The German Ministry for Development Cooperation (BMZ) and the German Coffee Association joined forces in 2002 to re-strengthen the coffee sector. During the last years a public-private partnership was established between national and international representatives of producers, traders, coffee industry and the civil society. An important and tangible result of this cooperation was the creation of a voluntary Code Conduct for the Coffee Community (4C) to guide coffee producers and buyers. Nowadays, the 4C Association operates as independent membership organization and is based on the following components in the 4C system:
- A comprehensive code of conduct for the coffee sector as guidance for continuous improvement to contribute to a sustainable coffee sector, environmentally, economically and socially.
- A Business code (rules of participation) for trade and industry members to balance responsibilities and commitment between the various players in the coffee sector
- Support services with access to information, tools and an expert network to facilitate improvement processes at producer level
- Governance mechanisms to contribute to transparent and participatory decision making
GTZ-4C asked the support of Lambertus Vogelzang especially related to the point of developing relevant training materials for the coffee sector to support this 4C process. It included developing a manual and a training programme to offer training participants insights into the background, intentions and organisations of 4C. Quite some attention was given to further sharpen the draft criteria to measure the level of environmental, economical and sustainable compliance.
Testing out of the developed 4C ToT Training programme took place during a mission to Vietnam to work during an intensive training programme with representatives of the Vietnamese coffee sector in Ban Me Thuot in the Southern part of Vietnam.
Nowadays Lambertus Vogelzang is related to the 4C process as a master trainer to conduct 4C ToT training activities on request of the coffee sector all over the world.
The attached pictures gives you further information and atmosphere of the 4C ToT Training in Vietnam in June 2007.
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