IFCCA : The launch of a national platform to foster an inclusive coffee value chain and women economic empowerment

 CONGOLESE WOMEN IN COFFEE-COCOA INITIATIVE:THE LAUNCH OF A NATIONAL PLATFORM TO FOSTER AN INCLUSIVE COFFEE VALUE CHAIN AND WOMEN ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS:

Julie Kavira Kamungele 

Associate Export Director of Ets. TSONGO KASEREKA

National Representative of the DRC Women in Coffee and Cocoa Platform (IFCCA)

Mrs. Julie Kavira Kamungele  has over 5 years experience in local procurement and  trading of coffee. She is currently the Assistant Export Director of  Ets. TSONGO KASEREKA, a green coffee buying, processing and exporting company based in the town of Butembo, North Kivu Province, in eastern DR Congo. Julie is involved in various programs focused on the empowerment the  women working along the coffee value chain. 


She has represented  the Congolese women in coffee through the International Women in Coffee Alliance (DRC Chapter) and she has just been elected as the National Representative of the DRC Women in Cocoa and Coffee Platform (IFCCA). 

Mrs. Kamungele holds a degree in accounting from “Ecole Professionnelle des Hautes Etudes Commerciales (EPHEC)” in Brussels, Belgium.

Lwanzo Amani 

Senior Private Sector Development Specialist 

Lwanzo Amani is an independent private sector development consultant with over ten years of experience facilitating market access, promoting economic growth, and supporting community development.  Lwanzo most recently led the UK Aid-funded Essor Coffee Value Chain project, implemented by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) advisory services in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) (2016-2017). 

Other clients include:

- The Food Security, Agriculture and Land section of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA);

-The Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA)- joint international institution of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States and the European Union (EU);

- The Office of the Prime Minister of the DRC;

- The World Bank;

- Fresh Del Monte Produce; and

-  The Cameroon Development Corporation (CDC).  

An American citizen originally from Eastern DRC, Amani is fluent in French and English.  She received her Bachelors from Université Catholique de l’Afrique Centrale in Cameroon and her Masters from Duquesne University in the United States.