Five Learnings from 25 Years of ICP

In 2026, International Coffee Partners (ICP) looks back on 25 years of working with smallholder coffee farming families. ICP was founded in 2001 during the devastating coffee crisis, when several family-owned European coffee companies realized that no single company could address these challenges alone. From the very beginning, the idea was clear: working together is better than working alone. Today, ICP unites seven coffee companies in a pre-competitive partnership – Delta Cafés, Franck, Joh. Johannson Kaffe, Lavazza, Löfbergs, Neumann Kaffee Gruppe, and Tchibo. They share one goal: Improving the livelihoods of smallholder farming families and supporting resilient coffee farming.

Relevant Impact in Six Project Regions

Over the past 25 years, ICP shareholders have invested €25 million in ICP activities, helping make 28 projects across 13 countries possible, 23 of which have already been completed. So far, ICP has worked with more than 125,730 farming families and collaborated with more than 2,700 farmer organizations. Its work now centers on six project regions: Brazil, Ethiopia, Honduras, Indonesia, Tanzania, and Uganda. Since 2005, ICP projects have been exclusively implemented by Hanns R. Neumann Stiftung (HRNS).

After 25 years, ICP’s experience goes beyond results – it also reveals important lessons about what makes change last.

Five Drivers of Lasting Impact

ICP’s impact across regions is closely linked to the principles behind its work – an approach that has been developed, tested, and refined over the last 25 years. To explore this, we asked people in the project regions about their greatest successes, what made them possible, and the most valuable lessons learned. Five aspects stood out in particular:

Learning 1: Looking at the Whole Picture

Rather than focusing solely on coffee production, ICP considers the broader reality of farming families and aims to strengthen their livelihoods. This includes family businesses, farmer organizations, gender equality, youth empowerment, and climate resilience – all of which are closely connected. “By addressing the interconnected realities of smallholder farmers’ livelihoods, ICP achieves broader and more sustainable impact,” Komakech explains.

Ethiopia offers a strong example.
By 2025, 95% of farmers participating in the CAFE project had adopted Good Agricultural Practices, while productivity increased by 70% between 2020 and 2025. According to the project evaluation, this success was rooted in an integrated strategy. HRNS Co-Country Manager Rahel Adugna says, “The project has helped address both immediate challenges and long-term constraints, earning strong recognition and trust from local authorities and farming communities alike.”

Learning 2: Putting Farmer Families First

Unlike top-down, one-size-fits-all approaches, he adds, ICP involves farmers in discussions about their challenges, priorities, and aspirations, turning them into co-creators rather than passive recipients. This farmer-centered, bottom-up approach is another defining feature of ICP’s work. It places smallholder families and their perspectives at the heart of project activities, and helps foster ownership, competitiveness, and long-term independence.

Brazil offers a powerful example.
Francyelly Lasmar Balduino, Co-Country Manager at HRNS Brazil, says: “After 25 years of ICP’s work in Brazil, one lesson stands out: Real and lasting change only happens when farmers and their families are genuinely at the center.” In Brazil, this people-centered approach has helped families strengthen their farm businesses, expand women and youth leadership, and adopt climate-smart practices – improving both farm performance and the overall quality of life.

Learning 3: Working Together Pre-Competitively

This highlights another strength of ICP: pre-competitive collaboration across the wider coffee value chain. By uniting coffee companies, local partners, and other sector actors, ICP creates broader, more effective, and more sustainable support than any single actor could achieve alone.

In Indonesia, for example, this has helped transform isolated production areas into functioning coffee ecosystems.
When ICP began working in these regions, coffee from the area was widely considered second-class, with low and inconsistent quality, and few companies willing to source directly from farmers or cooperatives. “Today, the situation has changed fundamentally,” says Arman Ginting. “Cooperatives are part of direct supply chains, and multiple value-chain actors are engaging in the region.”

Learning 4: Staying Committed for the Long Term

“What also makes ICP special is its long-term commitment and the close, respectful relationships it builds with farmers and their families,” says Balduino. “By growing alongside them over time, ICP builds the trust needed for real transformation.” This long-term commitment is another reason why ICP’s work has had lasting impact. Over time, the partnership shifted from working in many countries to building deeper engagement in a smaller number of selected regions. This brought greater continuity, stronger local partnerships, deeper trust, and stronger regional knowledge.

This long-term presence also supports processes that require patience, such as the development of farmer organizations. As Pablo Ruiz, Co-Country Manager at HRNS Central America, explains, “By consistently investing in farmer organizations and staying engaged long enough for them to consolidate, ICP has helped farmers in Central America create new organizations and turn them into relevant actors in their communities.” Godfrey Wilgod, Climate Change and Agronomy Coordinator for ICP in Tanzania, says that in Tanzania, too, long-term commitment “has been key to establishing and strengthening farmer organizations that provide essential services to their members.”

Learning 5: Learning, Adapting, Improving

This is central to how ICP views itself after 25 years: as a learning organization committed to making its interventions as effective as possible. This requires independent monitoring and evaluation, continuous exchange across the coffee sector, and a willingness to adapt. Participatory processes are equally central: farmers help set priorities, track progress, and reflect on results.

In this way, ICP strengthens the relevance, ownership, and long-term impact of its projects while also contributing to learning across the wider sector. As Godfrey Wilgod notes, “In Tanzania, the promotion and introduction of validated, innovative practices enhanced productivity, resilience, and overall farm performance.”

Looking Ahead: Why These Learnings Matter for the Future

Taken together, these five learnings show what lasting change requires: a broad view of family livelihoods, prioritizing farmers’ perspectives, pre-competitive collaboration, long-term commitment, and the willingness to keep learning.

These factors not only help explain ICP’s impact over the past 25 years – they also point to what will matter most in the years ahead. As coffee farming families face considerable challenges – from climate change and volatile markets to the question of who will grow coffee as older generations retire – the future of coffee will depend on their resilience. And that will require the best possible strategies.