Acknowledgements

The Coffee Development Report (CDR) 2021 has been prepared by the ICO under the leadership of its Executive Director, José Sette, and under the overall guidance of Gerardo Patacconi, Head of Operations, who was responsible for the conceptualization of the CDR and for overviewing its preparation, finalization, editing and publishing. Denis Seudieu, ICO Chief Economist, coordinated the work of the external contributors.

The CDR is based on extensive research carried out by experts from Michigan State University (MSU) led by Dr Felix Kwame Yeboah, who was in turn assisted by Dr Leonidas Murembya and Dr Deepa Thiagarajan. Other contributors from MSU included David DeYoung, Academic Specialist, and Mariana Sow, a third year PhD student. These experts from MSU prepared Part II of the CDR and their research was co-funded by the ICO and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) through Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), GmbH, to which the ICO expresses sincere thanks and appreciation.

Important contributions were also made by members of the ICO’s Coffee Public-Private Task Force (CPPTF) who actively participated in the research process by sharing their experiences in addressing the topical issue of youth involvement in the coffee global value chain (C-GVC). Specifically, the CDR benefitted from the valuable input of and comments from Matteo Landi and the Allmende team, as well as research support from Rafael Paz, Bin Wen, Art Ma and Chloe Majzel. Special thanks go to Elizabeth Price and Saano Murembya, whose pro-bono work kick-started the analysis. The ICO’s deepest appreciation goes also to the numerous coffee sector stakeholders and young “coffeepreneurs” who took the time to share their insights with us, including those who kindly responded to two ad-hoc online surveys managed by the ICO/ Allmende and by the MSU team.

The ICO team further recognizes the valuable contributions of ICO staff members: Dock No, Statistical Coordinator; and Alexander Rocos, Statistics Consultant, who prepared Part III, section D; Veronica Ottelli, Secretariat and External Relations Officer, and Nina Clarke, Translation and Documents Coordinator, for proofreading, editing and harmonization of the Report, and publishing coordination; and Aaron Calzadilla-Sarmiento, ICO intern. Valuable inputs were also provided by the team from the Initiative for Sustainable Agricultural Supply Chains (INA) of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH and by Wolfgang Weinmann, Coordinator, ICO Coffee Public-Private Task Force (CPPTF), on secondment from GIZ.

The ICO team also recognizes the efforts of the publishing and design company “Ladybird” and especially of Soha Atallah and Roni Mounzer, for the graphic design, general layout, editing, proof-reading and the preparation of all the illustration, including the cover and back cover of the report.

The list of those who agreed to be interviewed by the MSU team is presented in Annex 2, and apologies go to any individuals or organizations inadvertently omitted from this list. We express our gratitude to everybody who contributed to this Report, including those whose names may not appear herein, and to all families and friends who have supported us in this endeavour.

The ICO team recognizes that young people face many obstacles when trying to earn a living due to limited access to skilled jobs. Despite the hard work it requires, agriculture provides an enormous range of career opportunities for young people who are expected to be the driving force behind the positive transformation of the coffee sector. This expectation and belief in the capacity of young people in coffee-producing countries (CPCs), as well as those engaged in all components of the coffee supply chain, including baristas and consumers, have inspired and motivated the preparation of this CDR. Engaging effectively with and providing tools and resources to the coffee sector's Next Generations is, after all, not an aim but a must.