Colombia Coffee for Clean Water 2024 Update

Currently, around 1.6 million people in rural Colombia lack access to clean, safe water. In Carmen de Nazareth, a remote community nestled in the mountains of Norte de Santander, access to safe drinking water has long been a challenge, especially for schoolchildren. But thanks to our IMPACT Beyond Flagship Program: Coffee for Clean Water – plus great collaboration between Sucafina, the Cooperativa de Caficultores del Catatumbo and Local Partners – that’s changing.

In Los Medios community in Caldas, 70 coffee-growing families didn’t have access to clean water. Without clean water, diseases spread quickly and everyone, especially children, was at risk. Sucafina’s on-the-ground partner in Colombia, Local Partners is a Colombia-based non-profit organization that develops sustainable initiatives for the coffee sector. Working with Cooperativa de Caficultores de Manizales, a cooperative from whom Sucafina sources coffee, Local Partners worked to build a water filtration plant in Los Medios that serves local families and 25 school children whose schools will be connected to the plant. With safe drinking water, the percentage of people who would contract gastrointestinal diseases from drinking water went from 15% to 0% almost immediately.

Project Impact:

Los Medios is the first rural coffee community in our supply chain to receive a potable water plant from Sucafina. This fills a need among some rural communities that do not have access to clean water. Up until recently, ongoing conflict in many areas has made it difficult to implement social development projects like building clean water plants. These communities are among the 1.6 million people in Colombia who don’t have access to clean, safe water. Now, expanding peace is making it possible to invest in these rural, coffee-growing communities and build essential infrastructure to improve lives. And that’s exactly what Sucafina and Local Partners* are focused on.

Los Medios was selected for the first plant because of the community’s dedication to building and maintaining a water purification system. Los Medios community members held meetings, allocated space to build the plant and contributed labor to help build the plant.

The community recognizes how important this development is and advocated to have the first plant in their area. 

We needed this. We fought for it to move forward because it truly is a project worth bringing to our region.

Luz Nancy Ortiz, a farmer in the community.

The total cost of the project is about $19,000 of which, about $11,000 is financed through IMPACT Beyond Flagship funding (sales of Colombia Sucafina Originals) .

At Los Medios, the daily management, maintenance and cleaning of the plant will be the role of the community. Local Partners will handle follow up, monitoring of use and identifying new needs in the community related to the project.

Given the success of the first plant with Los Medios, Sucafina and Local Partners will continue identifying new regions and communities that are the best fit for future water plants and Sucafina will continue working with roasters to contribute funds towards the construction of new plants.

*Sucafina’s on-the-ground partner in Colombia, Local Partners, is a Colombia-based non-profit organization that develops and implements sustainable initiatives for the coffee sector.

About Beyond Flagship projects

Beyond Flagship Projects are initiatives linked to IMPACT-verified farmer groups within Sucafina’s direct supply chains. These projects are designed to offer partners a flexible way to support IMPACT goals, create measurable impact and drive meaningful change at contribution levels below the typical minimum threshold for full project sponsorship.

Investments are made through a premium and do not need to be tied directly to coffee produced by the project’s participating farmers. Instead, support is Origin-specific – for example, purchasing Beyond Flagship contributing coffees from Colombia enables investment in Colombia-based IMPACT Beyond projects. This approach increases flexibility, expands the potential for impact at scale and supports more consistent data collection and reporting across supply chains.