Latin America and the Caribbean

TechnoServe has developed a new interactive tool to share lessons from our work.

We spoke with TechnoServe’s Coffee Program Manager for Puerto Rico about his plans to revive the industry, the biggest challenges he foresees, and what it’s like to be back home.

2018 was a milestone year for TechnoServe. Not only did we mark a half century of impact, but we built upon this legacy by working with thousands of farmers, entrepreneurs, and partners around the world to create opportunity and prosperity. Here are a few of our favorite stories from the year.

Newmont and TechnoServe partnered to build the capacity of more than 300 entrepreneurs in rural Mexican communities.

Entrepreneurs learn the tools necessary to elevate their business and community.

In the devastating wake of Hurricane Maria, Puerto Rico lost 80 percent of its coffee trees, crippling an important sector of its economy. Now TechnoServe and its partners are teaming up to help rebuild the island’s coffee industry and support thousands of farmers.

TechnoServe promoted a new culture of collaboration and learning across the coffee sector, from testing and evaluating new techniques in rural communities to engaging government and private stakeholders to share data, strengthening the industry as a whole.

TechnoServe is helping to pave the way toward a drug-free Peru by supporting 10,000 coffee-farming families in former coca-growing regions to improve their productivity and access more profitable markets.

In an article for the World Economic Forum, TechnoServe's Program Director for Central America Entrepreneurship discusses ways to engage entrepreneurs in practices that not only benefit women workeres and suppliers, but help solve some of the most common issues facing small and medium businesses.

Olga Velasquez is TechnoServe’s Monitoring and Evaluation Manager for the Better Coffee Harvests Program in Central America. For International Women’s Day, we talked with her about her experience as a woman at TechnoServe, and why good data is important for creating stronger, more gender-inclusive coffee economies.