Frequently Asked Questions

International Coffee Partners (ICP) is an initiative founded by five leading European coffee companies in 2001: Paulig of Finland, Löfbergs of Sweden, Lavazza of Italy, Neumann Gruppe of Germany and Tchibo of Germany. In 2011, Joh. Johannson Kaffe of Norway joined, followed by Franck of Croatia in 2014 and Delta Cafés of Portugal in 2018.

ICP is promoting sustainable coffee production through its project work. We believe sustainability to be a dynamic concept that achieves economic viability while enhancing social conditions as well as protecting the environment and natural resources with longevity. Aware of the need to further develop and gradually improve the concept of sustainability, ICP strives toward continuous learning and shares its experience with interested parties.

ICP contributes technical assistance based on its core competencies, including project design, preparation, and implementation as well as monitoring through our implementing partner, Hanns R. Neumann Stiftung. We offer professional coffee know-how and financing of specific components. National and international experts share their experiences according to the requirements and we coordinate support from other dedicated partners such as donor organizations, NGOs, and governmental institutions.

The situation of smallholder farmers and their families is complex and also includes aspects other than coffee production. That's why we cooperate in partnership schemes with other supporting organizations. These partnerships help to establish synergies and assure a more comprehensive support for farmer families. The involved organizations have national or international reach as well as governmental or non-governmental legal status.

Our project support is usually provided over a three to five year period, though it is becoming more and more embedded into regional approaches. Despite this relatively short period, sustainable project impact is achieved for several reasons: the project target groups are strongly committed to developing their self-help capacity and therefore take maximum advantage of ICP’s technical assistance; ICP’s support offers excellent expertise which focuses on observed shortcomings and draws upon rich experience from all coffee producing continents. And last but not least, farmer organizations develop their own network and partnerships with public institutions and the private sector through our project work over time.

Hanns R. Neumann Stiftung has a longstanding experience in coffee-related development projects. Therefore, International Coffee Partners entrusted the organization to implement all its operative activities including project identification, preparation, and coordination with the project partners.

International Coffee Partners is financed through regular dedications of each shareholding company.

By joining ICP, each shareholder commits to allocating a fixed budget each year to our project activities. At the moment, it amounts to 1.3 Mio € per year. Since 2001, an amount of 19.7 Mio € has been directly invested into our activities.

We are following the approach of public-private partnerships, and thereby aim at leveraging this budget with further funding.