Starbucks and CARE International go back a long way and over the last 17 years we've donated over $8 million to CARE International and worked together on development and aid programmes in coffee growing communities in South America, Indonesia and Africa. In January 2007 Starbucks committed $500,000 for CARE International to help fund a three-year project that aims to improve economic and educational prospects for more than 6,000 people in rural Ethiopia’s coffee-growing regions.
The development project CARE and Starbucks are running in Ethiopia is in the Gewgew Dingete villages in West Harrarghe, Ethiopia. The goal of the project is to improve the community’s living standards, and to diversify their income opportunities. The project will provide farmers and their families with better food, safe drinking water and greater income, as well as enabling communities to work together to invest in their businesses and plan for the future.
In the period of 2007 to 2009, Starbucks partners (employees) and customers across Europe have the opportunity to increase the $500,000 commitment through their own fundraising efforts. By the end of 2008, Starbucks stores across Europe have already raised €240,000 to support activities to establish the adult literacy project, provide safe drinking water and irrigation schemes for four villages and to educate farmers in agricultural practices and land management. For 2009, we aim to add another €120,000.
Starbucks partners in the UK and Ireland have been busy raising funds by completing CARE Challenge events. Last summer over 250 partners from across the UK gathered in the hills of the Breacon Beacons national park in Wales. Over the course of a wet Sunday they undertook at grueling 17km trek, 24km all terrain cycle and finished with a two person canoe across the choppy waters of the Penny-Fan reservoir.
Here are three examples of how the money raised is being used to make a difference for the people of Gew Gew Dingete villages.
Education; literacy and enterprise
In the Dingete community there are low literacy rates among adults and low school attendance by girls. In addition, many farmers have little knowledge of agricultural methods. The project aims to increase adult literacy, improve school building facilities for girls to increase their school attendance and educate and train people in vegetable growing and nutrition. So far, we have established community committees for literacy and water, build adult literacy centers, renovated the school building and provided facilities for a more girl friendly school environment, set up credit and savings groups for women and provided goats to households on a revolving basis.
Water; water use and hygiene
In the Dingete community, there is a lot of water waste due to uncapped springs, and the fact that people and animals use those same springs. This can result in detrimental health issues and therefore drinking water must be collected from distant pumps. The project aims to provide clean, safe drinking water for people and livestock and to irrigate fields to increase harvests. So far, we improved fresh water springs with drinking water systems, build wash basins and cattle troughs, provided crop irrigation schemes and trained farmers on preventing soil erosion during heavy rains.
Agriculture: better diet and cash crops
In the Dingete community there are poor diets, a dry season, no irrigation and farmers who are not able to buy seeds, tools or plan for future. The project aims to increase the number of harvests and crop yields, diversify the crops with vegetables and sell more of the crops at local markets, as an additional source of income and for a more diversified diet. So far, we built community warehouse facilities, started a vegetable seed bank and a haricot bean loan scheme and trained farmers in crop husbandry and marketing.
About CARE
CARE is a leading international humanitarian organization fighting global poverty. Our long-term projects tackle the deep-seated causes of poverty, and we are always among the first to respond when disaster strikes. Women are at the heart of CARE’s community-based efforts to improve basic education, prevent the spread of HIV, increase access to clean water and sanitation, expand economic opportunity and protect natural resources. CARE delivers emergency aid to survivors of war and natural disasters, and helps people rebuild their lives.