South America
APROCAM: Building Opportunities for Indigenous Cocoa Producers in the Peruvian Amazon
For decades, the indigenous Awajún people of northern Peru have struggled to overcome systemic poverty, discrimination, and violence. Now, as members of the APROCAM cooperative, they’re attaining higher incomes—and a better quality of life. In Peru’s northern Amazon, Awajún farmers struggled for years to eke out a living growing cacao on the banks of the Utcubamba River. Completely reliant…
APROCASSI: Changing the Lives of Women in Peru
This coffee cooperative is growing its business by relying on the leadership of women. Every morning, Dora Lisa Carrión Gómez rises early to make the morning shift at Saja, the cafe she manages in the quiet Andean town of San Ignacio in northern Peru. Saja is owned and operated by members of the APROCASSI coffee cooperative’s women’s group. These 72…
C.A.C. Pangoa: Providing an Alternative to Coca Production in Peru
In the wake of paramilitary violence, this cooperative gave farmers alternatives to the drug trade—and became the beating heart of its rural community. Nestled in the foothills where the Amazon rainforest meets the towering Andes Mountains, the Peruvian town of San Martín de Pangoa exudes an aura of calm. Life seems to move at a leisurely pace; ambling through the…
C.A.C. Chirinos: Building Long-Term Resilience to Climate Change in Peru
When aging coffee trees and a deadly fungus threatened farmer livelihoods, this cooperative invested in long-term sustainability. Perched high atop a steep mountain in the lush Cajamarca region of northern Peru sits the proud town of Chirinos. Boasting a modern church and brand-new municipal building that serve as bookends to a well-manicured central plaza, the town hums with signs of…