Guatemala - Beyond Flagship: Opportunity Through Education

By purchasing specific microlots, including our newest Original – Chaak – from Sucafina Guatemala, you are supporting a project that’s helping coffee growing communities invest in early childhood education, a contributor towards our IMPACT human rights goal. As part of our Beyond Flagship program line-up, this initiative supports improvement of school classrooms, teacher training and prevention of child labor during the harvest season as just a few of its components.

Introduction

This Beyond Flagship project supports the development of safe and inclusive learning environments for children in rural coffee communities. By investing in early education infrastructure and teacher training, the project addresses barriers to academic success and helps reduce risks of child labor and school dropout. Funding is generated through a flagship premium applied to select coffee purchases, enabling partners to invest in the long-term well-being of farming families through targeted sustainability initiatives that align with IMPACT Goals.

This project is implemented by our sustainability partner in Guatemala – Seeds for Progress. Seeds for Progress currently operates in four departments across Guatemala –Chiquimula, Jalapa, Santa Rosa and Guatemala – and their programming starts with the premise that safe, healthy and committed classrooms form a foundation for a fruitful educational experience that will help kids complete their educational journey into adulthood

The Rationale

In rural Guatemala, a lack of essential classroom infrastructure, including desks and chairs, severely hinders learning. Nationally, there is a shortfall of over 400,000 desks in the public education system. At La Esperanza school, there are currently no desks or chairs available for preschoolers. Further, only 2 in 10 children throughout the community attend preschool, and just 31% of students complete elementary school, all factors which contribute to the vulnerability of children and prevent them from thriving. By creating safe and positive learning environments, this cycle can be disrupted ensuring not just the further development of the child herself but of the entire rural community.

Project Components:

• Classroom Furniture for Early Learners: Provision of desks and chairs appropriate for school-aged children and aligned with Montessori teaching methods.
• Teacher Training: Educators receive training in the “Cultivating Education” methodology to enhance teaching quality and learning outcomes.
• Learning Monitoring: Ongoing evaluation of child development and learning progress throughout the school year.

Outcomes/Impact:

• 60 elementary school-aged children benefit from improved learning environments.
• 2 teachers trained in innovative, child-centered education methods.
• 60 children safeguarded from child labor during the coffee harvest season.
• 40 parents engaged in awareness-raising sessions on child protection and rights.

Contribution options:

In addition to built-in contributions made through coffee purchases, roasters and interested partners can make additional contributions to this project:

• $5,000 investment helps support an entire rural community school
• $2,500 investment helps to support a classroom

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.