Geförderte Projekte

• Commodity: Macadamia nuts 

• Region: Kenya, Tharaka Nithi County 

• Target group: 2.000 smallholder farming families, 1 farmer association, 8 companies processing nuts and dried fruit  

• GIZ Funding: EUR 122.110 

• Partner Funding: EUR 120.790 

• Project Period: 01/2026 – 03/2027

• Implementing Parties:  
  Pakka AG (Pakka Products) is a Swiss based company specialized in the marketing of organic, Fairtrade-certified nuts, dried fruits and chocolate products. 
  Ten Senses Africa (TSA) Limited is active in the value chain of Kenyan and Tanzanian macadamia nuts. 
  Pakka Foundation enhances the living conditions of smallholder farmers, their communities and local processing companies through the promotion of sustainable practices in the nut and dried fruit sector. 

Project Description

A survey conducted by TSA indicated that only 15-40% of macadamia farming families in Mount Kenya region earn a monthly living income. Limited access to reliable corporate buyers and structured marketplaces constrains sales, while low productivity, driven by inadequate agricultural services, reduces yields. Weak farmer organization and persistent gender disparities worsen outcomes, as women and youth lack equal access to land, resources, services, decision-making power, and income control. What is lacking are good practices that motivate and capacitate small companies in the nut sector to systematically strengthen HRDD.  

The project addresses human rights risks in the macadamia nut sector around Mount Kenya region and beyond. It will ensure 2,000 farming families’ voices and needs are considered and addressed by the HRDD systems of Ten Senses Africa and other nut processing companies, and help 1,500 families, including women and youth, reduce their living income gap with services like access to climate-adapted macadamia and indigenous seedlings and training on good agricultural practices. It also aims to sensitize and capacitate 8 companies in the nut and dried fruit sector to introduce inclusive HRDD practices.  

Key activities include engaging local and international HRDD experts to accompany TSA in including farmers’ voice and participation in the ESG and HRDD process, running farmer risk identification and prioritization workshops to address living income, and conducting monthly risk mitigation tracking, while updating TSA ESG and HRDD documents following good practice, guided by local and strategic steering committees. An association-owned nursery will produce 50,000 climate-adapted macadamia and indigenous seedlings, and 2,000 farmers (50% women, 20% youth) will be trained on good agronomy practices. Moreover, farmers and women’s groups will receive insect traps and dehuskers. Knowledge sharing will continue through blogs, industry events in Kenya, webinars for Pakka supplier, and rapid HRDD assessments for Colombian partners. 

• Commodity: Palm Oil 

• Region: Malaysia, Sabah  

• Target group: Families across Sabah’s palm oil estates and surrounding communities (697 individuals)  

• GIZ Funding: EUR 123.000 

• Partner Funding: EUR 123.000 

• Project Period: 02/2026 – 04/2027 

• Implementing Parties:   
  Nestlé is a Swiss multinational food and beverage company operating globally across various product categories, including dairy, coffee, and confectionery. 
  The Centre for Child Rights and Business (The Centre) is an international nonprofit organization that works with businesses to improve the lives of children affected by their operations. 

Project Description

Sabah’s palm oil sector plays a critical role in sustaining rural, migrant, and smallholder livelihoods, contributing significantly to local and national economic development. At the same time, persistent poverty, documentation barriers, limited access to quality education and social services, and gaps in labour oversight can heighten vulnerabilities, including risks of child and forced labour and gender-specific exploitation. In lower-tier plantations and informal settings, weak traceability and limited awareness of rights further compound these challenges, while environmental pressures can strain household incomes and access to essential services, indirectly increasing risks for children.  

The project aims to expand the Child Rights Action Hub in Sabah as a multi-stakeholder platform that identifies, prevents, and remediates child labour while embedding OECD-aligned due diligence systems into supplier operations. It seeks to foster a scalable, gender-sensitive, and child rights-driven palm oil sector that delivers tangible benefits for children and contributes to long-term systemic change. The overall expected impact is a sustained reduction of child labour in Sabah’s palm oil supply chains, achieved through strengthened supplier alignment with HREDD standards and improved access to effective remedy and protection for vulnerable children.  

Producers and supply chain partners will be equipped with guidelines, tools, and awareness-raising, enabling the adoption of policies and practices that prevent children from entering hazardous work. Strengthening CSOs, CBOs, and worker groups will enhance early detection, reporting, and community-level monitoring. Moreover, supplier action plans and accountability mechanisms will systematically prevent and remediate cases, while direct remediation services will allow children to exit hazardous work and reduce families’ reliance on child labour, collectively lowering its incidence across supply chains. Lastly, multi-stakeholder dialogue and embedding systems into Nestlé’s supplier frameworks and national platforms will raise additional awareness.  

• Commodity: Cotton 

• Region: India, Khargone, Barwani and Dhule  

• Target group: 500 smallholder farmers  

• GIZ Funding: EUR 106.122 

• Partner Funding: EUR 36.400 

• Project Period: 02/2026 – 04/2027 

• Implementing Parties:  
  Remei AG is a Swiss company specializing in sustainable textile production.  
  Remei India Ltd, the operational arm of Remei AG in India, responsible for procurement, ginning, and ensuring quality standards and compliance across the supply chain.  
  bioRe Association, a grassroots NGO working directly with organic cotton farmers to build capacity, provide support services, and implement community development initiatives. 

Project Description

In organic cotton systems, farmer poverty remains a core issue, as overall incomes are still insufficient to ensure financial stability. This increases risks such as school dropouts and heightens vulnerability to climate and pest-related shocks. Environmentally, soil degradation persists even under organic systems due to lowering cattle size and unsustainable use of biomass. Gender disparities further limit progress, as women often lack equal access to resources and decision-making.  

The project aims to enable smallholder organic cotton farmers, especially women, to adopt safe, sustainable, and equitable biochar production and application practices that improve soil fertility, enhance climate resilience, and create access to carbon-based income streams, while preventing adverse social and environmental impacts through inclusive and responsible implementation.  

The project supports 500 organic cotton farmers, including 200 women, to transform cotton stalk residues into biochar, improving soil health and reducing waste. The project establishes five demonstration farms and 100 decentralized biochar units, enriching biochar with cow pat pit inputs and biofertilizers to enhance nutrient value. A gender-adapted small-scale prototype increases women’s access to climate-smart technology. Additionally, awareness on carbon credits will be raised and practical pathways for farmer participation in carbon markets will be explored.  

• Commodity: Hazelnut 

• Region: Türkiye, Black Sea region (Ordu, Giresun, Sakarya)  

• Target group: 4,500 seasonal women migrant workers  

• GIZ Funding: EUR 123.000 

• Partner Funding: EUR 137.000 

• Project Period: 02/2026 – 04/2027 

• Implementing Parties:  
  Nestlé is a Swiss multinational food and beverage company operating globally across various product categories, including dairy, coffee, and confectionery. 
  ofi Türkiye is a Turkish agricultural company specializing in the sourcing and processing of hazelnuts for international markets. 
  Sağlık Hakkı Derneği (Health Right Association) is a human rights organization with strong expertise in curriculum design, monitoring and health rights advocacy.  

Project Description

Seasonal women migrant workers in Türkiye´s hazelnut supply chain face unsafe and unhygienic living conditions, including overcrowded shelters without clean water, electricity, or sanitation. Limited access to healthcare leads to untreated illnesses such as anemia, diabetes, and vitamin deficiencies. Moreover, informal labour arrangements violate labour rights, while children’s education is disrupted due to migration. Women lack safe spaces for learning about family health, reproductive care, and menopause, compounding social and health vulnerabilities in these communities.  

Therefore, this project aims to create lasting change in Türkiye's hazelnut supply chain by equipping 4,500 seasonal women migrant workers with the health knowledge, self-advocacy skills, and grievance access needed to protect themselves, while establishing a sustainable and replicable model for seasonal migrant worker protection across other agricultural supply chains in Türkiye.  

By developing and adapting a health- and rights-focused training curriculum, the project delivers targeted health and rights training while promoting a combined Grievance Mechanism and Women’s Health Helpline. This empowers women with knowledge and tools to self-advocate and strengthens human rights due diligence across the supply chain. Hygiene kits and educational handbooks are distributed, and mobile health clinics operate during harvest season to provide direct care. All interventions are integrated into Ofi’s existing farmer and worker programs, ensuring sustainable, accessible, and long-term improvements in women’s health, safety, and well-being.  

• Commodity: Carnauba (Copernicia prunifera) 

• Region: Northeastern Brazil, in areas in and surrounding Piaui and Ceara 

• Target group: approx. 10.000 Carnauba field workers  

• GIZ Funding: EUR 123.000 

• Partner Funding: EUR 123.000 

• Project Period: 01/2026 – 04/2027 

• Implementing Parties:   
  L’Oréal is a leading multinational beauty company 
  Initiative for Responsible Carnauba (IRC) is a multi-stakeholder partnership that promotes responsible Carnauba wax supply chains in Brazil.  
  UEBT – Sourcing with Respect is an international non-profit that promotes sourcing with respect for people and biodiversity, with a focus on botanicals used in beauty, personal care, and other sectors. It also serves as a secretariat for the IRC.  

Project Description

Local processing companies, in collaboration with UEBT, IRC and other initiatives, have been improving working conditions in the carnauba supply chain, including through worker training, awareness raising, and strengthening company human rights due diligence. Priorities moving forth include strengthening grievance mechanisms, to improve awareness and uptake among workers. There is an opportunity for collaborative efforts towards an inclusive, culturally relevant, and rights centred grievance mechanism that empower producers to report and resolve violations.  

The project will develop and strengthen grievance mechanisms within supply chain structures, enhancing existing public channels and company systems so they are more accessible, trusted, and responsive to carnauba workers in remote areas. This will enable rights holders to raise concerns and seek remedies, as well as support corporate human rights due diligence and generate scalable sector-wide best practices. During the project period, sectoral grievance channels will be strengthened through assessments, recommendations, and targeted worker awareness campaigns. Company grievance mechanisms will be improved in at least two local processors via gap analyses, policy and standard operating procedure updates, and staff training.  

Worker-facing outreach will raise awareness among approx. 2,000 workers through public channels and 4,000 workers via company channels, ensuring that grievance mechanisms are accessible, trusted, and effective throughout the carnauba supply chain. Lessons will be shared across multiple companies.  

• Commodity: Cashew  

• Region: Nigeria, Enugu, Aku 

• Target group: 4.300 farmers  

• GIZ Funding: EUR 120.000  

• Partner Funding: EUR 40.000  

• Project Period: 02/2026 – 04/2027 

• Implementing Parties: 
  Fairfood Freiburg is a German based company specialized in nuts.  
  Cashew4U International Limited is one of the first processing cashew companies in Nigeria.  

Project Description

The cashew supply chain in Nigeria faces significant socio-sustainability challenges. Value creation largely occurs outside the country, reinforcing power imbalances and limiting fair remuneration for local producers. Human rights risks include unsafe working conditions and informal labour arrangements, while environmental concerns stem from monocultures and synthetic fertilizer use, contributing to soil degradation and long-term ecological vulnerability. 

The project aims to establish a fair, gender-responsive, transparent, and environmentally sustainable cashew supply chain in Nigeria by securing living incomes for farmers, strengthening local processing capacities, promoting organic farming, and ensuring full traceability to the European market. 

Key activities include establishing a transparent and fully traceable cashew supply chain using the INA Trace blockchain system. An organic-certified, EU-compliant processing facility in Aku will become operational, featuring a modern shelling plant run under standardized operating procedures and employing a workforce composed of 95% women. Moreover, farmers will transition to organic production supported by certification assistance, technical training, and pre-financing mechanisms that strengthen income stability. By systematically documenting and disseminating the integrated model, it will serve as a scalable best-practice approach for Nigeria and the wider West African region. 

• Commodity: Coffee  

• Region: Honduras, regional coverage; Peru, national coverage 

• Target group: at least 400 beneficiaries at risk of child labour until 07/2027 

• GIZ Funding: EUR 123.000 

• Partner Funding: EUR 123.000 

• Project Period: 02/2026 – 03/2027 

• Implementing Parties:   
  JDE Peet’s is a global pure play coffee company, operating in over 100 markets.
  Instituto Hondureño del Cafe (IHCAFE) is the national coffee institute of Honduras, responsible for promoting, regulating, and strengthening the country’s coffee sector.
  The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger. The goal is to achieve food security for all and make sure that people have regular access to enough high-quality food to lead active, healthy lives. 

Project Description

The supply chain of coffee faces multiple human rights risks, including persistent child labour. Limited support and lack of reliable data hinder compliance with due diligence obligations which are used primarily to build resilient supply chains and, secondarily, to reduce exposure to regulatory and reputational risks. This threatens market access for global trading companies and their subsidiaries, while also impacting small-scale producers at the lower tiers of the value chain.  

The project aims to integrate FAO’s DIGICHILD index, a GIS-based index estimating child labour risk in agrifood systems, in the coffee supply chain operations of JDE Peet's in Honduras and beyond, strengthening the company's due diligence compliance. Furthermore, the goal is to adapt DIGICHILD to Peru in order to upscale the national capacity to prevent child labour for due diligence purposes.  

The project will strengthen child labour risk prevention in coffee supply chains in Honduras and Peru. In Honduras, child labour risk estimation data for the coffee sector will be generated, tested, and endorsed, while JDE Peets will enhance their HREDD processes. Additionally, prevention and remediation measures will be fostered in key sourcing areas. In Peru, data collection and response systems will be reinforced through adaptation of DIGICHILD. To ensure broader impact, the knowledge and lessons learned will be shared with other coffee-producing countries and agribusinesses through a user guide written together by FAO and JDE Peets, supporting the potential upscaling of child labour risk estimation approaches.  

• Commodity: Palm oil, Coconut oil

• Region: Côte d’Ivoire, Divo, Alépé and Adiaké   

• Target group: 700 farmers   

• GIZ Funding: EUR 90.000 

• Partner Funding: EUR 90.000 

• Project Period: 02/2026 – 03/2027 

• Implementing Parties: 
  Pro Fair Trade AG is a Swiss company focusing on the trade of vegetable oils. 
  Forschungsinstitut für biologische Landwirtschaft (FiBL) is an independent research institute in Switzerland, which conducts research into methods and applications of organic farming. 

Project Description

Smallholder farmers, and their cooperative and farmers’ groups, form the basis of sustainable agricultural value chains worldwide. They often struggle with multiple strain, especially with regard to the impact of international trade regulations and requirements in relationship to their local realities and their daily business. In Côte d’Ivoire, the project works together with one coconut- and two palmoil-producing cooperatives facing structural weaknesses. Even though the cooperatives are already experienced in topics such as good agricultural practice, traceability, gender inclusivity and basic regulatory requirements, challenges remain regarding organisational and management capabilities and competences. Without strengthening governance, reporting and accountability, these producer organisations risk losing their ability to compete sustainably in premium European palm and coconut oil.  

Therefore, the cooperatives will be supported both in structured organisation building and in designing and implementing quality assurance systems, while integrating key aspects of corporate due diligence mechanism identified during initial participatory risk assessment workshops with a cross-section of value-chain actors. This aims to raise cooperatives’ resilience, strengthening the base of the supply chain, lowering supply risks and making these cooperatives more attractive lasting long-term partners in European markets.  

The project will deliver three participatory risk-assessment workshops and targeted capacity-building aimed at the cooperatives’ self-administration and Internal Control Systems (ICS) to better reflect HREDD practices, as well as to increase farmers identification and ownership. In close cooperation with value chain partners from processing and logistics the project expands traceability, governance, and grievance mechanisms. Two concrete due diligence initiatives will be implemented based on identified risks. Targeted measures, such as supporting gender equity and visibility of women in cooperative roles will promote inclusive leadership. Furthermore, dedicated knowledge products and publications will support replication and wider uptake, reaching around 700 participants in Cote D’ Ivoire during this project’s lifetime (approx. 20% women).  

• Commodity: Coffee

• Region: Uganda, Greater Masaka region

• Target Group: 1250 Famers

• GIZ Funding: EUR 123,000

• Partner Funding: EUR 52,030 

• Project Period: 07/2025 - 12/2026 

• Implementing Parties: 
  Wakuli is a Netherlands based specialty coffee company; 
  Ndugu Farmers Limited invests in transforming associated coffee cooperatives into social enterprises in Uganda.; 
  Fairfood International is a non-profit organization promoting fair food systems.

Project Description

Uganda's coffee sector faces significant socio-sustainability challenges. The most prevalent of these systemic challenges are related to fair business practices, human and labour rights, and environmental impact. Compounding effects associated with climate change, market volatility, gender inequality, child labour, and low wages exacerbate poverty among farmers. 

This innovative project aims to improve the livelihoods of 1,250 Ugandan coffee farmers by implementing digital traceability, living income pricing, and data-driven interventions. By integrating Fairfood’s Commodity Living Income Strategy, the project will calculate true production costs to ensure fair compensation and responsible procurement practices. Ndugu will lead digitization and data collection, empowering farmers with insights to strengthen their bargaining power.

Key activities include developing a data assessment methodology aligned with living income goals, digitizing and onboarding farmers for data collection using low-cost digital tools and analysing data to calculate living income prices. The project will then design and implement targeted interventions based on these findings. Communicating the results to enhance consumer and industry awareness about living income is a critical component of the knowledge-sharing aspect of this project.

• Commodity: Cocoa

• Region: Sierra Leone, Kono District

• Target Group: 2,500 cocoa farmers direct, 15,000 indirect beneficiaries (families and community members)

• GIZ Funding: EUR 123,000

• Partner Funding: EUR 123,000

• Project Period: 10/2025 – 12/2027

• Implementing Parties: 
  dm-drogerie markt is a leading German retailer; Maestrani Schweizer Schokoladen AG is a Swiss chocolate manufacturer; Fairtrade Germany is the national Fairtrade organization for Germany; Fairtrade Africa represents Fairtrade certified producers in Africa and the Middle East

Project Description

For many smallholder cocoa farmers in Sierra Leone, low crop productivity, limited access to finance, susceptibility to climate change, and gender inequality perpetuate persistent poverty. Without targeted support and structural reform, these communities risk repeated cycles of vulnerability.

Building upon previous DDF-funded efforts, this project seeks to strengthen long-term structures that empower farmers and embed fair purchasing principles across the cocoa value chain. It will support cocoa farmers in moving toward a living income by piloting Responsible Purchasing Practices (RPPs), in the dm–Maestrani supply chain, while implementing farm-level interventions that strengthen income security, gender equity, and climate resilience.

The project will develop and test a practical guide to RPPs, aligned with the Living Income Reference Price framework. At the community level, the initiative builds gender-responsive structures by supporting women’s leadership and establishing gender policies within producer organizations. It expands Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs) to increase financial literacy and access, particularly for women and youth. Climate-smart training and post-harvest practices will enhance productivity and resilience. By integrating procurement with grassroots capacity building, the project lays the foundation for a more inclusive and sustainable cocoa sector.

• Commodity: Coffee

• Region: Uganda, Eastern and Western Region / Bududa, Bulambuli and Bushenyi

• Target Group: 1,500 households, approximately 7,500 cooperative members and relatives in the supply chains of ACPCU and MEACCE

• GIZ Funding: EUR 80,000

• Partner Funding: EUR 40,000

• Project Period: 07/2025 – 12/2026

• Implementing Parties: 
  Germany-based GEPA mbH and Belgium-based Oxfam Fair Trade are well-known Fairtrade importers specialized in food products; Ankole Coffee Producers Cooperative Union Limited (ACPCU Ltd.) and Mt Elgon Agroforestry Communities Cooperative Enterprise (MEACCE Ltd.) are Ugandan coffee producer cooperatives

Project Description

Despite the parties’ Fairtrade certification and, beyond that, their longstanding commitment against child labour over decades, it remains a risk for smallholder coffee farming communities in Uganda. Driving factors include poverty, low productivity, insufficient educational infrastructure, lack of awareness, and socio-cultural norms. These root causes are complex and intertwined and have been addressed by the parties through different approaches in the past. Though they are successful, meaningful and sustainable progress is only possible with community-wide awareness of the harmful impact of child labour. 

This project seeks to strengthen child rights in coffee-growing regions of Eastern and Western Uganda. It will do so by focusing on awareness creation among farming families and conducting trainings to foster a clear distinction between child work and child labour, emphasize the risks of child labour, and empower children to understand their rights. 

The coffee cooperatives ACPCU and MEACCE and their supply chains are at the heart of this project. Using their extensive networks and the primary schools in the regions they operate, the project will drive behavioural change among coffee-producing families through change agents, including an innovative peer-group approach involving children – for example by creating child rights clubs within schools – and young people as change agents. Critical to these endeavours is engaging farming families on the difference between child work and child labour, the risks of child labour, and children's rights. By enhancing community understanding and leveraging trusted local structures, the project aims to sustainably reduce the risk of child labour and contribute to strengthening human rights in the communities.

• Commodity: Coffee

• Region: Honduras, Santa Barbara and Copan

• Target Group: 1200 smallholder coffee farmers

• GIZ Funding: EUR 123,000

• Partner Funding: EUR 123,000

• Project Period: 07/2025 – 12/2026

• Implementing Parties: 
  Hamburg Coffee Company Hacofco mbH is an EU-based coffee trader; Confianza SA-FGR is Honduras’ first loan guarantee fund administrator; The Alliance of Bioversity International and Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical (CIAT) is an international research organization focused on agricultural science

Project Description

Small and dispersed coffee producers in Honduras face barriers to formal and international market inclusion, including high costs and complexities associated with regulatory compliance and a lack of access to affordable traceability tools and financial services. Information asymmetry, coupled with financial exclusion and perceived lending risks, are challenges that are incompatible with sustainable livelihoods. 

This project tests the interoperability of EUDR-compliant public digital infrastructure with Honduras' financial system, allowing financial institutions to leverage traceability data for risk assessments and loan provision. This collaboration will demonstrate a real world example of EUDR compliance through data and due diligence assessment, registered with EU traces and potential controls through competent authorities. By improving creditworthiness assessments and creating tailored credit products, finance will be made more accessible to farmers often excluded from formal systems. By leveraging trusted intermediaries and aligning compliance with financial incentives, it aims to create a scalable model for responsible sourcing and inclusive financing.

Alongside piloting interoperability and designing an inclusive financing mechanism, this project will also conduct gender-sensitive ethnographic research and ensure new systems reflect trade relationships without disrupting existing trust-based networks. By aligning environmental compliance with financial inclusion, the initiative offers a rights-based model for implementing due diligence that strengthens both livelihoods and supply chain transparency.

• Commodity: Rice

• Region: Pakistan: Punjab and Sindh Province

• Target Group: 1,652 small-scale farming families

• GIZ Funding: EUR 85,700

• Partner Funding: EUR 87,000

• Project Period: 07/2025 – 12/2026

• Implementing Parties: 
  Mars Food Europe CV, a European subsidiary of Mars Inc.; Rice Partners Ltd (RPL) is a Pakistani agriculture company; 60 Decibels, Inc. is a US-based end-to-end social impact measurement company

Project Description

Like many other rice-supplying countries, the Pakistani rice production industry continues to face a range of human rights and environmental challenges linked to labour practices, gender disparities, and unsustainable pesticide and water use. While these issues are recognised as being systemic, they are often underreported due to concerns of retaliation and a lack of confidential reporting channels for workers. Because of this, existing audit tools may not always capture sensitive risks. 

This project aims to address this gap by creating a scalable, rights-holder-centric methodology for human rights risk assessment. This methodology will look to amplify farmer voices and make hidden risks visible, using innovative tools like HRDD pulse surveys and List Experiments. It aims to support corporate compliance and to promote safer, more equitable supply chains. 

During the project period, the methodology will be developed and piloted in the implementing parties supply chain. Using rapid pulse surveys and list experiments, the project will collect high-fidelity, rights-holder-informed data by conducting surveys with Pakistani rice farmers. The methodology and findings will be designed to serve a broad range of similar stakeholders and supply chains beyond the immediate project partners, providing agri-food companies with an open-source, scalable solution for conducting HRDD in complex supply chains. Insights generated through this research will inform capacity-building activities and be shared via platforms such as the Sustainable Rice Platform to encourage uptake of the methodology and to draw attention to gender-specific risks.

• Commodity: Rice, Pulses

• Region: Cambodia, Dispersed

• Target Group: 9,943 Farming community members

• GIZ Funding: EUR 122,899

• Partner Funding: EUR 149,900

• Project Period: 07/2025 – 01/2027

• Implementing Parties: 
  Midsona Deutschland GmbH is a German organic food company; IBIS Rice Conservation Co., Ltd (IRCC) is a Cambodian social enterprise focused on organic rice and wildlife conservation.

Project Description

While significant strides have been made to improve Cambodia's rural agricultural sector, particularly in rice farming, the industry faces several socio-economic and human rights challenges. Key risks include the prevalence of child labour due to seasonal demand and a lack of mechanization, income instability for farming families who are primarily reliant on a single crop, and the informality of the sector, which leads to a lack of social and economic security. 

Building on their long-standing partnership, Midsona and IBIS Rice aim to integrate a human rights and living income action program into the existing compliance supply chain. The goal is to enhance social sustainability through the development of a rural living income benchmark for the region, based on previous studies of human rights dynamics and living income in rural Cambodia. 

This innovative project will assess human rights and gender-related risks through community-centred research. Based on the findings from primary data collection, the project will develop tailored action plans and interventions that focus on improving social standards and increasing transparency, as well as enhancing farmer well-being. The project seeks to create a replicable model for ethical sourcing and enhance the resilience of Cambodian rice farmers. 

• Commodity: Cocoa

• Region: Togo, Plateaux region

• Target Group: 1,652 small-scale farming families

• GIZ Funding: EUR 90,000

• Partner Funding: EUR 60,000

• Project Period: 07/2025 – 12/2026

• Implementing Parties: 
  gebana AG is a Swiss-based fair trade company; gebana Togo is its Togolese subsidiary; Action Centre for Rural Development (CADR) is a public-benefit organisation; Espoir and Vision+ are cocoa farmer cooperatives in Togo.

Project Description

The implementing parties have identified room for several improvements in their Togolese cocoa supply chain. Currently, cross cutting risks, such as child labour, school attendance, and gender have been identified as key intervention spaces. In addition, the satellite imagery of currently available traceability systems are deficient in their ability to distinguish between natural forests and the agroforestry regimes used for cacao production, which undermines deforestation-free sourcing claims. 

The project aims to comprehensively understand EUDR-related risks for smallholder cocoa farmers in Togo and implement innovative mitigation measures for deforestation, land, labour, and child rights, integrating them into Gebana’s operations. 

Principally, activities have been devised to address two interconnected risks: deforestation and human rights. The project will enhance agroforestry management and deforestation monitoring. Supplementarily, human rights, data and mitigation activities, will be centred on a participatory human rights risk assessment to assess implementable mitigation measures. Finally, the project will involve the collection of child labour and school attendance data through focus groups, the delivery of awareness trainings, and the assessment of their impa

• Commodity: Coffee

• Region: Peru, Piura and Cajamarca regions 

• Target Group: 2,000 smallholder members of La Prosperidad de Chirinos and Norandino cooperatives

• GIZ Funding: EUR 123,000

• Partner Funding: EUR 81,000

• Project Period: 07/2025 – 12/2026

• Implementing Parties: 
  Cafedirect plc is an independent, UK-based coffee social enterprise and B Corporation; Cooperativa Agraria Norandino and Cooperativa Agraria Cafetalera La Prosperidad de Chirinos are independent Peruvian coffee producer cooperatives; Producers Direct is a UK-based charity.

Project Description

The cost of compliance-related data collection for novel regulations like the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) disproportionately burdens smallholder farmers and cooperatives. The increased cost for data collection places cooperatives at risk of defaulting on contracts and reallocating limited funds away from vital farmer services. Compounding burdens like supply chain resilience and security are also major risks, with climate change threatening coffee-growing areas and farmer incomes, and often disproportionately impacting the livelihood of women.

This project aims to drive data-informed targeted investment in farmer service delivery and ultimately increase farmer incomes and resilience. To do so, the project partners will develop and test best-practice methodologies and infrastructure for collecting, sharing, and aggregating compliance-related data for Due Diligence, Certifications, and EUDR compliance, using existing digital public infrastructure and open-source tools. 

Three interconnected activities will be pursued. Firstly, the project will establish data infrastructure and governance, documenting best practices for collecting and sharing data, creating gender-disaggregated farmer profiles to enhance advisory services. Secondly, delivery of data-driven insights, developing dashboards and analysing data with a gender lens to improve smallholder advisory services and inform supply chain investments. Finally, the project will focus on scalability and knowledge sharing, developing a roadmap for expanding this approach across the coffee sector and disseminating learnings for systemic improvements in human rights due diligence. 

• Commodity: Multi-crop value chains of spices

• Region: Nepal. Regions: Palpa (mid-hills) and Humla/Dolpa (mountainous)

• Target Group: 400 smallholder farmers 

• GIZ Funding: EUR 120,000

• Partner Funding: EUR 130,000

• Project Period: 07/2025 – 12/2026

• Implementing Parties: 
  Mast-Jägermeister SE is a German beverage company, Kräutermühle GmbH is a German organic food company. aQysta BV and aQysta Nepal are agriculture technology/supply chain companies. Himalaya Agroecology Research & Development (HARD).

Project Description

Nepal is ranked 4th globally for vulnerability to climate change, which causes extreme weather events that amplify all other risks; income insecurity and low wages are driving massive male out-migration, leading to rural abandonment. Additionally, significant gender inequality persists, with 80% of female farm workers earning 25% less than their male counterparts and facing larger burdens.

The project is designed to demonstrate that a multi-crop value chain strategy can successfully establish socially and environmentally responsible production systems in Nepal. This strategy will support farmer living income and climate resilience while simultaneously reducing due diligence costs for business partners like Mast-Jägermeister SE and Kräutermühle GmbH.

The proposed solution focuses on 400 smallholder farmers of which at least 80% will be women. The project seeks to integrate multiple crops into a single value chain and due diligence framework. This model not only provides farmers with diverse, resilient income streams to withstand climate and market volatility but also allows companies to share due diligence efforts and costs across different product categories. This approach will streamline compliance with evolving regulations and offer a cost-effective, long-term pathway for ethical sourcing.