How ICP Empowers Women and Youth
From Participation to Opportunity and Leadership
When project staff visited the home of Emawash and Fentabil on Ethiopia’s Zegie Peninsula, they saw how much had changed in the household since the family joined the CAFE project. CAFE, implemented by Hanns R. Neumann Stiftung (HRNS), has been part of ICP since the launch of CAFE II in 2019. Before then, the project was funded by the Austrian Development Agency, HRNS, and the Löfbergs Family Foundation. The couple, who has eight children, now plans together, keeps financial records, uses a joint bank account, and has diversified its income through coffee and other activities.
"I was not allowed to go out and meet others, and my husband was not concerned with the activities in the household. After we joined the project, we learned to plan and discuss every activity together and to do everything based on our plan. We have a joint bank account and access it equally."
This shared responsibility reflects the gender transformation promoted through ICP’s work: If coffee farming is understood as a family business, it grows stronger when all household members – including women and the next generation – can plan, decide, and invest together. Yet in many coffee-growing communities, women still have less voice, visibility, and access to resources than men.
At the same time, many young people see too little future in rural livelihoods and leave for urban areas. Their perspectives, interests, and aspirations therefore need to be taken seriously if farming is to remain a viable option for the next generation. Climate change makes this even more urgent by making agriculture less predictable and less attractive for young people in particular.
Change Begins at Household Level
This is why ICP starts with the household as a whole: Lasting empowerment depends on how families plan, decide, and invest together.
A core approach in ICP’s work is the Gender Household Approach, which helps women and men plan and decide together. Integrated into ICP trainings through household dialogues and gender trainings, it promotes shared goals, joint planning, and a more equal use of resources. Victor Komakech, Climate Change Coordinator at HRNS in Uganda, describes the approach as “one of the program’s most significant achievements.” He explains that “joint household visioning and planning help families clarify their shared goals, align decision-making, and optimize resource use, while also driving mindset change and the adoption of improved practices.” Francyelly Lasmar Balduino, Co-Country Manager at HRNS do Brazil, shares a similar experience from Brazil. One of ICP’s biggest successes there, she says, has been “recognizing roles that were often invisible and creating safe spaces for learning and leadership, helping women and young people become more involved in farm decisions and in shaping the future of their family businesses.”
ICP’s participation data reflects that broader change: In the past 25 years, female participation in ICP trainings gained momentum. Across all project regions, women accounted for between 36% of training participants in Brazil and 52% in Uganda in 2025. Youth participation ranged from 14% in Brazil to 33% in Honduras.
Creating Real Opportunities
Participation alone, however, is not enough. Empowerment becomes meaningful when it leads to real opportunities, especially for youth. Over the past 25 years, ICP has learned that creating attractive prospects for young people in coffee-growing regions is essential. When youth can build skills, pursue job opportunities, and explore self-employment, they are more likely to see a future in their home communities – improving livelihoods and helping address the root causes of poverty and rural-urban migration. ICP’s experience also shows that youth engagement works best when programs take young people’s interests seriously. In Honduras, for example, the Climate Pioneers program has successfully attracted and retained youth interest in agriculture by combining entrepreneurship, interactive learning, and climate action, while also building leadership and climate-related skills.
Similar patterns can be seen in the other project regions. In Brazil, Semear helps rural youth prepare for entrepreneurship and family succession. In Indonesia, practical training has even led to a youth-led roasting initiative. In Tanzania and Uganda, youth groups are building skills and exploring business opportunities that make rural livelihoods more attractive.
Economic opportunity matters for women as well. Indonesia offers a strong example of how women’s roles become more visible when empowerment is linked to income-generating activities. As Arman Ginting puts it, “At the beginning of ICP engagement, women were largely confined to domestic roles and had limited opportunities for economic participation. Today, women’s economic empowerment is increasingly visible.” Women have become more involved in mushroom cultivation, snack production, chili sauce processing, and home gardening. These activities not only allow women to generate and manage their own income, but also strengthen food security and household resilience.
From Participation to Leadership
Empowerment becomes more durable when women and youth take on leadership roles. The final step, therefore, is to turn participation into voice, visibility, and influence in local structures. ICP supports this by strengthening the role of women and youth in farmer organizations, community groups, and extension systems.
Honduras and Tanzania offer clear examples. In Honduras, Pablo Ruiz, Co-Country Manager at HRNS Central America, emphasizes that farmer organizations have played “a key role in promoting gender empowerment and actively engaging youth in coffee cultivation, as well as in different value-adding roles.” Godfrey Wilgod, Climate Change and Agronomy Coordinator for ICP in Tanzania, describes a similar development, noting that “youth and women have been empowered through increased participation in leadership roles and decision-making processes at both household and farmer organization levels.” Farmer organizations thus do more than improve market access: They also create spaces where women and young people can become more visible, contribute to decisions, and help shape local development.
Women’s leadership also depends on addressing practical barriers. One lesson from the field is that training and awareness alone are not always enough. Childcare support can help women attend meetings and trainings and take on stronger roles in farmer organizations. This is reflected in the results: By 2025, women made up more than 30% of cooperative leadership teams in Honduras, Uganda, Brazil, and Tanzania.
Women and Youth Empowerment at the Heart of ICP’s Work
Women and youth empowerment is not an add-on in ICP’s work. It is part of how stronger family businesses and more resilient livelihoods are built. It starts with participation in household and community decisions, grows through training, resources and income-generating opportunities, and becomes more durable when women and youth step into leadership roles in producer organizations and local structures.
By strengthening women’s and young people’s participation, opportunities, and leadership, ICP contributes to more inclusive and equitable coffee-growing communities. The story of Emawash and Fentabil shows what this can look like in practice: When all household members are able to play a more active role, livelihoods can become stronger and more resilient.
