Mapping the coffee value chain in Uganda

The main aims of the report are to:

• Understand the steps of the coffee value chain (upstream, midstream and downstream), the structure of the coffee sector, trading practices, and factors which impact on value addition. 
• Identify key actors along the coffee supply chain and identify opportunities to cooperate, involve or align with key global, national, regional, and local actors.
• Understand the current landscape of projects and interventions (UN agencies, public sector, private actors, etc.) working to achieve decent work in coffee-growing areas and identify potential synergies and opportunities for collaboration with key actors as well as geographical focus regions.

The report is not a quantitative survey and does not serve as a baseline for the project. It is intended as a stakeholder engagement primer - a basis for discussion and alignment among stakeholders towards deciding key points regarding the project’s future implementation in Uganda. The report will be used to present options for further project scoping together with project partners and stakeholders, around selection of key production areas (administrative districts) to work in, as well as key operational considerations for the project raised by stakeholders or supported by desk research findings.

The study was undertaken between August and October 2023 and is based on a synthesis of available reports and materials relating to the coffee sector (structure and market systems), key actors and initiatives working in the industry and materials related to decent work in coffee and wider agriculture. These reports were synthesized to draw out observations considered to be important contextual considerations to inform the design of key interventions under the project. These observations were presented to and discussed with stakeholders and UN agency participants through a series of bilateral interviews as well as a plenary conference held in Kampala on 20 October 2023.

Reports and materials gathered for the exercise were used to identify key stakeholders and initiatives currently or recently working on one or more activities envisaged in the project plan in Uganda. Relevant initiatives were profiled drawing on publicly available project documentation and communication materials to understand the activities, geographic focus areas, and connected stakeholders to these projects. A survey was also conducted among the ILO Child Labour Platform members to understand the level of current connection to and engagement with the Ugandan coffee sector; the results were used to support a scoping of potential priority districts for the project to operate in as well as to understand the level of interest in and current connection to key activities envisaged in the project plan. Interviews were also held with UN agency partners to understand the degree of geographic or thematic synergy with project aims. Finally, bilateral discussions were held with key stakeholders who responded to a request for interview, and the findings were presented in a workshop held in Kampala which took place on 20 October 2023. The takeaways were used to refine the provisional findings and reflect additional points raised by stakeholders.