It is not possible to talk about the UGK Foundation without mentioning FEDECOCAGUA, R.L. The Federation of Agricultural Cooperatives of Coffee Producers of Guatemala was founded in 1969, when 19 coffee cooperatives met to be able to export their coffee and thus obtain more added value for their product. Currently 148 Cooperatives, Farmer Associations and other groups with a total of approximately 23'000 small coffee producers market their product through this second-grade Cooperative and thus have access to the globalized market.

 

The Federation has always had and continues to have a social vision of entrepreneurship; that is why it is interested in the often precarious living conditions of many of its associates male and female. In order to carry out more social projects, in 2007 it was decided to create the Ulrich Gurtner Kappeler Foundation. The members of the Board of Directors were the ones who wanted to give the Foundation the name of the general manager of Fedecocagua who in 1989 managed to rescue the Federation from a very critical situation and transform it into a modern company that is currently one of the most important coffee exporters in the country. The Federation prides itself in always respecting the values ​​of cooperativism that are independence and democratic control of the groups; economic participation of the members; education and continuous training; cooperation and solidarity between the groups as well as commitment to the community to which they belong.

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We implement projects of all kinds. On the one hand there are "classic" social projects in favor of the associates themselves and the communities in which they live. We improve homes, donate wood-saving stoves, water filters and water storage tanks, provide scholarships, offer help to victims of natural disasters, pay for medical treatments, build classrooms or support health centers.

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On the other hand, the UGK Foundation promotes technical projects in affiliated Cooperatives which in their communities often act as a motor of development. We then respect the vision of Fedecocagua that is to fight against poverty above all by improving productivity and the product of the members, - coffee! - to earn more for their work. In that effect, we provide construction materials for wet mills, coffee wastewater treatment plants - collective or individual depending on the region, coffee drying patios.

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FEDECOCAGUA, R.L. is the main source of funding. Another part of the funds comes from the coffee trade that has a direct or indirect relationship with FEDECOCAGUA, R.L. FEDECOCAGUA, R.L. provides the administrative resources, which allows 100% of the external funds to go to the projects themselves  Beneficiaries always have to put a counterpart in projects that are money or labor or a part of the materials.

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The UGK Foundation staff consists of the administrator, Katell Segalen de Arriaga, who works at the headquarters of FEDECOCAGUA, R.L. and ad honorem Project Manager Jurik Rockenbach-Keller, a retired language teacher who met FEDECOCAGUA in 1998 and is a founding member of the UGK Foundation. He lives in Switzerland, but communicates continuously with Katell and spends two months a year in Guatemala where he visits Cooperatives to prepare and supervise projects. He is also in contact with sponsors, mostly in Europe.

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It would not be possible to carry out all of our projects without the support of many other members of the FEDECOCAGUA, R.L. family: the managers, the entire Technical Assistance team and the Department of finance at headquarters, as well as managers, para-technicians, associates with their families in the Cooperatives. It is true that if we did not respect the same values ​​of cooperativism, we would not achieve our goals. That's why: thanks to everyone who gets involved in our projects!