Generali and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) have signed a joint declaration under the ACT Programme (Advancing Climate-Resilience and Transformation in African Coffee) to promote sustainable coffee production in Africa. The partnership aims to strengthen international cooperation, improve socio-economic conditions for coffee producers, enhance climate resilience, and support local value addition in key coffee-growing communities. The initiative is funded by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MAECI) under the EU Global Gateway and Italian Mattei Plan priorities.
UNIDO leads the programme in partnership with the International Coffee Organization (ICO), the Inter-African Coffee Organization (IACO), and private sector partners, while Generali provides technical expertise through its Global Corporate and Commercial division, focusing on parametric insurance solutions to protect farmers against climate risks. The collaboration initially targets Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and Malawi, employing a five-pillar strategy that includes value addition, climate resilience, compliance, research, and social inclusion, with finance acting as a cross-cutting enabler.
The partnership emphasizes building resilient agricultural value chains, creating inclusive employment opportunities, and promoting sustainable and fair global trade in coffee. Public-private cooperation, joint research on parametric insurance for the coffee sector, and tools to assess social and environmental impact form the core of the collaboration. Through these measures, UNIDO and Generali aim to strengthen local enterprises, improve livelihoods, and help coffee producers adapt to climate change while fostering more sustainable and inclusive coffee value chains across Africa.
UNIDO, the UN’s specialized agency for inclusive and sustainable industrial development, supports countries in strengthening local production capacity, transforming agricultural and industrial value chains, adopting green technologies, and promoting fair employment opportunities. Initiatives like the ACT Programme advance climate resilience, local value addition, and equitable growth, contributing to fairer global trade.
Generali, a leading global insurance and asset management group, operates in over 50 countries with approximately 87,000 employees and serves 71 million customers. The Group integrates sustainability into its strategic choices, aiming to create value for stakeholders while building a fairer and more resilient society, with a focus on innovative, customer-centric, and digitally enabled solutions.
