Funding for medicines and medical care.
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23 Degrees has funded a Medical Emergency Fund, which is available to all Café Femenino coffee growers and their families in Northern Peru. The fund provides first aid training across all 64 communities and interest-free loans to families for out-of-pocket expenses when seeking medical treatment.
Whilst smallholder farmers are covered under the Peru public health system ‘Seguro Integral de Salud’ (SIS), the shortage of medicines and hospital budget constraints mean that many families are left to fend for themselves or with large out-of-pocket expenses. Compounding these issues is the traditionally long cash cycle in coffee where farmers receive cash for their crop once a year.
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The medical fund helps families to pay for their medical care expenses and operates like a Microfinance loan. When the family harvests its next coffee crop, the interest-free loan is repaid and is available to help another family with its medical expenses. Café Femenino coffee farmers administer the fund. So, women learnt valuable financial and administrative skills managing this micro fund.
We think that’s terrific. Try the super delicious coffees produced by the Peruvian coffee growers of the Cafe Femenino program. You will be impressed
