At the 2017 WiNN networking event, several women with long histories of organized work, who were seeking to strengthen local networks, exchange knowledge, and manage social and environmental benefit changes, encountered each other. They soon developed the "Women, Bees and Coffee" alliance, and since then the alliance has grown, adding more women and organizations.
With this alliance, they hope to strengthen the dissemination of the agro-ecological models of shade-grown coffee and the breeding of native bees driven by women. At the moment, the alliance is formed by: Vida A.C, Alliance of Women in Coffee, Tochan Cadem A.C, INANA A.C, Health and Gender AC and Consultant Itza Castañeda as mentor.
In their own words: “Our agenda focuses on women to contribute to offset unequal access to and management over natural resources and land, as well as the decline of the quality of our time due to the care economy. We also understand that we are not isolated, that our strength lies in union and cooperation among ourselves. We know that we influence our families, couples, community groups and society in general.”
The alliances specific objectives are:
For the conservation of native bees:
The group plans to participate in the Mesoamerican Congress of Native Bees in Cholula in May 2019, where t will have a stand with information about the alliance and WiNN.
With this alliance, they hope to strengthen the dissemination of the agro-ecological models of shade-grown coffee and the breeding of native bees driven by women. At the moment, the alliance is formed by: Vida A.C, Alliance of Women in Coffee, Tochan Cadem A.C, INANA A.C, Health and Gender AC and Consultant Itza Castañeda as mentor.
In their own words: “Our agenda focuses on women to contribute to offset unequal access to and management over natural resources and land, as well as the decline of the quality of our time due to the care economy. We also understand that we are not isolated, that our strength lies in union and cooperation among ourselves. We know that we influence our families, couples, community groups and society in general.”
The alliances specific objectives are:
For the conservation of native bees:
- Conserve native bees given their importance in the pollination of the cloud forest.
- Make visible the importance of native bees in shade-grown coffee plantations for the ecosystem services through pollination that they provide.
- Root the vision of and management of native bees among women agro-ecological coffee farmers following the coffee rust crisis.
- Strengthen the economy of women who breed native bees
- Share models of agro-ecological breeding of native bees
- Recognize and re-value the contribution of women to the shade-grown coffee plots
- Conserve agro-ecological coffee plantations as part of the cloud forest and as the basis for ecological corridors
- Strengthen the roots and identity of coffee producers among young people and their link with their grandparents as a legacy
- Strengthen the economic empowerment of women
- Share the model with the organizations of the alliance
- Achieve access to the use of and management of natural resources
- Strengthen their capacities to access the means of production
- Exercise the right to a healthy environment
- Encourage the participation of women in decision-making in different areas
The group plans to participate in the Mesoamerican Congress of Native Bees in Cholula in May 2019, where t will have a stand with information about the alliance and WiNN.