvest again.”
Hilda | President of the Gender Commission at Asobagri Cooperative
A NEW SYSTEM
“At the end of the month we have meetings with the directors of the board of Asobagri, their legal representatives and the gender commission. Where women have a voice and vote and we can discuss how our members can be helped in the communities.”
Hilda | President of the Gender Commission at Asobagri Cooperative
“Dueñas Café is what represents us as women. We own our own product. The coffee we sell by the pound has a better price, nationally and internationally.”
“These funds serve as support when one of our female members needs to go to a health clinic for a health screening or due to a health condition, pregnancy and also for breast feeding support.”
Hilda | President of the Gender Commission at Asobagri Cooperative
PERSONAL NOTE
“I have to say on a personal note, that what Root Capital is doing is really impressive to me, and is really inspiring to me, because they have been able to combine services that are really serving the needs of the community by bringing them to the table. By really listening and working with them to find the solutions that they need.
And of course, the solutions that they need are not only about training, or about gaining skills, or about becoming better at what they do, it’s definitely about having the means, the financial means to make their dreams come true.”
Leo | Director of Women in Agriculture Initiative
“It’s the spirit of breaking barriers, of becoming better, of being more efficient, of being more effective, that really brings Root Capital to the table with answers, with partnerships, with mentorship, but more than anything, with a true belief that this can be done. The systems can be changed. That we can design for inclusion.”
Leo | Director of Women in Agriculture Initiative
A LEGACY
“Mostly, older people think they are left with a few days on earth, but we tell them to leave a legacy. We create a culture of saving money among them and whomever cannot afford to save, we support her to find a way that she can get money. So that at the time of sharing money with one another, they may all share happiness together. We want to see women coffee farmers as an example to many others. For others to shine.”
Jacqueline | President of Hingakawa Association
554K FARMERS REACHED SINCE 2012
BEHIND THE SCENES
FCDO
FOR UKRAINE
Working with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office to document the UK Government’s humanitarian response for Ukrainian refugees.
Zoological Society of London
THE JUNGLE
Working with the Zoological Society of London to tackle poaching pressure, combat wildlife crime and protect the world’s most endangered apes in Cameroon.