22 March 2016

Leading up to March 2016, NewForesight has supported the 4C Association and IDH in developing the Call for Collective Action and building blocks for further development of the Vision 2020 initiative, which will unite sustainability efforts in the coffee sector.

The coffee sector of today faces several significant challenges, such as the migration of younger generations out of coffee farming and threats related to climate change, pest and disease outbreak and ageing trees. A lack of coordination means that there is no means of comparing data on effectiveness of interventions, which creates barriers to identifying best and worst practices. The sector has come a long way in organizing itself and driving sustainability forward to tackle these issues, and there is now a growing recognition that a next step in collaborative effort is required for systemic change.

The Vision 2020 initiative was developed to enable this next step, by convening the different sector initiatives and stakeholders around a shared sector vision, coordinating a public-private agenda, and aligning implementation and progress measurement. The 4C Association, IDH (the Sustainable Trade Initiative) and the International Coffee Organization (ICO) have been further developing their Vision 2020 vehicle, which will unite the coffee sector and coordinate sustainability efforts.

NewForesight was approached to write the Call for Collective Action, intended for the private sector to express their commitment to the Vision 2020 framework and invite other stakeholders to join the movement. NewForesight enabled the 4C Association and IDH to leverage the momentum offered by the World Coffee Conference in Addis Ababa to present Vision 2020 as the umbrella approach to unite the sector under one sustainability vision, reporting framework and to grow public private collaboration at global and national platforms level. NewForesight played an additional coordinating role in the preparation and facilitation of the interactive Vision 2020 workshop on 3 March in Addis Ababa, uniting sector stakeholders in an interactive setting to co-define the functions of Vision 2020, both at global and national level.

The Call for Collective Action was signed by over 30 leading organizations from the coffee sector. The Call for Collective Action and workshop form the basis for the further development of Vision 2020, as well as in clarifying the roles of the newly installed Global Coffee Platform and ICO in establishing Vision 2020 as the vehicle for collective impact in the coffee sector.