Today, she participates actively at the school, serving on the Parent Committee, and is also a representative on the Health Committee, where she helps secure support for medicines in her community.

“I feel useful, I feel happy because I’m not only a mother. I also know I can take on other activities.”
All this while managing her household with improved financial organization. In 2023, she started by saving $50 pesos a week; now she saves $200.

By doing this, in her first year she bought a large table, one big enough for her whole family. In the second cycle, she replaced her old mattress, and this year she’s about to reach her goal of replacing her old stove-top with a full stove and oven.

For her, participating in the MARES savings sessions and sharing with her companions has been her greatest source of strength: “When one of us is falling apart, the rest of us are there to lift her up. This group is a place where you feel sheltered.”

The project includes a self-managed microcredit system, with low interest rates set by the participants themselves, allowing women to invest in small projects that improve their quality of life. The interest generated goes back into the group, strengthening solidarity and autonomy.

In addition, each participant contributes to a solidarity fund used to support women in unexpected situations, from serious illness to damage to their homes.

Now, more participants recognize themselves as providers:

• 9% have created or strengthened a small business.

• 30% now hold community leadership roles, stepping into responsibility spaces that once were banned to women.

Once considered a space reserved for men, the countryside has also changed for women. Today, women are forging paths not only in production and harvesting, but also in decision-making, innovation, and community leadership.

For Patricia, strengthening her knowledge of waste separation, water conservation (through the creation of biofilters), and ongoing training in organic compost production has revealed the profound impact these practices have had on substantially improving her coffee production.

The Somos Cafetaleras project achieves a perfect combination of technical elements and social economy principles. The sustainability workshops, for example, have a direct impact on the value proposition of coffee: by consolidating an agroecological and environmentally friendly product, Patricia can access a better market. This technical-social approach coincides with the historical commitment of women in this region to caring for the land and the environment, turning tradition into a sustainable competitive advantage.

Each woman producer plants an average of 1.5 hectares, yielding approximately 300 kg of coffee (5 quintales). As a result of the Somos Cafetaleras training, specialty coffee production is expected to increase by around 20%.

But even more importantly, their coffee now achieves higher scores (specific figure to be added), earns a fairer price, and becomes more resilient to pests and climate change. They have also learned to organize alongside other women producers: working in coordination, sharing knowledge, and negotiating under better conditions.

Coffee blossoms when you take care of it… and a woman also blossom when believe in what is capable of doing.

“I believe that for anything to truly blossom, it has to start within ourselves… So yes, being a woman influences a lot, but it’s a unique awakening—your own—having to say: I want to be different from the rest, no matter what others may think.” —Patricia

Women of Coffee does more than boost productivity; it is generating a profound transformation in women’s self-esteem, confidence, and leadership throughout the coffee value chain. In every improved plot and every higher-quality cup, you can see a process in which women make decisions, innovate, and recognize themselves as protagonists of their own growth.

Patricia’s story confirms that in the mountains where coffee is born, new forms of autonomy and community well-being are also taking root. Because blossoming begins with believing in oneself—and today Patricia cultivates both: coffee and confidence.

“What holds us back is the fear of trying something new” says Sara, a trainer for the Production for well-being government program,, which promotes social well-being through agroforestry and has accompanied some of the participant groups in the Sierra Sur region. “People are used to following a recipe that has always worked, and wanting to change it, or relearn something, can be overwhelming.”
Added to this is the social pressure that weighs especially on women: the fear of being judged for not staying home or for ‘neglecting’ responsibilities that were historically placed on them.

But something begins to shift when they come together in spaces created for listening, learning, and proposing new ideas. Sara describes it as a turning point:

“When we build a network of trust and support, they start to feel that they can do it, that it is possible”. In Women of Coffee, they find a place to speak up, to share ideas, to take action. And when they’re ready to take the step, “everything changes.”

That spark has also reached Isabel, who once believed that there were no other paths ahead for her. “I thought that was as far as I could go… but no. I’m coming back with more drive, more strength, and I feel so happy,” she says with a smile. For Isabel, the workshops are a space to leave worries outside and let in the joy of learning, creating, and dreaming bloom again.