Discover the colors and sounds of sustainability

"Birds are captivating indicators of sustainability- their colorful presence and lively songs are a testament to the connection they hold with healthy coffee farms".

Our Coffee Our Birds

Environmental Education

Amigos del Café

environmental education curriculum

Biodiversity potential of coffee landscapes

Roufus tailed hummimbirde nest on a coffee plant.

Our main objective is to support regenerative agriculture practices in coffee landscapes to support biodiversity conservation in Colombia, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua.

Coffee landscape with shadow trees.

We leverage the beauty of birds to empower multiple generations of growers and their families by increasing their knowledgebase of how sustainable practices can benefit people, birds, and all biodiversity.

Coffee berries

We further collaborate with value chain actors to support their capacity to measure the impact of their investments in regenerative practices by providing cutting-edge scientific knowledge, from the farm to the landscape level, to measure biodiversity performance and guide decision-making.

Environmental Education

Environmental education curriculum.

As part of our intergenerational work with coffee growers, we have developed the “Amigos del Café” environmental education curriculum.

Children learning to identify birds, in Jardín, Colombia.

This curriculum was designed to engage primary school children with their coffee-growing environment by learning about the birds that call coffee landscapes their home. The curriculum is composed of 6 modules that range from using card games to better understand the values of forests, to linking the different needs of people and biodiversity with resources provided by healthy coffee landscapes.

 Learning process with the curriculum at a school in Colombia.

Ultimately, our key message is that sustainability efforts are good for the birds, for their families, and for the coffee they produce.

Girl showing the shape of a bird she saw.

The curriculum focuses on connecting children to the environment through colorful homing birds that help us hear what sustainability is. The Amigos del Café curriculum has been designed to be self-explanatory, easy to implement, and helps encourage a perspective of environmental and cultural sustainability in our schools.

Show Transcript

Bird sounds

Musical Introduction, images of children doing the activities of the curriculum.

Hello, We are going to talk about the curriculum  amigos del cafe emphasizing four important aspects for the development of their activities.

First, the table of modules and topics, which is the general outline of how the curriculum is designed, here we find a detailed guide to the 6 modules,

how many activities each one has and what are those activities about. Also the topics that each activity addresses, and what we want children to learn after doing them the messages we want them to take home at the end of each module

Second, the section how to use the curriculum, where we make suggestions for the implementation timing throughout the school year and how to evaluate them, however you are free to make the adjustments that your school requires,in order to carry out the 13 activities proposed consecutively.

Third, the Toolkit, which is the material that complements the activities

Attached to the curriculum you will find an instruction manual on printing tips and how to organize it.

This is a material that facilitates children’s learning, it is essential to review it before performing each activity

Fourth, the Coffee Bird Book, an album book built by each child, where they record what they learned after each activity, formulate and answer questions regarding the topics developed. For teachers it is also an important evidence of the process.

At the end of the implementation, these books made and written by the children will remain, the goal is to give importance to the material they made and highlight the effort they put into it.

All this material is hosted on the project website:

Nuestro Café Nuestras Aves www.nuestrocafenuestrasaves.org

As well as information about the impact that we are generating in the coffee regions of Latin America.

Best of luck with the implementation, and Enjoy the birds!

End of Transcript

Amigos del Café

Download Amigos del Café environmental education curriculum