About
VOCAL Network
VOCAL stands for ‘Voice of Organizations in Coffee Alliance.’ The VOCAL Network is a coalition of civil society members from producing and consuming countries who unite in a mission to achieve a sustainable coffee sector. We strive to combine evidence-based advocacy with practical action.
Mission and history
Our Mission is to be a watchdog and catalyst for a sustainable coffee sector by strengthening the voice of countervailing powers in the sector. We are therefore committed to building a network of civil society that adequately represents the diversity in coffee across producing and consuming countries in the Global North and Global South. In so doing, we will address blind spots and underrepresented issues in coffee.
Our Vision is a coffee sector in which value, risk, resources and power are shared equitably between actors in order for smallholder farmers and workers to earn a living income or wage under decent working conditions, where inequalities are reduced and human rights are respected within a thriving and healthy environment and climate. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case for most coffee producers.
Our History started in 2020 when several European NGOs and coffee sector professionals learned of the success of VOICE Network, our sister organization in cocoa, and encouraged the launch of a dedicated coffee network to drive urgency in the coffee sector. After the period of COVID lockdowns in 2022, organizational design and outreach began. In 2024, the VOCAL Network was formed with 8 NGOs.
Meet the team
VOCAL has a global team. Our main offices are in the Netherlands, but our operations are decentralised, and our staff works globally.
Meet the board
Our Board is made up of representatives from core member organisations of VOICE and VOCAL Networks, with the exception of our treasurer. We strive for our board to reflect the intersectional diversity of our network, ensuring geographic and thematic breadth.
Board Member, representing VOICE member organisation Alisos
Wendy Arenas
Colombia
Board Member, representing VOICE member organisation IDEF
Bakary Traore
Côte d’Ivoire
Our members
Our members are quite diverse across a wide spectrum, ranging from organisations that run programmes together with companies to activist campaigning NGOs, and research institutes.
VOCAL has a dual membership structure, with core members that are working together in decision making, and and associate members that have an advisory role. If you’re interested in joining as an associate member, please reach out to our team.
A full list of all our members can be found here.
Our donors
We ask the coffee sector to be transparent about where its money goes. It’s only fair that we’re transparent about where ours comes from.
VOCAL is funded through a mix of institutional grants and contributions from our own members. Every grant is agreed against a defined programme of work and reported on annually. No funder has any influence over our research findings, our positions, or who we choose to hold to account.
Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)
The GIZ Sustainable Supply Chains Initiative pays for the secretariat itself — the staff, the coordination, the meetings, and the communications that let a network of eight organisations across two continents function as one voice.
IDH
IDH, the Sustainable Trade Initiative, funds what that secretariat does in coffee: consultations with producers, and public advocacy on procurement and accountability. IDH works with companies as well as civil society, and deliberately limited its reporting requirements in order to protect VOCAL’s independence.
Our members
Our members fund the network directly through annual contributions, set on a sliding scale according to each organisation’s budget. Some member contributions are themselves funded by institutional donors.
Interested in supporting our work?
We are always looking for institutional funders to make our work possible. Independent, well-resourced civil society is what keeps the coffee sector honest — if that’s something you’d like to help sustain, we’d be glad to talk.
Get in touch with Antonie Fountain via antonie@voicenetwork.cc.
How we work
We work through three complementary levers of action:
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An informed and coordinated civil society
We facilitate an informed and coordinated civil society working on sustainable coffee in producing and consuming countries. We do this by creating spaces where global civil society can exchange information and stay up to date about current events in the coffee sector and each other’s activities, and through this can increase their impact, synergies, and alignment.
Beyond our own membership, we regularly host workshops and meetings bringing farmer-based and civil society organisations from the Global North and South together. We also facilitate discussions on relevant topics when and where needed with all actors in the coffee supply chain.
Building trust is a critical principle for us and strategic partnerships are being established with a variety of CSO coalitions throughout East Africa, Latin America, Asia, Europe, and the United States.
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Ground breaking research
We provide ground-breaking research on under-represented topics. Information is one of the most effective tools for improvement, and a public and informed debate on the most pressing issues is essential. The Coffee Barometer is the key reference point of sustainability for the coffee sector and innovative thinking and in 2026 will be published with the VOCAL Network.
Our latest publications on EUDR and other relevant regulations in coffee have become agenda setting for the coffee sector. Our bottom-up approach to our publications is a key tool for alignment of VOCAL members on identifying joint priorities and recommendations.
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Joint effective advocacy
We engage in joint evidence-based advocacy and work to enhance capacity and amplify producer voices, ensuring that sustainability efforts are shaped by those most affected, while also addressing blind spots and underrepresented issues in the value chain.
Appreciated for our constructive criticism and open dialogue, we are well positioned to become the go-to civil society platform for major global conversations on sustainability in the coffee sector, providing key input and pressure to governments in both producing and consuming nations, international and multistakeholder organisations, and within the coffee industry.
Legal
VOCAL is hosted under the VOICE Network, an association (vereniging) under Dutch law.
Vereniging VOICE Network is a registered ANBI tax exempt not-for-profit association within Dutch law.
Dutch Chamber of Commerce registration number: 64003833.
Bank: NL16TRIO0391059033
You can find our statutes here.
Contact us
Postal Address
Hoofdkwartier 86
6711 WW Ede
The Netherlands
Or contact
Antonie Fountain
Managing Director
Tel: +316 817 404 01
Mail: antonie@vocalnetwork.org
Ashlee Tuttleman
Global Coffee Lead
Tel: +316 185 650 28
Mail: ashlee@vocalnetwork.org