The City of Göteborg International Environmental Prize for 2005, one million Swedish crowns, is awarded to Maraba (Abahuzamugambi) Cooperative in Rwanda for its pioneering effort to produce coffee in a sustainable way from social, environmental, as well as economic aspects. By cornering a niche in the fair trade high quality market and by not using middlemen the cooperative has managed to get substantially higher prices for its product. This has contributed to rapid economic and social development of the Maraba District that used to be one of the poorest districts in Rwanda.

The project is a shining example of that it is possible to start sustainable and successful local development, even after a devastating genocide. It also contributes to the advancement of a democratic process and reconciliation on local and national levels in the country by providing systematic education and stimulation of cooperation between widows from the war and other community members. More than 50% of the members of the cooperative are women, and the project has significantly strengthened their position as social and economic stakeholders in society.

The Maraba Project was initiated in 1998 by the Rwandan National University, the local government in the Maraba district, the Maraba cooperative and international organisations as an initiative to contribute to local development in a situation in Africa where there was a deep economic, social and political crisis. With its strong social aspects and programs for ecological farming, the project has contributed to a process of change, in accordance with UN’s ambitions for poverty alleviation as developed at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in 2002. The successful cooperative in Maraba has already become a model for 15 new coffee cooperatives all over Rwanda and other types of cooperatives are now being started based on the same model, producing coffee and “non traditional" export crops like chilli pepper, fruits and flowers.

The Maraba model contributes to an increased public awareness in Sweden about sustainable development as well as about the potential for development in Africa. It shows that in our everyday life we as consumers can directly make a choice to contribute to a more fair and sustainable development  – and that such a choice can have a real effect on the poorest among the poor, as well as for the environment.