Founded in 2000, the Cooperative is an organization representing 1,818 farming families in the Ruli and Coko sectors in Gakenke District, Northern Province in Rwanda. The Dukunde Kawa Cooperative (Musasa) cultivates its high-quality coffee near a mountain gorilla habitat in central Rwanda. By producing high-end coffee for the international market and employing a majority female workforce, the cooperative ensures maximum benefits to local families. In 2003, it built a washing station with funds provided by the Rwandan ministry of defense. In exchange for this support, the Dukunde Kawa cooperative donates 10 percent of its net profits annually to fund the construction of other washing stations throughout Rwanda.

Fair Trade Certified™ since 2004, Dukunde Kawa secures a high standard of living for Rwandan farmers by ensuring access to an economically and environmentally sustainable coffee industry. Eighty percent of Dukunde’s producers are women.

In February 2005, the Coffee Review gave Dukunde Kawa’s coffee a rating of 90 points and recommended their coffee to those “moved by the miracle of mountain gorillas, by the recovery of Rwanda, and by the miraculous pleasure of a delicately lush coffee like this one.”

**All images from Creative Commons. Specific Authors: John Pavelka.