Launched in May 2019, the Cooperation On Fair, Free, Equitable Employment (COFFEE) Project is a four-year initiative funded by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of International Labor Affairs (USDOL-ILAB). The project aims to reduce the risk of labor issues in coffee supply chains by building the capacity of the private sector and other relevant actors to better understand, identify, address, and prevent labor risks in coffee supply chains. To achieve this goal, Verité has created a Socially Sustainable Sourcing Toolkit (S3T), comprised of 17 tools, and a set of eight Online Training Modules, both of which are open-source and available for free on this website.

Verité is implementing pilot projects in Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico, with the intention of piloting these tools and cost-effective, innovative approaches to identifying, addressing, and preventing labor risks on coffee farms. The pilot project in Brazil is focused on ethical recruitment, the project in Colombia is focused on exploring alternatives to piece rate pay, and the project in Mexico is focused on capacity building. Please click here for more general information on the pilot projects.

Funding is provided by the United States Department of Labor under cooperative agreement number IL-31476. This material does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the United States Department of Labor, nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by the United States Government. 100% of the total costs of the project is financed with federal funds, for a total of $2,500,000 dollars.