As in many coffee growing regions, child labour is prevalent in Honduras’s coffee industry. The school vacation period coincides with the harvest season, meaning that many children ended up spending the holidays working on the coffee farms (often in unsafe or unsuitable conditions). 

Recognising this challenge, the Cooperativa Cafetalera Reservas Biológicas Santa Teresa Ocotepeque Limitada (COCREBISTOL) decided to take action. They launched a project to establish childcare centres, where children could engage in educational and recreational activities while their parents harvested coffee.

“We launched this project—which is so meaningful to us—during the 2018–2019 harvest, creating suitable spaces where children can be cared for while their parents work. We call them childcare centres,” said Marisol Velásquez, COCREBISTOL´s manager.

In the first year, the cooperative set up the first two childcare spaces. But they noticed that some of the children were still working during the harvest. When they asked the parents why, they explained that although the care centre provided a safe space for the children, they still needed the extra income to cover school supplies and expenses. 

Determined to solve the problem, the cooperative sought support from its business partners to fund backpacks, school supplies, and back-to-school expenses within the national education system for the children participating in the educational sessions at the childcare centre. This way, their families would have the necessary resources without their children having to work in the coffee fields.

The cooperative also decided to do more. They trained parents and the cooperative's associates on the impact of child labour and provided them with tools to promote child protection.

“For us, child protection isn’t just about having the children here in a classroom. It means their parents know and respect children’s rights, understand the limits of a child’s role in the family, and know what a child cannot do because it could put them at risk,” Marisol explained.

Since 2018, a total of 484 children have participated in the childcare centres. During the months of November, December, and January each year, the childcare centre hosts around 48 children, providing them with a safe and appropriate space for their development while their families engage in the coffee harvest. Through games and lessons, the students learn about coffee production. 

“We’re teaching the children about the world of coffee and showing them that there are many things they can do without having to go to work at such a young age,” Marisol emphasised.

Long-term trading relationships are key to the project

This project could not have been carried out without the support of Miko, a long-standing coffee roaster from Belgium and COCREBISTOL’s main business partner. Miko purchases most of the cooperative’s coffee and has also provided resources for the renovation of the building where the childcare centre is based.

“COCREBISTOL is so much more than just excellent coffee at a fair price,” said Stijn Michelsen, Miko’s Director - Export & Green Coffee. “They care not only for their members, but also for the coffee pickers and their children. And with just as much commitment, COCREBISTOL also protects its natural environment. It’s a partnership we are extremely proud of.”

The cooperative has also received support from strategic partners, including German roaster Tchibo, local producer network CLAC, and Fairtrade. These partners have backed COCREBISTOL’s social initiatives and projects, contributing to the strengthening of the childcare centre.

COCREBISTOL has invested approximately US $47,000 in the project over the past eight years, with the two trading partners contributing a combined total of more than $39,000. This investment has been essential in strengthening the activities and services offered to the children and families who benefit from the programme.

The organisation invests approximately $5,900 annually in the project. Ninety percent of these funds come from the Fairtrade Premium – the money which Fairtrade certified producers receive on top of the selling price, to invest in community and business development projects of their choice.

A ripple effect across Honduras’s coffee farms

This project has also inspired other organisations, such as CAFESCOR. In 2024, COCREBISTOL supported CAFESCOR in creating its own child protection programme, "Niñez Corazón en Café" (Childhood Heart in Coffee). This led to the creation of a playroom and a children’s camp with the goal of protecting children from child labour during harvest season.

In 2025, both organisations shared their experiences as part of CLAC’s efforts to promote coffee culture among children and young people from a protection and educational perspective. Developed within CLAC and Trias’s cooperation programme, it led to a new training model called 4A (Learning, Taking Ownership, Taking Action, and Looking to the Future). Available to all CLAC members across Latin America and the Caribbean, it offers Fairtrade cooperatives a step-by-step guide to developing projects within their own cooperatives, from childhood through youth, with a focus on gender and inclusion to foster ownership of coffee-growing culture. 

One cooperative’s dream to bring an end to child labour in their community has led to ripples of change across Fairtrade coffee growing communities in their country, and beyond. That’s the power of Fairtrade cooperatives and trading partners working together to drive change.