📋 Tender Overview
Rome, Italy, 14 October 2026 - The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) joined governments, international organizations, financial institutions and industry representatives at Italys Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation for Italys International Coffee Strategy: Development, Value, Partnerships, where Italy outlined its plans to strengthen cooperation with coffee-producing countries.The high-level session was opened by the Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Edmondo Cirielli. Italy used the occasion to launch the Global Coffee Initiative, developed with the World Bank Group and Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, which includes the Espresso Fund, presented as the first global public-private fund for the coffee value chain.The coffee sector brings together three of UNIDOs priorities: inclusive economic development, climate resilience and local value addition. Coffee sustains more than 12 million farms worldwide, 95 per cent of them smallholdings, making producers incomes directly relevant to food security and rural employment. Without adaptation, up to half of the land currently suitable for coffee production could be lost by 2050. At the same time, much of the value generated by coffee continues to be created far from where it is grown.Marina Ponti, UNIDO Deputy Director-General and Managing Director of the Directorate of SDG Innovation and Economic Transformation, underlined the strategic importance of the sector, stating: Italy is the main supporter of the ACT Coffee Programme, which UNIDO implements as one of the initiatives of the Mattei Plan for Africa. This shows that coffee is not a niche topic. It is a strategic priority for Italy, the EU Global Gateway and for the producing countries.The ACT Coffee Programme (Advancing Climate-Resilience and Transformation in African Coffee) is funded by the Italian Cooperation within the framework of Italys Mattei Plan and the EU Global Gateway Strategy. Launched in May 2025, it works with Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania and Uganda to strengthen climate resilience, quality, skills, regulatory compliance and access to finance.In its first phase, the programme has helped mobilise additional resources for the sector. Five new Coffee Training Centres are under development, agreed with national governments and designed in collaboration with the Italian coffee industry, which contributes its technical expertise and networks. Construction of the centre in Ruiru, Kenya, is complete.Alongside the centres, UNIDO supports partner governments in accessing climate finance, including through the Italian Climate Fund, and is helping prepare the conditions for investment. Activities include quality planting material with World Coffee Research in Uganda, co-financed by the private sector; parametric insurance for smallholder farmers with Generali and UNDP; and investment pipelines with IFC and IFAD.Addressing UNIDOs role in the partnership, Ponti added: We are not simply an implementer. We are a technical agency and an international honest broker, and we are honoured to be a knowledge partner of the Italian Cooperation for this strategic value chain, which matters equally to producing and consuming countries.The approach has its origins in the G7 Development Ministerial held in Pescara under the Italian Presidency, where producing and consuming countries, as well as public and private sector representatives, were brought together around a global initiative for coffee.Representatives of coffee-producing countries included the Prime Minister of Uganda, Robinah Nabbanja, the Cabinet Secretary for Agriculture and Livestock Development of Kenya, Mutahi Kagwe, and the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development of Colombia, Indalecio Dangond. Other participants included the Executive Director of the International Coffee Organization, Vanusia Nogueira, the Deputy Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Maurizio Martina, and representatives of the Italian coffee industry: Giuseppe Lavazza, President of the Comitato Italiano del Caffe and of the Lavazza Group, Andrea Illy, President of Illycaffe, Massimiliano Fabian, President of the European Coffee Federation, and Roberto Nocera, President of the Unione dei Costruttori Italiani di Macchine per Caffe Professionali, the Italian association of professional coffee machine manufacturers.UNIDO was represented by Marina Ponti, Deputy Director-General and Managing Director of the Directorate of SDG Innovation and Economic Transformation. Earlier in the day, Andrea De Marco, Programme Manager and Partnership Advisor, took part in a working session on opportunities for private sector collaboration across the supply chain.The ACT Coffee Programme is currently active in five countries, with a potential second phase that could extend its activities to other coffee-producing countries across the continent.For more information, please contact:Andrea De MarcoProgramme Manager and Partnership Advisor, ACT Coffee Programme, UNIDO
