ABOUT CTC
PURPOSE AND VISION
The overall aim of the Coffee Training Centre (CTC) is to improve the Ethiopian coffee value chain by upgrading the training experience in Ethiopia for all the coffee professionals.
(CTC) is a center of excellence for coffee that includes green coffee quality check and control, cupping, coffee roasting and blending, coffee brewing and coffee packaging, for the benefit of the development of the coffee value chain in the Country. The CTC is located in the premises of the Ethiopian Coffee and Tea Authority (ECTA), and its set-up has been finalized in June 2021 by UNIDO in strict collaboration with ECTA, with funds received from the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS).
The CTC vision is to offer a wide range of training courses and to provide coffee related services, for addressing the incubation of new coffee professions, thus for creating a new coffee entrepreneurship landscape in Ethiopia: professionals already working in the coffee sector, people approaching the coffee sector for the first time and interested in a professional career, as well as “Coffee lovers” will be all trained for shaping a vibrant coffee business environment.
Ultimately, the CTC will also work as a platform, where enabling the development of intensive partnership with global and local stakeholders. The partnership strategy refers to the detailed modalities of agreements between or among actors that have stake with CTC, specifying the interest, roles, in order to help effect the values of networking, cooperation, and integration of different value adding activities.
CTC POSITIONING IN ETHIOPIA
Establishment of the CTC is a demand driven concept due to the opportunity of adding considerable value in the coffee value chain in Ethiopia, particularly in the post-harvest and processing phase of the chain (mainly grading, cupping, roasting, packaging, and brewing). Given the diverse genetic resources, and the well-known coffee origins, such as Sidama, Harar, Limu, Yirgacheffe, and Guji, Djima, Lekempt and others, Ethiopia’s coffee industry would be able to supply better quality coffee types to the world with such capacity to be built on state-of-the-art training center to produce coffee professionals in the post-harvest subsector of coffee.
It is in light of the above that the CTC will embrace the entire productive cycle of coffee with a specific focus on the Coffee Industrial process; the program also aims to consolidate and develop relations between the University of Coffee and the world of business by transferring the technological and cultural know-how of modern coffee technology.
CTC BENEFICIARIES
The training services would benefit to a number of coffee actors, including coffee processors, farmers, traders and exporters, coffee entrepreneurs, government officials, NGOs, actors working in the global coffee value chain, and the coffee consumers at large. The center is assumed to serve potential beneficiaries both from within and outside the country as far as they demand it for private or public business interests.
The government offices, including the ECTA, research institutes, universities, and the CLU, etc. demand skilled expertise in coffee processing, cupping, roasting, grinding, packaging, etc. The demand indicates the commercial potential of the training center. As coffee is an important social, economic and political commodity in Ethiopia, the government seeks possible means of enhancing the share of its value to directly or indirectly impact millions of the population. These government offices all over the Country have huge demand for skilled and knowledgeable experts in the post-harvest activities.
The private sector, particularly experts and managers of new and incumbent café entrepreneurs, coffee commercial farmers, processors, traders, exporters, etc. will also have considerable benefit from additional job opportunities in different post-harvest activities.
Moreover, the training could also be demanded by “Coffee lovers” who want to know about coffee processing, and other actors involved in different support service provision in the coffee value chain, such as projects’ consultants.