The International Labour Organization (ILO), including its Vision Zero Fund, Colombian Ministry of Labour, International Coffee Organization (ICO), and Government of Huila are joining forces to launch a new campaign to promote decent conditions for all coffee workers in Colombia.
The #FamiliasCafeteras initiative, which launched on World Day for Safety and Health at Work (28 April), is a call for stakeholders in the sector to take action to ensure decent work for those in the coffee industry.
Colombia is currently ranked as the third largest coffee producing country in the world. Of its 548,000 coffee-growing families and 2.5 million workers, around 70 per cent are smallholder producers. Furthermore, 85 per cent of coffee production in Colombia takes place in the informal economy, which adds challenges to ensuring decent work for the labour force. Currently, only 3.4 per cent of those informal workers are registered with an occupational risk company.
In a joint press release, the four organisations said: “Occupational health and safety is a fundamental right that must be guaranteed for all, so raising awareness about challenges and opportunities among workers represents a chance to forge new paths towards a more sustainable chain with a brighter future.”
The #FamiliasCafeteras campaign is being launched with a social media challenge asking “coffee families” around the world to share photos online to highlight the importance of safe and healthy work environments, which takes places between 28 April and 3 May. Going forward until October, the initiative will continue to promote a range of activities to raise awareness of the issue, including knowledge sharing among stakeholders and the demonstration of current efforts in different coffee-growing regions of the country.
