Summary Report: 2016 Coconut Stakeholder Summit on Sustainability

On June 23rd and 24th, Fair Trade USA hosted a convening of coconut
industry stakeholders at the Impact Hub in Manila, Philippines. The
intent of this event was to gather a diverse range of key
stakeholders in a pre-competitive environment to discuss challenges
and priorities for coconut industry sustainability, with a focus on the
millions of smallholder farmers that supply coconuts to the world.

The 1.5 days of the Summit were open and collaborative, catalyzing
participants to learn, share strategies, and consider the possibilities
of co-creating a path towards wider industry collaboration.
1
The Voices in the Room
We were thrilled to welcome participants who represented the
diverse actors in the coconut supply chain, from farmer to retailer,
as well as key NGO and government organizations. A full list of
attendees can be found in Appendix A at the end of this document.

54
ATTENDING ORGANIZATIONS
Retailer
Brand
Participants Trader NGO

26
Organizations
Processor

Social
Enterprise

5
Countries
Farmer's
Organization Government

The diversity of actors present helped to create balanced insight

throughout the sessions of the Summit. As we continue the
conversation, we would like to encourage participation from
additional stakeholders to further broaden the perspective of this
group. We hope to ensure even greater representation of actors
from all the diverse geographies that produce and purchase coconut
products. If you werent able to participate in this Summit but are
interested in being a part of an upcoming event or collaboration,
please share your interest directly with jcuster@fairtradeusa.org.
2
The Agenda
Because this Summit was the first opportunity for many of the
stakeholders in attendance to interact directly with each other, the
agenda was designed to facilitate a learning journey to help us
visualize the bigger picture of the coconut industry.

SESSION 1 was all about EXPLORING farm-level sustainability challenges

Evidence Based Insights Learning from Farmers Align on Priorities

First, some of the
organizations that have been
taking a closer look at root
problems of many farm-level
challenges shared their data-
based insights.
Next, coconut farmers shared
their perspectives on key
challenges related to farms,
income sustainability, and
community needs.
We documented the
challenges that arose under
each topic. Through
synthesis and discussion, we
prioritized 5 key challenges
to focus on collectively.

SESSION 2 allowed us to share our current strategies for addressing these challenges

Reflect on the Day Identify Opportunities Share & Map Strategies

At the end of the day, we
took a moment to reflect and
share our learnings and
realizations.
As attendees described their
organizations strategies, we
mapped them against the 5
challenges we prioritized to
visualize if and how we are
addressing them currently.
All attendees were invited to
share their current strategies
for addressing farm level
sustainability in coconut.

SESSION 3 pushed us to envision a brighter future through greater collaboration

Future Perfect State Achievable Targets The Way Forward

We broke out into groups
again and began to visualize
what the coconut industry
might look like if each of the
5 key challenges we
prioritized were 100% solved.
After dreaming big for the
future, we came back to
reality and for each challenge
worked to define what could
reasonably be achieved in 1
and 3 years.
After 1.5 days of learning,
sharing, and collaboration,
we discussed how we could
move forward together to
create a brighter future in the
coconut industry

3
 Session 1 Summary: Explore
Key Goal: To learn from each other and especially farmers, in order
to align on the key farm-level challenges
How We Explored:
Evidence Based Insights
To get started, some of the organizations that have been taking a closer look at root problems of many
farm-level challenges shared their data-based insights. Asa Feinstein, of Coco Asenso, showed us how
the lack of farmer access to accessible and affordable financial services has distorted the copra value
chain in Samar by creating the need for many intermediary traders. This sparked a robust discussion
about the role of various players throughout the value chain as well as some discussion of the alternative
realities (i.e. processors buying directly from farmers and the collective empowerment of farmers through
the cooperative model). Then, we heard from Marco Montemayor who shared data from Grameen
Foundations research which highlighted four key challenges, including low productivity, low access to
financial services, late pest detection, and low market prices, as root problems.

Learning from Farmers

Next, coconut farmers shared their perspectives
on key challenges related to farms, income
sustainability, and community needs. Attendees
broke into randomized groups so that diverse
stakeholders could learn from farmers and each
other throughout the conversation. As we
explored each topic, we documented and
posted the many challenges that arose in order
to review them together.

Aligning on Priorities
It was our goal to align on a few key challenges to collectively prioritize. To facilitate the larger group
discussion on prioritization, we used the following methodology to first synthesize the many posts:

Frequency: Many groups identified similar challenges

so we clustered each post into related groupings in
order to visualize which were most prominently noted.

Topic Cross-over: We saw that the challenges dont

exist in isolation for example, insufficient access to
financial services negatively affects farm management
and income stability. So, we mixed posts from each
topics to put them in the relevant challenge cluster.

4
 Root vs. Symptom: Some challenges could be
categorized as root problems while others were more
subsequent symptoms. We focused each challenge
cluster on the root issue, noting that if it is addressed,
the symptoms could likely be alieved as well.

Sphere of Influence: We set aside major challenge

clusters that we may not be in the best position to
affect immediately. For example, land tenure, global
market pricing, and natural realities like typhoons.

Through group discussion, we were able to align on 5 key challenges on which to prioritize our focus:

Access to resources, to optimize the farm: Many groups learned that farmers did not have
C1 access to inputs they needed to maximize the value of their farms. For example, high quality
planting materials were difficult to source in some areas or too expensive in others. If we can
create an environment in which farmers have access to the right resources needed to maximize
their land, well have a healthier coconut industry.

Access to knowledge, to optimize farm and income management: Beyond the need for
C2 resources, it became evident that farmers often dont have access to the knowledge they need to
make informed decisions for optimal management of both their farms and their incomes. If we can
ensure that farmers are aware of and able to regularly access important information, they can
make decisions that are best for their farms, livelihoods, and the industry.

Access to finance: Lack of access to formal financial services means that many farmers must
C3 either borrow money inefficiently (e.g., from informal lenders in ways that either erode the value of
their coconut sales or charge excessive interest) or simply do without enough cash to cover the
basics, let alone invest in improving their farms and livelihoods. If we can create holistic systems
that provide accessible and affordable financial resources to farmers, we can foresee a more
stable coconut industry.

Supply chain optimization: There are often several layers of intermediaries between farm and
C4 processor. While these actors often provide important services to farmers (e.g. transport and
commercialization of their coconuts and informal loans), they can also create inefficiencies and
reduce the value that farmers can earn from their hard work. If we can facilitate a more robust
market of services or alternate channels where farmers can access services typically provided by
intermediaries, we can create more efficient supply chains with greater value for each actor.

Community infrastructure: In our discussion, many farmers reported lack of important

C5 infrastructure for a thriving community. This included things like farm-to-market roads, nearby
schools, and quality healthcare. It was also noted that coconut harvesting work can be quite
dangerous, but there doesnt seem to be standard industry safety practices or protective
equipment in use. If we can bring together key actors (governments, NGOs, farmers
organizations, etc.) to focus on key elements of facilitating the creation of important community
infrastructure, farming communities will be better equipped to overcome their other challenges.

5
 Key Learning: Farm-level challenges are vast and systemic, but we
think that if we can all focus on addressing these five key challenges,
we can collectively create an environment in which coconut farmers,
and thus the industry, can thrive.
Materials: See Session 1 photos here and presentations here.
Session 2 Summary: Exchange
Key Goal: To visualize if and how our current strategies for building a
sustainable coconut industry map against the 5 key challenges we
prioritized in Session 1, and to identify gaps and opportunities
How We Exchanged:
Share & Map Strategies
After aligning our focus on
key challenges, we took the
afternoon to share our current
strategies. All were welcome
to share of the 26 attending
organizations, 9 (representing
Farmers Organization,
Processor, NGO, Social
Enterprise, and Brand
attendees) spoke about their
initiatives to mitigate and
overcome challenges and
improve farm level
sustainability in coconut.
C1
As attendees shared their
strategies, we mapped their
work against the 5 key C2
challenges we prioritized in
Session 1. We used this
C3
mapping exercise to help us
visualize how we are currently
addressing the key C4
challenges prioritized, as well
as to identify major gaps or
and opportunities. C5

6
 Identify Opportunities
While we expected to see gaps showing that certain challenges were not being addressed, what we
actually saw was that most of the 9 organizations that presented were trying to address most if not all of
the five key challenges. In one sense, this indicates that we are already trying to think holistically about
the challenges and develop comprehensive solutions. On the other hand, it highlights a potential
opportunity to make a greater impact through collaboration. If each organization is able to focus more on
a particular aspect of the solution, perhaps we can achieve greater scale through partnership.

Key Learning: There are many stakeholders already working hard to

address the five key challenges identified; however, we see the
potential to create gains in efficacy, efficiency, and overall impact by
further aligning and better collaborating.
Materials: See photos here and presentations here.
Reflections from Day 1:
At the end of the day, a few attendees chose to share their insights. To paraphrase:
From the retail perspective, I always knew that a coconut had to come a long way and go
through a lot of processing to get on our shelves, but after today, I realized just how many
people and resources need to be involved to make it all work. Retail representative

I always thought that we farmers would be alone but now I realize that there are many
people who would like to support the coconut industry and make it better for everyone.
- Farmer representative

Session 3 Summary: Empower

Key Goal: To visualize a sustainable future state in the coconut
industry and imagine how we might work together to get there
How We Empowered:
Future Perfect State
After aligning on key farm-level challenges and learning
more about how we are all currently working to address
these challenges, we took another opportunity to break
out into smaller groups (this time one group focused on
each key challenge) and began to visualize what the
coconut industry might look like if each challenge was
100% solved. We took this moment to dream big and
imagined that we were collectively capable of
overcoming all the barriers. Each group presented on
their vision for the future.

7
 Achievable Targets
After we took some time to dream big, we came back to
reality and took more time to think how to start ourselves on a
path towards realizing our Future Perfect State. For each
challenge, we worked to define what we could reasonably be
achieved in the next 1 and 3 years. This exercise helped us
to visualize how any of the challenges could be structured
and solved in many different ways. It pushed us to think
about the types of actors that would need to be involved and
the types and amounts of resources we might need to take
those first steps. We also thought about the metrics we would
use to determine if we had achieved our targets.

With only a half day to complete this work, it was of course impossible for each group to create a
complete plan or exact targets for each challenge. However, these thought exercises helped us to
envision what the process to collaborate and solve these problems might look like and consider how we
could do so in the future to work towards achieving our Future Perfect State in the coconut industry.

Key Learning: In order to achieve our goals, all stakeholders need to

demonstrate leadership and be an active part of the efforts to drive
progress. We believe the establishment of a global Coconut
Industry Platform may be important, as a convening organization to
actively coordinate global stakeholders and support the alignment
of goals, actions, and outcomes
Materials: See photos here and presentations here
The Way Forward
The Summit experience challenged us to think about how we could create a more sustainable coconut
industry. Our collaboration during the event led us to start to think about what we might be able to achieve
by working more closely together towards common goals.

8
What would a great collaboration look like?
During our final exercise, we asked ourselves to consider what we
would want a wider industry collaboration to look like. This
challenged us to imagine what kinds of attributes we would want an
industry platform to embody in order to achieve our goals.
We kicked off the thought process by highlighting the following attributes for feedback:

A great platform should:

1. Be global in scope, representing all significant coconut producing and consuming countries
2. Be representative:
1. Of all actors in the coconut supply-chain, including farmers, in-country traders, processors,
international traders, brands, retailers, social enterprises, government and inter-governmental
organizations, NGOs, and foundations/donor organizations
2. Of all coconut by-products of coconuts, including things like coconut water, desiccated
coconut, virgin coconut oil, and others that represent food consumption as well as copra
processed into oleo chemicals for end-use in personal and home care products
3. Serve as a hub for collaboration, where members can share learnings and resources, align on
priorities, coordinate actions, and report on progress

Participants generally agreed with these suggestions and, through discussion, the group also
brainstormed the following additional attributes that we felt were key for success:

A great platform should also:

1. Embody a culture of learning and continuous improvement
2. Institute equitable distribution of responsibilities and benefits among members
3. Be a membership organization that requires commitment and accountability to action

With these attributes in mind, we explored examples of other industry-wide platforms (such as Ethical Tea
Partnership, World Cocoa Foundation, and Bonsucro) that have developed various levels of membership
participation, commitment, and outcomes to achieve their goals. While as a group we were not ready to
commit to establishing a particular type of platform just yet, we agreed that Fair Trade USA would draft a
proposal for a Coconut Industry Platform for the attendees (as well as other coconut industry
stakeholders) to review and respond to with their feedback.

Next Steps
Fair Trade USA will share the draft proposal for a Coconut Industry
Platform to Summit attendees as well as other coconut industry
stakeholders, along with instructions for providing feedback, by mid-
August, 2016. Well use your feedback to refine the proposal and
guide next steps for the continued engagement of this group.
9
Appendix A: List of Attendees
Name Organization Organization Type
1 Sri Artham FT USA NGO
2 Nora Pittenger FT USA NGO
3 Jessica Custer FT USA NGO
4 Sarah Minarik FT USA NGO
5 Ronald Tabulog FT USA NGO
6 Abby Ayers Daymon Retailer
7 Yueyue Wang Mars Brand
8 Yen Chin Vita Coco Brand
9 Thelonious S. Trimmell ACDI/VOCA NGO
10 Emmanuel R. Quisol ACDI/VOCA NGO
11 Emeline Mimi Sabado ACDI/VOCA NGO
12 Suzette J. Alvior DRCICI / CocoLink (www.cocolinkph.org) NGO
13 Restituto B. Miral Sr. Nagmasid Koop Farmer's Organization
14 Maximo D. Brandino Nagmasid Koop Farmer's Organization
15 Marcos O. Edullantes Nagmasid Koop Farmer's Organization
16 Lisa A. Beltran KSCFC Farmer's Organization
17 Lilia Perez KSCFC Farmer's Organization
18 Catherine L. Ampong KSCFC Farmer's Organization
19 Erlinda F Dolatre GIZ (SCNO Project) NGO
20 Gladys A Gopez GIZ (SCNO Project) NGO
21 Carlos Penera GIZ (SCNO Project) NGO
22 Gigi Gatti Grameen Foundation NGO
23 Ana Herrera Grameen Foundation NGO
24 Marco Montemayor Grameen Foundation NGO
25 Catherine Phelps Grameen Foundation NGO
26 Gretchen Phillips Friends of Hope, Inc. Social Enterprise
27 Monica Ricafort Friends of Hope, Inc. Social Enterprise
28 Carolyn Fallert Friends of Hope, Inc. Social Enterprise
29 Asa Feinstein COCOASENSO CORP. Social Enterprise
30 Shelley Anne Francisco Oxfam NGO
31 Schubert Ciencia Oxfam NGO
32 Raul Limbo Peter Paul Processor
33 Quirino Panganiban Peter Paul Processor
34 Jasmine E. Magtibay FAO Government
35 Achara Phremtheerawatchai Universal Food Public Company Limited Processor
36 Darin Paweenwongchai Darnetta (Thailand) Co., Ltd Trader
37 Pakawan Ruenroeng Darnetta (Thailand) Co., Ltd Trader
38 Leonardo Q. Montemayor Federation of Free Farmers Farmer's Organization

10
Appendix A: List of Attendees
Name Organization Organization Type
39 Arceli D. Yap Franklin Baker Processor
40 Jun C. Concibido Franklin Baker Processor
41 Cesar Q. Galvez Franklin Baker Processor
42 Nick Oriel SMMNCQ Farmer's Organization
43 Jun Rosas SMMNCQ Farmer's Organization
44 Aurea Laydia SMMNCQ Farmer's Organization
45 Carmelita Tuando Farmer's Organization
46 Irene Morbos COBPHEL Farmer's Organization
47 George Borboran Youth STAND Farmer's Organization
48 Albert Catacutan LMMK Farmer's Organization
49 Linar Pereda Municipality of Mulanay Government
50 Gracielle Decena Municipality of Mulanay Government
51 Mars Mendoza Fair Trade Alliance NGO
52 Susan Llamido Davao City Free Farmers Cooperative Farmer's Organization
53 Roel M. Rosales Philippines Coconut Authority Government
54 Dennis Andres Philippines Coconut Authority Government

11
Appendix B: Summit Agenda
Agenda: Day 1 - Thursday, June 23rd, 2016
8:30 Registration
9:00 Welcome, Agenda, and Rules
9:15 Introductions
Session 1: EXPLORE
Learn about the farm-level issues that are of strategic relevance to the coconut industry
9:30 Agricultural Industry Sustainability: The example of cocoa & a coconut market update
Evidence-based Insights
9:45 Organizations digging into specific challenges like access to credit and disaster preparedness
will share what they've learned through data collection
10:45 Break (snacks provided)
Learn from a Farmer
11:00 Farmers will share their perspectives on farm productivity, income stability and
diversification, and community needs during breakout Q&A sessions
12:30 Lunch (provided)
1:30 Recap Session 1 and Align on Priority Challenges
Session 2: EXCHANGE
Share current strategies for building a more sustainable coconut industry
Strategies Sharing and Mapping
2:30 Participants share their current strategies to address farm-level sustainability and the group
helps to map them against priority challenges identified in Session 1 (Break at 3:30)
4:30 Summary of the Day and Group Reflections
5:00 Evening Reception - Join us for drinks and dinner
Agenda: Day 2 - Friday, June 24th, 2016
Session 3: EMPOWER
Reflect on Day 1 and Align on a Vision for the Future
9:00 Welcome and Reminder of What We Achieved on Day 1
Future "Perfect" State Visioning Exercise
9:30 Breakout groups focused on the priority challenges identified during Session 1 will envision
what farms and the industry would be like if the challenges were 100% resolved
10:45 Break (snacks provided)
Achievable Targets Visioning Exercise
11:00 After defining the perfect state, breakout groups will brainstorm what could reasonably be
achieved in 1 year and 3 years, if the industry aligned to address the challenges
11:45 Summary of the Visioning Exercises

12:00 How can we move forward?

Open discussion on next steps for coconut industry alignment and collaboration
12:50 Summit Wrap-up and Close

12