U CLAP – Uganda Corporate sustainability Landscape Assessment Partnership

U CLAP is a precompetitive collaboration between Export Trading Group Coomodities (ETG), Neumann Kaffee Groupe (NKG = Ibero Uganda) and Ugacof (= Sucafina) for efficient preparation for EU due diligence regulations in the Greater Masaka coffee growing region in Uganda.

A wide range of coffee traders and roasters are sourcing the Ugandan Greater Masaka region, with potential wider range of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) risks, however the coffee players are lacking a shared understanding in prevalence and severity of actual risks.

The U CLAP landscape partnership will prepare Ugandan coffee companies, and the wider sector, for upcoming Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) regulation and complement the legality risk assessment of EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) through landscape-level monitoring and the defining of several remediation pathways.

This innovative collaboration allows for cost-efficient and high-quality scoping and addressing of risks, with shared risk prioritization and definitions. Upon successful completion, the consortium welcomes a scale-up with the wider coffee sector in Uganda.

The key activities of the project include:

• 2024 – A "State of Affairs" from existing studies social and environmental risks in Greater Masaka, Uganda robusta coffee supply chain with recommendations for joint monitoring (e.g. gaps in current data, shared definitions), followed by a hybrid workshop for the coffee sector in June 2024.
• 2025 – Joint monitoring of coffee farmers and communities by Ugacof, NKG and ETG, to scope prevalence, severity and corporate contribution of social and environmental risks.
• 2026 – Mini pilots on remediation pathways for companies to address social and environmental risks.

The U CLAP project has an advisory board of sector partners to allow for broader learning in within the coffee sector. There is also alignment with existing initiatives in Uganda on human rights and environmental protection to prevent duplicate efforts and explore future synergies.