Volcafe in Uganda recognised for work to combat child labour

Kyagalanyi Coffee given prize by national employers federation

Kyagalanyi Coffee, Volcafe’s Ugandan company, was recognised as the Best Company in the Elimination of Child Labour in the national Employer of the Year Awards (EYA).

The EYA ceremony took place in Kampala on 11 September. The annual awards are organised by the Federation of Uganda Employers (FUE) – an association with more than 600 members – in collaboration with Enabel, Belgium’s development agency. Since 2001, the EYA has highlighted Ugandan employers’ performance in the areas of human resource management, employee welfare, and workplace practices. This year the EYA focused on job creation, employee health and wellness, talent development, diversity and inclusion, gender equity, and compliance with labour laws and decent working conditions.

Founded in 1992, Kyagalanyi has extensive operations and on-the-ground presence in several Ugandan coffee growing regions, including Masaka, Mount Elgon, Rwenzori, and West Nile.

Through our Volcafe Way farmer support programme and partnerships with clients and civil society, Kyagalanyi carries out a variety of activities which bolster efforts to end child labour in the coffee sector. These include advising coffee farmers on techniques which improve yields, trainings on financial literacy, and the set-up of Village Savings and Loans Associations to enhance farmers’ business skills and access to credit – the underlying goal is improving farmer incomes, which is an important factor in reducing child labour risks. Kyagalanyi has also undertaken educational infrastructure renovation projects in coffee communities and continues to develop responsibly sourced coffee value chains in the country.

Volcafe is a participating member of the International Labour Organization’s Child Labour Platform and its ‘Ending Child Labour in Supply Chains: Addressing the root causes of child labour in supply chains through an area-based approach’ project, which focuses on Uganda as well as Honduras and Vietnam.