Social Projects

For Coocafé, quality of life should always be priority. Thus, social responsibility is clearly placed in the culture of the cooperative, which develops and/or supports numerous actions in the field. Below, some of them given.

FIELD SCHOOL

It is a project that involves children who are studying the 5th school year, corresponding to the last elementary school year. It has been developed since 2001. Its objective is to become scholars, their families and communities, conscious about a correct using of defensives in the farms on their field plants, the using of individual safety equipments and the meaning of it to the environments protect.

The project has excellent quality material for teaching which is include in grade curriculum in the participating schools. Teachers work the material for 05 months. During this period, students also conduct interviews with farmers and at the end of the project, each student develops a sentence and a drawing on the proposal of the Field School, and the best work is awarded in a closure ceremony. Both, the student and School where he studies are rewarded.

The project has reached up to now (2008), about 5000 children of some around towns of coffee's growers. It is possible to see the results of it in many community's growers. This project has Syngenta Company as a partnership.

SCHOOL VEGETABLE GARDEN

Iuna – (E.S.), a town state border, has implanted the project in order to improve school meal at schools. Children are taught how to take care of the soil and know the meaning of vegetables in the meal. Scholars who participate on it are from public school, elementary level. Coocafé and Mayor Iuna Town, work as partnerships. Mayor Iuna managers the project, while, Coocafé supplies raw material and technician assistant.

Conscious about the needs of a nutrient meal, Coocafé is working in order to take this project for all of nearby towns and cities, where it acts. School garden teaches students the value of being in contact with the earth and the importance of vegetables in the diet. Experts at Coocafé met pupils for 5 lectures in each participating during the year, on relevant topics about environmental issue and consequently, to health eating. At the end of each lecture, the students participate in a classroom practice related to the topic discussed.

The School Vegetable Garden started in 2006 in Iúna – ES, and aware of the importance about nutrition in school meals, Coocafé has already led to several cities in its areas of operation.

SECURITY AND SOLIDARITY

Coocafé - Syngenta engaged themselves to come true the project about Security and Solidarity, with the purpose to stimulate the using of Individual Protection Equipment (IPE), and help charitable entities. It consists in using all profit of IPE sale, to a previously entity charitable chosen. In 2007, last entity chosen was APAE-Lajinha (Exceptional Parents and Friends Association).

WOMEN CO-OPERATIVE'S MEETING

Every year, Coocafé promotes the meeting of Women Cooperative. This event is in order to redeem women’s esteem about their value on farms working, and input their administration in the context of their farm, as well, offers them the opportunity to know the Co-operative whose family is a partner. They participate on manual works course, dynamics and walking. There are also moments of relax and are offered breakfast and lunch to the participants and this is the special time for them to telling and listening experiences to get more knowledge. The project has as partners, the Producers’ Trade-union of Lajinha, SENAR (MG) Brazil and Sicoob-Credicaf.

MEETING OF YOUNG RURAL COOPERATIVE

With the importance of youth in society, it has been promoted The Coocafé Meeting Of Young Rural Cooperatives. Participate in this meetings the children of members of cooperative. They spend one day in the Coocafé dependencies, where they participate on talking, dynamics, studying about cooperative and, at the end, they talk about their proposals presented. The project has as partners the Union of Producers of Lajinha-MG, Senar-MG and Sicoob-Credcaf.

SEPTIC TANKS

Septic tank is a pilot project that has been developed at “Córrego da Companhia” in Lajinha (MG) Brazil. As the neighborhood needs to use the water from the river, not only to feed its animals, but to water plants, environment is becoming polluted on all of the world, and the river there, is not different so. To recuperate the river, protecting the sources of it and its forest water's edge, a partnership was formed by Coocafé, Sicoob Credicaf Co-operative, Mayor Lajinha, Residents’ Community Council of “Itá” and Community Council of “Córrego da Companhia”, both in Lajinha (MG) Brazil.

Besides of taking quality life to the residents, septic tanks will worth the region. It must be remembered that this is a pilot project and with new partnerships, other projects like that will be developed in other communities.

All of who are Interested in getting technical details or more information about this project, please contact us by our site.

CONTROL OF EMPTY ENVELOP

Since 2005, Coocafé has worked as receiver of empty defensive envelops. It was built two places to receive them. One for each warehouse – and up to now – 2008, it has got back 120 tons of plastic and others materials that has sent to be recycled, or to be incinerated