Gourmet coffee from Kivu The hilly region in North and South Kivu is very suitable for the cultivation of high quality Arabica coffee. Due to the wars and periods of violence in the past, and the current political and economic instability, the coffee sector in this part of the DR Congo is largely underdeveloped.Applicant Schluter SA is an international coffee trading company based in Switzerland. The company focuses on specialty coffee from Africa. They have been involved in the coffee sector in the DR Congo since the 1970s, but because of the war in the 1990s decided to leave the country and only trade coffee from a distance. Early 2000s the company revitalised its business in the Congo again and recently began a small-scale attempt to train farmers in order to increase the coffee quality.The project has invested in increasing the quality of Arabica coffee from the Kivu by training 6,000 farmers in organic quality standards, providing them with eco-friendly coffee pulping units and to centrally process the coffee parchment into green coffee. The project targeted different communities around Goma and Butembo.Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)The coffee production and processing has been certified for organic production. And a CSR policy has been developed and implemented in the project company.Impact•	Employment and working conditionsThe project employs 47 people in total.Besides the full-time staff, the casual staff of the project includes, 55 CPU staff, 335 women for hand grading coffee and 25 casual labour.The lowest paid employee will be paid 10% above the minimum wage of USD 3 per day.On top, all staff will receive free medical care.Additional social standards like collective right of bargaining, overtime policies etc. are taken care of in the joint venture's CSR policy.•	Innovation / Transfer of knowledgeKnowledge about operating CPU's in the Kivu's will be new to the region.Other knowledge is already available in the region, but not yet in an integrated approach as presented in this project plan.In general, this project may be expected to take the Arabica coffee production in the Kivu's to a higher level.•	Chain effectsThe project focuses primarily on 6,000 farmers living in different communities, who have been organic certified during the project.Per community lead farmers have been appointed for additional training and equipment which they in turn are expected to transfer to the other farmers in the village.•	Impact on the sectorThe project will introduce 'eco-friendly' Colfax pulpers (CPU's). Eco-friendly refers to the water efficiency of these pulpers as compared to other pulpers.Environmental issues will be tackled according to organic standards.The quality improvement measures in the long run will lead to an increase of income for the farmers. For Kivu-3 the partners expect to be able to pay a 15% to 20% premium to farmers. Also, the yield per hectare is expected to increase as a result of improved agricultural practices.•	Position of womenAt least 30% of all staff will be female. This includes women at management positions. To increase the quality of gourmet Arabica coffee from North and South Kivu to at least 30% of total production as Kivu-3 quality, in order to restore the name of Arabica coffee from DR Congo.