The kismet meeting of Pacita Juan, President of the International Women’s Coffee Alliance (IWCA) in the Philippines, with then IWCA President Phyllis Johnson started the cause of IWCA Philippines “to get more women to access markets and to let women get the full value of their work in coffee.” Juan said, “It has been a good seven years.”

Chapter heads of IWCA

Another fateful meeting right after was with Princess Kumala Sug-Elardo, the chair of a women-led multipurpose cooperative in Panamao, Sulu. Then there was a gathering of several women leaders passionate about coffee—including café owners Lot Manalo-Tan and Reena Francisco, research professional Josephine Ramos, and coffee processor Christine Abellon—that united and formed the IWCA Philippines chapter.

As beautiful as the coffee process is—from sourcing beans to planting to harvesting to roasting—the IWCA story unfolded beautifully to reveal how a single coffee bean can bring women to work together towards one purpose. Women are at their best when they come together. As a team, like clockwork, exhibited their coffee expertise, the “Women in Coffee” (WIC) brand came into fruition. Imagine each woman as a color in an exquisite tapestry, weaving across one another, either supporting or taking the lead. What a vivid and creative picture it brings!

IWCA-Philippines founders

Juan recalled how each one beautifully wove in together: “We met Ross Alonso, a Robusta farmer from Batangas; Noemi Dado and her daughter Marielle, who wanted to plant coffee in Benguet; Imelda Ahalul-Dagus, who started Dennis Coffee Garden in Zamboanga; Gold Quetulio, who would take care of our membership campaign; and many others who signed up because they believed in our advocacy.”

Imelda Ahalul-Dagus

Every year since 2012, Sug-Elardo has promoted during the harvest season the “Pick Red” campaign in Sulu as Juan and Nicky Matti would do the same in Benguet. The years 2014 to 2016 saw the purchase and transport of jute sacks to the Cordilleras. The coffee beans, in all forms such as parchment, green or roasted, were also purchased for the WIC brand. The brands Sulu Royal Coffee of Sug-Elardo and the Commune of Ros Juan were also launched.

The best part was providing jobs for women and encouraging them to participate in the advocacy with their coffee skills and talents. To continue building the women and the coffee culture, IWCA partnered with other agencies and NGOs; ACDI/VOCA, ECHOsi Foundation, and the DA’s Gender and Development (GAD) Office. Together, IWCA and its partners developed trainings under the “Women in Coffee” banner.

IWCA traveled to Davao, Butuan City, Sagada, Sultan Kudarat, Ilocos Sur, Nueva Vizcaya, Cavite, Ifugao, and Kalinga to communicate coffee about, with and through women. There were quality coffee talks from all sectors, from women farmer groups to women cuppers to women tasters.

With the involvement of USAID’s Green Invest in 2018, IWCA has now gained momentum after a decade’s work. IWCA conducted studies for women in the coffee sector in the country and internationally through the International Institute for Environment and Development’s (IIED) commissioning to research and write case studies for journals. IWCA Philippines has grown and extended its reach with esteemed international partners such as the ASEAN Coffee Federation, who opened its conference and exhibition doors for IWCA in Cafe Asia in Singapore (March) and in the THAIFEX in Bankok (May).

Truly, the role that women and coffee continue to play together is this: “The mission is not just to upgrade the quality of coffee, but to use it to uplift the lives of the people in the community.”

written by Ann Kuy

The training took them to Cavite State University and different coffee farms, to learn about roasting and cupping under PCBI Executive Director Robert Francisco. The four-day session emphasized the key points for getting the best quality of coffee, including picking ripe.

Among them, four women have good stories to tell after just a year or so.

Nanda Pok, CAMBODIA

Nanda is a Kampot pepper farmer, a spice which coincidentally grows well with coffee. But after her training in 2016, she learned how to taste her own good coffee and spread the word among her colleagues. One of them took up the challenge. The result is a new, two-story coffee house in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, called Moon Coffee. We met the owner who said, “Nanda inspired me to put up a café for our Mondulkiri coffee, and so I did!”

Rinda Wulan, INDONESIA

Rinda is actually an architect who learned about the coffee business and shifted careers to help the farmers in Java. She was asked to go to Slow Food‘s Salone del Gusto Terra Madre in 2016 to showcase Ciwidey and Flores coffee. Now, she is a proud roaster of select coffees from Indonesia. This includes Kelana Coffee, which means adventure in Indonesian.

Soulinda Saysanavongphet, LAOS

After helping her sister in her catering and restaurant business, Soulinda started to think of her own ventures. She now has her own brand of Laos coffee called Soulinda Coffee.

Sirina Sisombat-Hervy, LAOS

Sirina came back to Vientiane after having lived in Paris for two years and found herself running her father’s coffee venture called Sinouk Café. She is now responsible for running gen cafés across Laos and developing different blends for their coffee capsules. She recently came back to Manila with good news―a Lao-Philippine blend in a special “women in coffee” capsule. She will engage the rest of the ASEAN origins, especially after winning Woman Entrepreneur of the Year at the ASEAN Business Awards last September.

There are more who improved their coffee-sorting skills and their choosing of the best quality, such as Francisca Indirsiani of Mamasa, Indonesia, who later started the IWCA Chapter in Indonesia. Thanks to USAID-ACTI, UPS Foundation and ECHOsi Foundation who are our partners in this endeavor to teach more women about coffee in the ASEAN space.

(article by Pacita Juan / photos by Liz Rañola)