A favourable climate, with well-distributed rainfall, high altitude and moderate temperatures, combined with the country’s deep, red volcanic soils and the way sunlight diffuses through thick clouds make Kenya ideal for growing coffee.

Tinderet Coffee Producers represent several small famers around Tinderet, Nandi County, Kenya. Together with the German company Wertkaffee GmbH, Tinderet has been facilitating the direct trade of coffee beans to the German market and implementing sustainable agriculture practices in the area since 2018.

That itself would be an inspiring initiative, but Tinderet adds another positive element: It supports the Crossroad Prison and Rehabilitation Ministry Trust and its “Rehabilitation Programme for Young People in Songhor,” providing farming jobs to former prisoners once they are released, helping them avoid the long-term unemployment and hopelessness that can lead to repeating patterns of crime.

Also, for each coffee package sold in Germany, one coffee seedling is planted back in the Tinderet region. Each seedling can grow and produce around 10 kg of cherries per bush, ensuring that the farms and the programme can continue.

In 2018, the first year of the programme, some 5,000 coffee seedlings were donated to Crossroad. The programme also reintegrated 19 former prisoners into farm life, and the company’s profits covered the polytechnical school fees for 11 more. The programme will continue until 2022.

What are the inspiring breakthroughs and success stories that illustrate SDG implementation? What are the good practices that can be replicated and scaled up? What are the gaps and constraints and how should we address them? Looking ahead, what steps should we take to accelerate progress? To help answer these and other questions, UN DESA gathered more than 600 good SDG practices in a searchable online database. Be inspired by SDG solutions that work: https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/partnerships/goodpractices