Chocolate Cordillera, a sustainable brand based in Colombia, marked a notable milestone last week with the graduation of more than 100 women cocoa farmers from the Urabá region through the ATENEA sustainability programme.
The ATENEA programme seeks to transform not only the lives of these women but also their families, communities, and the wider cocoa supply chain, empowering them as independent entrepreneurs.
‘Women Who Transcend’
Launched in July 2023 by Chocolate Cordillera , the B2B division of Grupo Nutersa’s Compañía Nacional de Chocolates, the ATENEA initiative, titled ‘Women Who Transcend’, aims to create a long-term impact by transforming the lives of women cocoa producers, contributing to a fairer and more equitable value chain, and a more sustainable business environment.
“We believe in the power of women to impact and generate a transformation on a larger scale,” a spokesperson for Chocolate Cordillera explained. “We believe that we’re not impacting an individual when we impact women. We’re impacting a family. We’re impacting a community on a larger scale.”
Business modules
Since its launch, the programme made progress in just over a year, guiding participants through three essential business modules: entrepreneurship in chocolate processing, financial education for rural women, and female empowerment.
The first module focuses on strengthening women’s skills and knowledge to create cocoa-based businesses, developed in collaboration with the SENA Emprende Rural Program. The second, in partnership with Development International Desjardins (DID), aims to provide business support and identify opportunities for financial improvement among rural women. Finally, the third module addresses the unique challenges rural women face, promoting gender equality and enhancing their personal, family, and professional development.
According to Chocolate Cordillera, the success of the initiative will be assessed based on the positive changes experienced by the participants and their contributions to Colombian society and its cocoa industry. Find out more here.
Pictured: A female cocoa farmer in Cordillera’s ATENEA initiative inspects her cocoa farm.
