
The Living Income Community of Practice hosted the annual in-person workshop and learning journeys in Colombia during the week of the 4th of November. The workshop and accompanying learning journeys were a unique opportunity to deepen engagement, foster collaboration, and share knowledge among stakeholders dedicated to advancing living income initiatives across Latin America.
Building on our successful June virtual event on Ingreso Digno en América Latina, this workshop brought together practitioners, companies, policymakers, and farmers representatives to engage in rich discussions, exchange best practices, and explore innovative strategies and joint action to advance living income in the region.
AGENDA
10:00 - 11:00 - Registration and Networking
Registration and Networking
11:00 - 12:00 - Workshop Opening and Introduction
Workshop Opening and Introduction
- Workshop Introduction by LICOP Facilitators
- Introduction to the day’s agenda and key themes
- Welcome note
- Learning journeys and their connection to the workshop
- Ice breaker: Peer exchange - what is your work and your questions on living income?
12:00 - 13:00 - Lunch
Lunch
13:00 - 14:45 - Supporting meaningful due diligence on living income: understanding the challenges and aligning on opportunities for joint action
Supporting meaningful due diligence on living income: understanding the challenges and aligning on opportunities for joint action
The inclusion of living income within the scope of the due diligence framework set up by the EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) is presenting exceptional opportunities to address livelihood in a holistic way. This session will bring insights on the latest policy and regulatory developments, and with the help of local practitioners and experts, outline the role of different stakeholders in enabling meaningful due diligence on living income.
Moderator: Antonie Fountain, Managing Director and co-founder VOICE Network (cocoa) and co-founder at VOCAL Alliance (coffee)
Speakers
- María Ximena Serrano Corredor, Deputy Director of Quality and Sustainability, ProColombia
- Gabriel Cardenas Barrera, National Program Officer, Embassy of Switzerland in Colombia
- Joao Carlos Schmolz de Mattos, Commercial Director, CLAC Latin America
- Paolo Muschi, Sustainability Execution Manager LatAm-Coffee, ofi
Supplementary resources:
- Supporting the implementation of the EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive in global supply chains involving smallholders and their communities, 2024
- Aligned Inclusive Living Income Narrative and Indicators, 2024
14:45 - 15:15 - Coffee break
Coffee break
15:15 - 16:45 - Tailored Solutions for Developing Impactful Living Income Interventions – Lessons from Coffee and Cacao
Tailored Solutions for Developing Impactful Living Income Interventions – Lessons from Coffee and Cacao
Gain insights into strategies to engage farming families in the design of living income interventions and the related results of tailored technical assistance and support programmes on incomes.
Smallholder farms often lack access or resources for labor saving innovations or practices that can optimize the assets they own. This session will explore approaches to engage farming families, communities and workers to identify their needs for input into design of interventions to increase incomes.
Moderator: Stephanie Daniels, Senior Program Director, Sustainable Food Lab
Speakers
- Pablo Ramirez, Chief of Party, Cacao 4 Development
- Andres Acevedo, Lead Agronomist, RGC Coffee
- Allie Straus,Supply Chain Sustainability, Keurig Dr. Pepper
- Diewertje Hendricks, Innovations Manager, IDH
Supplementary resources:
- C4D living income study, 2023
- Impact and investment opportunities in coffee value chains, 2024
16:45 - 17:15 - End of the day
End of the day
- Instructions for social evening
- Instructions for the next day
17:30 - 18:30 - Social evening at hotel lobby
Social evening at hotel lobby
08:00 - 9:00 - Networking and coffee
Networking and coffee
09:00 - 09:15 - Welcome to the Workshop
Welcome
- Introduction to the day's agenda
- Highlights from day 1
09:15 - 10:45 - Living Income: Environmental and Economic Resilience
Living Income: Environmental and Economic Resilience
This session will explore the links between improved income and sustainable agricultural practices that protect biodiversity and capture carbon. This includes agroforestry and regenerative agriculture, which provide diversified income sources and increase resilience against climate change impacts.
Moderator: Joel Brounen, Colombia Country Director, SOLIDARIDAD
Speakers
- Luis Cardona, Coffee operations manager, Nespresso
- María Alexandra Pastrana, Producer representative, SKN Caribecafé
- Stefan Ruge, Program Manager, Hanns R. Neumann Stiftung
Supplementary resources:
- Adopting Regenerative Coffee Agriculture to boost Smallholder Incomes and Resilience in Kenya and Uganda, 2023
- Organic Agroforestry Coffee as a Natural Climate Solution, 2023
- Carbon Market Opportunities in the Agriculture Sector in Latin America & the Caribbean, 2023
10:45 - 11:00: Coffee break
Coffee break
11:00 - 12:30 - Purchasing Practices and Their Role in Enabling Farmers and Farmer Organizations to Prosper
Purchasing Practices and Their Role in Enabling Farmers and Farmer Organizations to Prosper
Procurement practices of buying companies are an important driver of farmer and farmer group income and profitability. This session will discuss the importance of responsible procurement practices such as longer agreements and remunerative prices from different perspectives:
- standards piloting a living income reference price approach
- cooperatives managing volatile prices and increasing compliance demands
- a farmer federation who has established national mechanisms to stabilize farm gate price,
- and lessons from an NGO across multiple pricing arrangements in living income partnerships.
Moderator: Christina Archer, Strategic Advisor, Livelihoods, Sustainable Food Lab
Speakers
- Carla Veldhuyzen, Senior Advisor Sustainable Livelihoods, Fairtrade International
- Marcela Gaviria Botero, Directora de Allianzas y Proyectos, Federacion Nacional de Cafeteros de Colombia
- Tom Van den Steen, Impact Coach, Rikolto
Supplementary resources:
- Fairtrade International, Living Income Reference
- Fairtrade International, Living Income Reference Map
- A Study of Value Distribution in the Coffee Industry, 2024
- Good Purchasing Practices: a cocoa barometer consultation paper, 2023
- Procurement Practices Principles: A DISCO Position paper, 2024
- 16 Key Factors for Successful Living Income Practices, 2024
- Enabling Living Income through Responsible Purchasing Practices, 2024
- Rikolto Recommendations for more Inclusive Business Models, 2024
- IDH Purchasing Practices Guide, 2024
12:30 - 13:30 - Closing Remarks
Closing Remarks by Workshop Host - LICOP
- Summary of key takeaways
- Explanation of technical sessions
- Next steps and announcements of future initiatives
- Closing comments by the event host
13:30 - 14:30: Lunch
Lunch
14:30 - 16:30: Best Practices in Living Income Measurement
Best Practices in Living Income Measurement
For those involved in designing, delivering, and/or evaluating living income initiatives, this session will discuss some of the critical approaches being used to measure farmer incomes and costs of a decent standard of living, and to model how to close income gaps.
Moderator: Kealy Sloan, Program Director Agriculture & Development Sustainable Food Lab
Plenary discussions: - MPI- Dr. Jose Leibovich, Director of Research Department, Federación Nacional de Cafeteros de Colombia
- CHIS methodology- David Fernando Mozzo, Project Coordinator, GIZ Colombia
Followed by breakout discussions on:
1. Cost of production and household labor assessment
2. Living income benchmarking
Supplementary resources:
- Aligned Inclusive Living Income Narrative and Indicators, 2024
- Monetary and Non-Monetary Poverty Measures from a Living Income Perspective, 2023
- Cocoa Income Inventory and CHIS Methodology, 2024
- DIASCA Farm Income and Cost of Production Guidelines, 2024
- Costos de Producción de Café, Colombia, 2023 (2024)
- Guidance Document on Criteria for Methodologies on Living Income and Living Wage Estimates, 2024
- The Journey of the Chiapas Living Income Report, 2024
- IDH tools
-- Income Measurement Guidance
– -Income Driver Calculator
