At the end of July, representatives from the Ugandan and Rwandan coffee sectors met in Kigali to examine the potential impacts of the new European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) and to exchange experience and lessons on their work to prepare for its implementation.

The EU’s forthcoming due diligence frameworks—most notably the EUDR and the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD)—are reshaping the trading landscape, posing both challenges and opportunities for coffee-producing nations. Since the announcement of these regulations, governments, the private sector, and civil society have been exploring solutions and innovations to ensure continued access to one of the world’s largest coffee markets. Maintaining competitiveness in this evolving regulatory context requires collaboration across the value chain to ensure coffee farmers will not only survive but thrive in this changing environment. 

Multi-stakeholder collaboration for the transformation and future of the coffee sector

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has been supporting the Government of Rwanda in its efforts to ensure the sector is equipped to tackle key future challenges—including increasingly stricter regulations from coffee-importing countries. This collaboration includes the FIT for FAIR project, which is implemented by UNDP with funding and technical support from the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and the Sustainable Agricultural Supply Chains Initiative (SASI).

Through FIT for FAIR, UNDP is supporting the development of a regulatory framework that will enable Rwanda to maintain access to key export markets. Working with the National Agriculture and Export Development Board (NAEB), the initiative helped establish a 28-member EU Due Diligence (EUDD) Working Group, representing every link in Rwanda’s coffee value chain. The group’s mandate is to co-create a roadmap of policy recommendations and secure both public and private commitments to keep Rwandan coffee competitive. This Working Group stands as a model of inclusive sector collaboration, committed to ensuring coffee remains a sustainable source of livelihood for future generations of farmers.

Rwanda and Uganda: Learning across borders to navigate coffee’s changing market

Uganda and Rwanda, both major coffee producers in East Africa, face similar hurdles: Low productivity, ageing farmer populations, and increasingly complex international market standards. Yet, both benefit from established mechanisms for coordinated, adaptive policymaking.

Recognising their shared challenges and opportunities, on 25 July 2025, Uganda Coffee Platform representatives met with Rwanda’s EUDD Working Group at Kigali’s Onomo Hotel for a South–South learning exchange on best practices for EUDR compliance.

During the session, participants explored their respective approaches to developing national frameworks for meeting due diligence requirements, the critical role of joint public–private commitment, and strategies for effective communication and awareness raising throughout the value chain. The discussions during the event also allowed the EUDD Working Group to advance its thinking regarding potential policy recommendations for the Rwandan coffee sector.

Modeste Munezero, FIT for FAIR Project Coordinator, emphasised the value of cross-country learning: “Exchanges with other major coffee-producing countries allow us to look at EUDR through a different lens. It is a strong means of fostering fresh ideas and impactful proposals for the roadmap for the Rwandan coffee sector.”

The programme included opening remarks from Ms. Beatrice Uwamariya, Value Chain Specialist at NAEB; a presentation by Mr. Joseph Mutware, National Consultant on the Policy Environment, highlighting Rwanda’s legal and regulatory gaps regarding EUDR and CSDDD; and an intervention from Mr. Samson Emong, Chief Executive Officer and Ms. Judith Muvara, Advocacy and Communications Officer, both at Café Africa Uganda—the Secretariat for the Uganda Coffee Platform—on Uganda’s 2024 EUDR Action Plan for the coffee sector.

Next steps for the EUDD Working Group

In the coming months, the EUDD Working Group will hold two additional workshops—planned for September and October—before finalising a detailed roadmap of policy recommendations and public–private commitments before the end of 2025. The roadmap will be formally launched at a sector-wide event in Rwanda later this year; while the Working Group will continue engaging in knowledge exchanges with other coffee-producing nations confronting similar regulatory challenges.

This article was originally published on the UNDP Food Systems website.