Vision 2020 plan announced at World Coffee Conference

The 4C Association has joined forces with the Sustainable Coffee Program to launch Vision 2020 at the World Coffee Conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The new alliance, which will be known as the Global Coffee Platform, will work to implement Vision 2020, an inclusive public-private approach to achieve large-scale sustainable impact. Building on the successes and experiences from the past, Vision 2020 promises an approach that enables stakeholders to move beyond fragmented project-by-project investments towards greater impact, through more efficient use of resources. As a first step, more than 30 of the biggest coffee organizations have already signed on to the Vision 2020 Call for Collective Action, an ongoing public commitment to demonstrate leadership by contributing to the common agenda of Vision 2020. The newly formed Global Coffee Platform will drive this coordinated approach by aligning different initiatives and jointly setting a common agenda to address the sustainability challenges that undermine the coffee sector’s long-term prosperity. In close cooperation with the International Coffee Organization, the Global Coffee Platform with over 300 small and large coffee stakeholders will act as a Secretariat of Vision 2020 and coordinate the farmer-centric public-private alliance towards achieving collective impact. The Global Coffee Platform merges the strengths and expertise of the 4C Association’s multi-stakeholder membership platform and the successful pre-competitive international programs of The Sustainable Trade Initiative’s Sustainable Coffee Program. “Through coordinated collaboration of the private sector, civil society, producer organizations, governments and donor agencies, where sustainability is viewed as a shared responsibility, the Global Coffee Platform will enable a collective and systemic focus rather than individual short-term action – which will ultimately improve the resilience and livelihoods of coffee farmers around the world,” Executive Director of the 4C Association, Melanie Rutten-Sülz said.