Scaling for Impact: How HRNS Advances Scalable Solutions for Smallholder Coffee Farming

Hanns R. Neumann Stiftung (HRNS), a private non-profit foundation established in 2005 by Michael R. Neumann and his family, continues to drive sustainable development among smallholder coffee farming communities worldwide. Building upon a rich history of collaboration with coffee farmers, HRNS has implemented projects in 18 countries, directly impacting over 300,000 smallholder families.

Central to HRNS' mission is scaling projects to ensure long-term, sustainable benefits for smallholder coffee farmers. Learn more about these strategies by visiting this detailed guide on scaling projects in smallholder coffee farmer communities. Drawing from extensive field experience, HRNS has identified three key scaling strategies:

1. Scaling Deep: This approach focuses on providing customized and reliable support to farmers, both during and beyond project periods. By offering regular backstopping and participatory monitoring and evaluation, HRNS ensures that new practices are consistently applied, leading to lasting behavioral changes. “From the outset, it is important to consider how to maintain the structures created during the project,” says Morgan Mkonyi, Co-Country Manager of HRNS in Tanzania.
2. Scaling Wide: HRNS promotes the dissemination of best practices through well-designed training-of-trainers programs and by leveraging existing social networks. This strategy creates spillover effects, allowing innovations to reach a broader audience beyond direct project beneficiaries. “Well-designed projects lay a solid foundation and create a critical mass of change agents, but to ensure that this impact is both lasting and broad, scaling is important,” adds Professor Dr. Christiana Weber, who assessed the long-term impact of an International Coffee Partners (ICP) project as part of a tracer study.
3. Scaling Beyond: Addressing structural obstacles, HRNS advocates for institutional and political changes that extend beyond the organization's direct influence. By identifying blockers and collaborating with key stakeholders, HRNS works to create an enabling environment for sustainable development.

HRNS helps smallholder families improve their livelihoods by applying strategies that deliver sustainable, long-term benefits. To amplify this impact, HRNS calls on partners across sectors to actively contribute to scaling these efforts. Partners are encouraged to provide resources, share expertise, and support innovative solutions that enable smallholder communities to thrive sustainably. Their role is crucial in driving long-term systemic change, helping to scale impact by reaching more farming families worldwide and creating lasting, meaningful improvements across rural coffee-growing communities. Together, these collaborations can drive long-term systemic change and strengthen the foundation's ability to reach even more farming families worldwide. Operating with a global team of over 250 dedicated professionals, HRNS maintains regional offices in Guatemala, Brazil, Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia, and Indonesia, with its headquarters in Hamburg, Germany.

HRNS focuses on three core objectives: strengthening smallholder families social situation, addressing rural youth opportunities, and focusing on nature as the third objective, which includes promoting climate change adaptation and mitigation, agroforestry, biodiversity, soil health, and other nature-based solutions. Through its holistic approach, HRNS addresses various aspects of rural development, including family business management, organizational development, climate change adaptation, youth empowerment, and gender equality. By focusing on these areas, HRNS aims to shape production systems and rural landscapes that are attractive and sustainable for smallholder families.

HRNS collaborates with a wide range of partners, including local governments, international NGOs, private sector stakeholders, and community organizations. Key private sector partners include Lavazza, Peets, Tchibo, and Starbucks, who play an essential role in advancing HRNS' mission by supporting sustainable practices and extending the reach of impactful projects. HRNS serves as the implementer of International Coffee Partners (ICP) and the initiative for coffee&climate, which are pivotal in promoting collaborative and innovative approaches to sustainability in the coffee sector. These partnerships amplify the foundation's ability to implement scalable and sustainable projects, ensuring that its impact reaches more smallholder families and fosters systemic change across the coffee value chain.