June 12, 2025 – Today, we’re marking World Day Against Child Labour, an annual observance established by the International Labour Organization to raise awareness of child labor and the action needed to eliminate it.
Addressing human rights issues, including those involving children’s rights, is one of the most complex challenges facing the coffee industry today. At Sucafina, we’re committed to strengthening protections for children in coffee communities through our Caring for People sustainability pillar and our responsible sourcing program, IMPACT.
Child labor risk is closely linked to broader socioeconomic issues, such as low income and limited access to basic services. Our approach focuses on tackling these root causes and strengthening community resilience, in collaboration with coffee famers, local organizations, NGOs and supply chain partners.
As part of our human rights due diligence system, we regularly assess and monitor risks in the regions where we operate. This enables us to prioritize our efforts and take targeted action – including through systems for preventing, identifying and mitigating potential risks to children’s rights.
In Brazil, Uganda and Vietnam, we’ve piloted a community-based approach rooted in trust and local knowledge. Community Facilitators, who receive training on human rights and local labor laws, play a key role as trusted members of their communities. Equipped with tailored toolkits, they help to raise awareness, identify risks and support remediation efforts. Their close connection with local stakeholders enables more responsive, context-specific monitoring of human rights risks.
We’re using a similar model in our supply chain in Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea, as part of a broader project to strengthen human rights and coffee farmer livelihoods. An impact assessment conducted in 2023 helped us to identify key local challenges that contribute to vulnerabilities, such as limited access to education and childcare. Building on these insights, we’re adapting our Community Facilitators approach, developing initiatives focused on child protection and women’s empowerment alongside capacity building, monitoring tools and grievance and feedback mechanisms.
To strengthen systems at scale, we’re working with other coffee sector actors through partnerships focused on child rights monitoring and remediation systems. These collaborative initiatives are designed to improve visibility, enable coordinated responses and build stronger support networks for at-risk children and families.
Protecting children’s rights and supporting families in coffee-growing regions is a long-term effort — and one that requires collaboration, open dialogue and shared responsibility throughout the supply chain. By partnering with and learning from coffee communities, we can help to foster safer, supportive environments where all members of coffee-growing families are better equipped to thrive.