Hanns R. Neumann Stiftung

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Hanns R. Neumann Stiftung

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Hanns R. Neumann Stiftung (HRNS) is an independent foundation, working to improve the livelihoods of smallholder families in coffee regions.

Neumann Stiftung (HRNS) is an independent foundation working with smallholder families in coffee regions and youth in Germany. We believe that only strong future generations around the globe can shape a livable world. HRNS is implementing projects in seven countries worldwide focusing on the livelihood situation of smallholder families with a holistic approach in the areas of youth, climate change, family business, organizational development and gender. This contributes to prospering smallholder families, strong future generations, employment and employability, attractive rural communities and landscapes worth living in. We see youth as drivers of change globally and in Germany. Since its foundation in 2005, HRNS reached more than 330.000 smallholder families in 18 countries. In Germany, HRNS is supporting more than 20 organizations that are committed to giving socio-economically disadvantaged youth, both immigrant and non-immigrant, the opportunity to look confidently into the future. Imprint: https://www.hrnstiftung.org/imprint

20/10/2026

Meet the Team: From Brazil to Panama! 🌎☕

What brings our colleagues from Brazil to World of Coffee Panama?

Meet Denis do Nascimento Silva and Silvia Torres from HRNS do Brazil, who will be joining colleagues and coffee professionals from around the world at this year's event.

🌱 Silvia is a Project Coordinator working on regenerative agriculture, coffee agroforestry, and climate action projects involving young people. She's looking forward to sharing experiences from Brazil and learning how others are approaching similar challenges in different regions.

💬 “I'm very excited to share some of the initiatives we are working on here in Brazil, as well as getting to exchange experiences with people from other backgrounds and different regions of the world.”

🤝 Denis is the Administrative and Finance Director at HRNS Brazil. His work connects strategy, people, and resources, ensuring responsible financial management and helping turn project plans into action.

💬 “Coffee is much more than a product. It connects people, cultures, businesses, and opportunities around the world.”

They'll be joined by HRNS colleagues Pablo Andres Ruiz Ruiz, Emy Rossibel Cruz Morales, Marco Antonio Fajardo Menjivar, Stefan Ruge, Iris Karina Orellana Peña, Orlando Sajbochol, and William Melgar.

We're looking forward to exchanging experiences from our work with farming families, learning from different perspectives, and connecting with others across the coffee sector.

📍 World of Coffee Panama | October 23-25, 2026

Will you be there? We'd love to connect!

15/10/2026

What does it take to turn agricultural training into lasting change? 🌱☕

During a recent visit to North Sumatra, Indonesia, our Program and Partnerships Manager Malte Fähnders gained valuable insights into the progress of our work with coffee farming families in the Dairi region.

Together with Peet's Coffee, we are currently working with around 3,700 coffee farmers to improve farm productivity and household incomes while promoting more sustainable and climate-resilient agricultural practices.

Farmers are learning techniques such as targeted pruning, improved nutrient management, and the production of locally sourced organic inputs, including Fish Amino Acid (FAA) and JADAM products.

One observation from Malte's visit was particularly relevant to our approach: Understanding a new farming practice doesn't automatically mean farmers can apply it consistently.

While many farmers are motivated to adopt new techniques, practical barriers, such as limited access to materials, can prevent them from doing so. This is why we are increasingly looking at how local services and supply systems can complement agricultural training and make new practices more accessible.

The visit also highlighted the value of practical demonstrations directly on farms and close collaboration with existing farmer groups and local agricultural extension services. These approaches help farmers assess which methods work best under their local conditions.

Equally important is the economic perspective. For farming families to adopt new practices over the long term, they need to see tangible benefits for their farms and livelihoods.

Another encouraging development is that more than half of the participating farmers are women, exceeding the project's original target.

Malte's visit reinforced an important lesson for our work:

Advancing regenerative agriculture takes time, trust, and continuous engagement with farming communities. Understanding the practical challenges farmers face is essential to developing approaches they can sustain over time.

13/10/2026

What if protecting a forest also meant creating better prospects for the people who depend on it? 🌱☕

In Ethiopia’s Yayu Coffee Forest Biosphere Reserve, coffee, forests, and livelihoods are closely connected. More than 150,000 people live in Yayu’s transition zone, while the forest is also a biodiversity hotspot and one of the birthplaces of wild Arabica coffee.

This creates a complex challenge: farming families need viable livelihoods, while increasing pressure on land threatens the ecosystem on which coffee production itself depends.

From 2018 to 2025, the Restoring Degraded Coffee Landscapes project worked with farming families and local institutions to address these challenges together. Rather than treating coffee production and conservation separately, activities combined climate-smart farming, landscape restoration, farmer organizations, market opportunities, and the Gender Household Approach.

The results show what this can look like in practice:
🌱 Adoption of good agricultural practices (GAP) increased from 36% to 72%.
☕ Farmers adopting GAPs recorded a 26% increase in average coffee income.
🌳 Almost 5,000 hectares came under improved conservation.
🤝 Joint household decision-making increased from 39% to 72%.

The project also generated important lessons about why change lasts: farmers learning from farmers, cooperatives connecting sustainable production with markets, women and men making decisions together, and local institutions taking ownership from the beginning.

As Project Manager Sisay Abebe puts it:
“Conservation and coffee production should be treated as one system.”

Our latest Muddy Boots article by Katharina van Treeck explores what seven years of work in Yayu have taught us, and introduces coffee farmer Mulinesh Ejerso, whose experience shows what these changes can mean at household level.

🥾 Read the full story:
https://ow.ly/p9TO50ZUeCn

09/10/2026

What’s next for youth development in Ethiopia? 🌱🇪🇹

After five years of working with young people in Ethiopia, the SAfA Ethiopia project is entering its second phase (2026-2030), building on the experiences, partnerships, and lessons learned since 2021.

The regional launch in Jimma, Oromia, brought together government representatives, universities, community actors, and implementing partners to discuss priorities for the years ahead. The event also marked the start of Phase II activities in Limu Kossa Woreda.

Across Oromia and Amhara, the next phase aims to reach 26,500 young people aged 15-35 through three complementary areas of work:

🌱 Agriculture and livelihoods: HRNS Ethiopia will work with Youth Agricultural Innovation Groups (YAIGs), Farmer Training Centers, and young agripreneurs to develop agricultural skills, business opportunities, and more resilient livelihoods.

💚 Sexual and reproductive health: DSW Ethiopia will focus on access to knowledge, life skills, and youth-friendly health services.

🚚 Logistics and supply chains: LEARN Logistics by Kühne Foundation will provide knowledge and skills in supply chain management and post-harvest logistics.

An important part of Phase II is continuing to work with selected participants from the first phase, allowing earlier experiences and investments to contribute to longer-term outcomes.

For HRNS, the coming years offer an opportunity to apply what we have learned, further develop approaches to youth participation in agricultural value chains, and work alongside young people as they shape their economic futures.

We look forward to continuing this collaboration with our partners and local stakeholders in Ethiopia!

06/10/2026

Some roles really do mean going the extra mile

Meet Hillary Katungwensi, our HRNS driver in Uganda. His working days often start early, taking our teams several hours into rural areas to reach farming families.

The farther the journey takes them, the more challenging the roads can become. In an average month, Hillary drives around 1,500 kilometers.

And then there is the rainy season. Mud, potholes, flat tires, and unexpected detours can turn a three-hour drive into five. For Hillary, finding a way forward is part of the job, while always making sure the team arrives safely.

What keeps him going is knowing who is waiting at the end of the journey.

💬 “When we arrive and see farmers waiting for us, the long hours and difficult roads feel worthwhile. Many live far from essential services, so reaching them takes effort. Knowing that I am helping connect them to the support they need makes every kilometer count.”

Hillary’s story offers a glimpse into an important part of our work that often happens behind the scenes. Reaching farming families can require hours on the road before an activity even begins, and colleagues like Hillary make those connections possible.

Thank you, Hillary, for going the extra mile and getting our teams safely where they need to be. 🚙

04/10/2026

What does regenerative agriculture look like in a coffee agroforestry system? 🌱☕

In Carmo de Minas, Brazil, 52 farmers and agricultural experts came together to explore how regenerative practices and agroforestry can contribute to more resilient coffee production.

The workshop combined technical knowledge with the realities farmers face in the field, from selecting coffee varieties suited to individual farm conditions to integrating trees into coffee production and managing soil and natural resources more effectively.

Participants explored how these practices can contribute to soil recovery, biodiversity, microclimate regulation and greater resilience to climate change, while exchanging experiences and practical knowledge on agroforestry management.

🎥 Watch the reel for some impressions from the workshop and insights shared throughout the day.

The WALD - Agroforestry for Carbon, Ecosystems & Livelihoods Project is managed by IUCN - International Union for Conservation of Nature, in partnership with GrowGrounds and funded via Bundesministerium für wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung (BMZ) through KfW Development Bank. It supports the implementation of agroforestry systems in coffee plantations, pastures, and unused areas across the Mantiqueira region and municipalities in southern Minas Gerais.

📄 Want to learn more about the project? Download the project factsheet on our website:
https://ow.ly/Scr950ZUezc

02/10/2026

What does 25 years of collaboration look like in practice? ☕🌍

At this year’s SCTA Forum & Dinner in Montreux, HRNS joined partners and industry stakeholders from across the coffee sector to exchange perspectives, and to mark a special milestone together with International Coffee Partners (ICP): its 25th anniversary.

Long-term collaboration is central to how we work at HRNS. Together with partners across the coffee sector and beyond, we work to improve the social and economic living conditions of smallholder farming families, protect the environment, and create opportunities for young people. These relationships allow us to combine expertise, resources, and perspectives with long-term experience from coffee-producing regions. They also create opportunities to bring what we learn alongside farming families into wider conversations about the future of the sector.

One example is our 25-year collaboration with ICP, whose activities we continue to accompany as part of our management mandate.

In Montreux, Karen Hadem, Theresa Ruperti, Katharina Lima de Miranda and Marystella Shirima represented HRNS, connecting with partners and contributing experiences from our work in coffee-producing regions.

During the session “From Projects to Lasting Change – Do Farmers and the Coffee Sector Agree on What Actually Works?”, Marystella, Agronomist at HRNS Tanzania, shared insights from working with smallholder coffee-farming families in Mbeya and Songwe.

Her experience shows how lasting change can take shape locally: through meaningful farmer involvement, strong farmer organizations and Farmer Field Schools, access to financial services, and households developing a shared vision for their future. Local organizations are particularly important in keeping knowledge, services, and opportunities accessible beyond the duration of individual projects.

At the same time, listening to farming families also reveals where more work is needed.

Marystella highlighted gaps in access to financial services that reflect farmers’ circumstances and the need for greater alignment among stakeholders around farmers’ actual needs.

This is why long-term cooperation matters to us: it creates space to learn, adapt, and connect experiences from the field with the expertise and resources of different partners.

Thank you to everyone we met and exchanged with in Montreux!

01/10/2026

On International Coffee Day, we’re looking at the people behind every cup: coffee-farming families. ☕🌍

How well do we understand their different realities?

Farming households are not all the same. Their resources, production systems, income opportunities, and barriers to achieving a living income can differ considerably. So can the cost of a decent standard of living from one location to another.

A joint study by Wageningen Social & Economic Research, HereWeGrow and Hanns R. Neumann Stiftung - HRNS explored how these differences can be better reflected when designing projects with coffee-farming households in Uganda.

The research combined two complementary approaches:

🔎 Farmer Segmentation examines the different barriers households face in reaching a living income. Grouping households according to relevant farm and household characteristics can help identify interventions suited to different types of farming households.

📍 Regional Living Income Benchmarks account for differences in the cost of a decent standard of living within a country. The researchers developed a scalable and cost-effective methodology using open-source data to better reflect these local realities.

A pilot in Uganda’s coffee-producing Rakai District showed that the approach captured regional differences in the cost of living of up to 33%.

The two approaches provide a more nuanced picture: who farming households are, which barriers they face, and the economic context in which they live.

For International Coffee Day, this is an important reminder: understanding the realities behind coffee production is essential to designing approaches that respond to the needs of farming families.

👉 Learn more about the Farmer Segmentation approach: https://ow.ly/6r6z50ZTnPB
and the regional adaptation of a Living Income Benchmark: https://ow.ly/t8vL50ZTnPA

28/09/2026

What does a career in finance have to do with sustainable development?

For Agnes Ambarwati, Co-Country Manager of HRNS Indonesia, quite a lot.

With a background in Finance and Banking, Agnes joined HRNS Indonesia as Finance and Administration Manager in December 2022. In 2024, she took on her current role as Co-Country Manager for Finance. Alongside her work, she is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Management.

After more than ten years in the NGO sector, Agnes knows that financial management is essential to turning plans into reality.

“For me, finance isn’t just about accountability. It’s about making sure resources can contribute to meaningful progress.”

What keeps her in the NGO world? The opportunity to use her professional expertise for a purpose that goes beyond numbers and contributes to sustainable development and social good.

Outside the office - and sometimes far from it - you might find Agnes travelling, snorkeling, or spending time with her son. 🌊✈️

Her journey also reflects something deeply personal to her: pursuing different ambitions at the same time.

“Becoming a mother, a professional, and a woman with dreams has shown me that these parts of life can exist alongside each other. There are no limits to what we can achieve as women.”

Thank you, Agnes, for giving us a glimpse into the person behind the numbers. 💚

24/09/2026

What can we learn when experiences from across countries come together? 🌍

Our Country Managers from across the HRNS regions came together in Hamburg for our Global Week, creating space for exchange, reflection and learning across our global team.

Working across different countries means working in very different contexts. Smallholder farming families and rural communities face different challenges, and approaches that work in one region cannot simply be transferred to another. Yet there is a great deal we can learn from each other.

Through workshops and working sessions, colleagues compared experiences, discussed challenges, shared practical approaches and explored what can be learned across regions.

💬 “For me, the most valuable part was seeing how colleagues in other regions approach challenges that we also face in our work. It gave me new ideas to take back to my team.”
- Francyelly Lasmar Balduino, Co-Country Manager Brazil

From project implementation and partnerships to organizational development and the future direction of our work, the discussions brought perspectives from across our global team to one table.

💬 “Having the time to discuss our experiences in person helped us look beyond our own country context and identify where we can learn from each other more systematically.”
- Felix Opio, Co-Country Manager Uganda

Global Week also created something that virtual meetings cannot fully replace: time to connect in person, continue conversations beyond scheduled calls and better understand the realities colleagues are working in.

A global organization benefits from local expertise. Bringing that expertise together helps us learn from one another and improve how we work. 🌍

Adresse

Coffee Plaza, Am Sandtorpark 4
Hamburg
20457

Telefon

+4940808112431

Website

http://www.hrnstiftung.org/

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