Idjwe Island - DR Congo

Idjwi Island is located in the middle of Lake Kivu in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where coffee has long been one of the primary sources of income for local families. This lot was produced by members of Rebuild Women’s Hope (RWH), a women-led cooperative founded in 2013 by Marcelline Budza to address the deep inequalities women in the region have historically faced in both agriculture and coffee. For many years, women were excluded from land ownership and denied control over the income generated by the coffee they helped grow. RWH was created to change that by placing women at the center of economic activity and community development.

Today, the cooperative provides agronomic training, access to centralized washing stations, and business education that allows producers to improve quality and earn higher prices for their coffee. RWH also invests directly in community infrastructure, including clean water access and a maternal and pediatric hospital that serves thousands of families on the island each year. Income earned by women through coffee production has a measurable impact on household stability, education, and long-term economic independence.

Coffee from Idjwi Island is still rare in the specialty market due to the region’s limited infrastructure and historically difficult access to export channels. Projects like Rebuild Women’s Hope are helping change that by creating direct pathways to market and ensuring that the value of these coffees returns to the producers themselves. Every purchase of this lot supports a system in which women are paid fairly and on time for their work, while also contributing to ongoing investments in quality, sustainability, and community wellbeing.