In October 2022, with the introduction from Nishimae Elementary School, we had the opportunity to participate in the “Yokohama Co-creation Expo” held at the Yokohama City Hall. During the event, we mainly discussed the impact of fair trade coffee on coffee-producing countries and how Japanese schools and nonprofit organizations can get involved. The planning was discussed directly with the students who contacted us, and the students themselves conducted the proceedings on the day of the event. While education on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has been actively promoted in recent years, we believe that implementing projects with students taking the lead is one way to make international issues feel more relatable.

Nishimae Elementary School kindly conducted the sale of coffee drip packs within the school, which resulted in a donation that supports approximately 700 school meals. They also provided a video to promote understanding of the importance of school meals, giving us the opportunity to contemplate how significant school meals are in African countries. We hope to continue having such opportunities with elementary school students in the future.