CFP INCLUSIVE DEVELOPMENT TEAM FACILITATES DAVAO REGIONAL COFFEE COUNCIL MEETING

Coffee for Peace CEO, Joji Pantoja, serves as chair of the Davao Region Coffee Council.

The Davao-based members of Coffee For Peace Inclusive Development Team—Joji Pantoja, Aiza Wanay, and Sam Bautista—participated in the 3rd General Meeting of the Davao Region Coffee Council.

Joji, who serves as chair of this Council, gave a motivational talk by sharing the lessons in her journey while building up Coffee for Peace as a social enterprise.

Joji shares the story of Coffee for Peace as part of her motivational talk among local farmers belonging to the Davao Region Coffee Council.

This is consistent with our philosophy of interacting with the indigenous peoples in this country:

:: We are being taught by the Indigenous People in the Philippines to join them as they journey towards their right to self determination.
We will support their view of their future and we will help preserve and nurture their respective Ancestral Domains.

:: We have learned to respect the dreams of their elders and we are enriched by listening to the visions of their young people.
We will walk with them towards their dream of a sustainable livelihood that respects their culture and dignity as a people.

:: We are seeing a lot of Indigenous People living on mountains higher than 500 meters above sea level who have existing coffee trees.
We will share a coffee processing technology that would meet the highest local and global standards at Fair Trade prices.

:: We are invited to look to the future when all the Indigenous People in this land are trading fairly in local and global markets.
We will assist in developing their entrepreneurial skills by practising direct trade philosophies and inclusive business models to the coffee industry.

:: We are learning that financial resources and monies earned by our farming partners through a successful coffee entrepreneurship may, at times, lead to conflict if we do not prepare them with necessary skills in personal and communal financial planning.
We will journey with community leaders and their people in basic conflict resolution approaches and financial management strategies to ensure the sustainability of their newly-gained economic capacities in the context of their cultural values and customary laws.

It is our prayer to help develop genuine inter-tribal relationships among coffee farming partners from all over the Philippines. We are happy that this is happening between a young Banao-Kalinga woman and a Bagobo-Tagabawa tribal elder.

Aiza Wanay made an acquaintance with Bai Jerlina, one of the elders of Bagobo-Tagabawa Tribe in Mindanao, whose ancestral domain is located at the foot of Mt. Apo. This acquaintance soon developed into an inter-tribal, spiritual mother-daughter relationship. “Today,” Aiza testifies, “she asked me to call her INA. It is an honor and privilege to call her Ina.” 20 July 2018. Maragusan, Compostela Valley.

It is also our joy to see our field workers sharing the knowledge and skills acquired while serving with us at Coffee for Peace.

Sam “Sonny” Bautista of Coffee for Peace demonstrates various ways of serving coffee to our Maragusan farming partners. We’re hoping that our mutual learning and sharing with these farmers would lead them to become successful coffee “farmerpreneurs.”

This event was held at Macgrow Bldg., Maragusan, Compostela Valley and was organized by the Department of Trade and Industry – Region 11.