Vision

Café Conciencia works to fulfill the promises of Fair Trade hand-in-hand with our partner communities by developing successful, self-sustaining small businesses that lead to more dignified standards of living for community members. We create an international solidarity network made up of better-informed and more committed Fair Trade supporters by fostering a greater awareness of the ongoing struggles in our partner communities and how they relate to larger issues of social, economic, and environmental justice. We are a majority Guatemalan organization, building projects from the ground up through long-term strategies based on principles of solidarity, egalitarianism, and mutual aid.

Values

We are a majority Guatemalan organization that maintains relationships of mutual respect and equality with its partner communities.
We are a transparent organization that allows Fair Trade supporters to plug in and see exactly how their support concretely helps Fair Trade communities.
We partner only with worker-owned and operated cooperative communities who practice Fair Trade principles and use organic agricultural techniques.
We actively support and collaborate with other Fair Trade projects in Guatemala, the United States, Canada, and around the world.
We foster a wider and deeper understanding of the Fair Trade movement, its principles and practices, and work toward a greater fulfillment of its potential.

Staff

Omar Mejía has been director of Café Conciencia for the past four years. Omar was born and raised in Quetzaltenango (Xela), Guatemala and is an agronomist from the University of San Carlos, Guatemala. In 2003 he worked for the Guatemalan Ministry of Agriculture, Food, and Dairy investigating and reporting on the effects of the coffee economy in the Department of San Marcos. In 2002 he was Co-Director of a Spanish school where he planned and guided educational, social, and tourist activities. Omar has also studied education, and for over 12 years worked with groups of children, youth, and adults in Xela and various communities teaching math and natural sciences.

Relationships with partner communities

Café Conciencia works to build consensus with our partner communities and to fully respect their internal decision-making bodies and practices. We encourage and facilitate mutual aid within and between communities, and are heartened by the spirit of solidarity we have seen expressed. We endeavor always to be transparent and forthright in our communication, demanding the same in return, and work hard every day to achieve a level of confidence worthy of the sincerity and hopefulness with which we have been received by the communities.

Fell free to contact us for more information.
If you are interested in volunteering with Café Conciencia, visit the Get involved page, or drop by our cosy office in the center of Xela (Quetzaltenango).