On 21st June 2003, Mme Véronique Jean-Pierre from COSAHEC collected the René Dumont Prize for 2003, which had been awarded to RECOCARNO.

Mme Jean-Pierre is a coffee producer and the co-ordinator of the coffee co-operative of her town of Carice. Mme Jean-Pierre's coffee has been sold to Fairtrade importers since 1997, and through this association she is able to earn over five times more than she would in the local speculative market. Without the safeguards of the Fairtrade floor price of $1.26 per pound, RECOCARNO members would be sharing the plight of other coffee farmers who are suffering acute poverty and even malnutrition, and with no possibilities of investment in their children's future through education.

A 37-year-old mother of five children, Mme Jean-Pierre grows coffee on 1.60 hectares of land in the town of Carice. Before RECOCARNO and the opportunity to sell to Fairtrade, speculators paid 3 gourdes per pound. Now the selling price for the coffee (which is sold under the Max Havelaar label is 16-17 gourdes per pound.

Mme Jean-Pierre has been a member of COSAHEC for 13 years and has been a co-ordinator for two years. COSAHEC currently has 819 member, with women making up 45% if this number. The proportion of women holding managerial and decision-making roles in the co-operatives has steadily increased, in addition to other roles in the cultivation and processing of fine coffee for the Fairtrade export market.