We are a democratic and participatory union that allows coffee producers in the most diverse regions of the country to communicate and solve their problems through collective action, facilitated by an organizational structure that includes union governing bodies and the FNC administration.
Taking into account that we are a union entity, strengthening the FNC unity is crucial; that is why this dimension is the base of our sustainability pyramid.
In the governance dimension
we work with 3 action lines
Participation and democracy
We promote effective participation of coffee growers in the most important decisions of the union.
Leadership
We develop programs to empower producers with tools for union leadership and assertive decision making.
Communication
We develop two-way communication mechanisms between coffee growers and the institution, making use of information technologies.
FNC elections
Our participatory democracy is legitimized every four years, when federated coffee growers elect, by direct vote, their union representatives to the municipal and departmental committees. The departmental representatives also make up the National Coffee Growers Congress (the highest authority and instance of deliberation of the union).
The latest elections were held in September 2018 under the principles of transparency, legitimacy, representativeness and empowerment of federated coffee growers. The voter turnout reached 57% of the coffee electoral roll, a proportion higher than that of the presidential elections in Colombia (53.4% in 2018) and Chile (49% in 2017), which confirms the great legitimacy and representativeness of the union.
Participation of women in union governing bodies increased substantially, from 8% in 2014 to 15% in 2018 in the departmental committees, and from 16% in 2014 to 24% in 2018 in the municipal committees. And as a sign of generational integration and staying of young people in the countryside (another great challenge for the coffee sector), 20% of representatives in the departmental committees and 34% in the municipal committees are under 45 years old.
These good results are the fruit of a continuous effort to bring coffee institutions closer to the coffee grower base. For this purpose, new communication and participation dynamics have been helpful, such as Conversemos con el Gerente (Let’s talk with the CEO), which have enable to listen first-hand to tens of thousands of coffee growers; national meetings of women and young coffee growers, and workshops on union leadership across the country, in which thousands of coffee leaders from the different departmental and municipal committees have been trained.
CASE OF SUCCESS
Let’s talk with the CEO
New communication and participation dynamics have brought the FNC closer to the coffee grower base. Examples of this are the Conversemos con el Gerente (Let’s talk with the CEO), which at the end of 2018 enabled to listen firsthand to over 20,000 coffee growers; national meetings of women and young coffee growers, and about 80 workshops on union leadership, in which over 8,000 coffee leaders and from the departmental and municipal committees were trained.
Data of interest
+20.000
coffee growers have participated in the conversations with the CEO by 2018
+80
union leadership workshops have been held
+8.000
coffee and union leaders have been trained in these workshop
CASE OF SUCCESS
FNC elections
The FNC elections, which every four years allow federated coffee growers to elect their union representatives by direct vote, are a global reference.
Not only because of their size, as they take place in more municipalities (570 in 2018) than the general elections of entire countries such as Venezuela, Bolivia, Chile or Ecuador, but because of their high voter turnout, which gives them great legitimacy. In 2018, 57% of the producers qualified to vote went to the polls to elect 4,776 union representatives (180 in the 15 departmental committees and 4,596 in the 383 municipal committees) among 16,140 candidates.
Transparency, legitimacy, representativeness and empowerment of federated coffee growers are the principles of the FNC elections.
Data of interest
570
municipalities held FNC elections in 2018
57%
was the voter turnout
