As one of the largest and most influential coffee cooperatives in Honduras, with over 1,600 members, COMSA stands out not only for the scale of its operation but for its values. We began sourcing certified Organic and Fairtrade lots from them in 2022, and in February 2025, we returned to Marcala to further strengthen the partnership.
What we found went far beyond exceptional coffee. COMSA is a cooperative that’s serious about transformation: economic, environmental, and spiritual. Professional to the core, yet deeply rooted in community, their work challenges what a coffee organisation can and should be.
One of the most compelling expressions of this philosophy is the COMSA International School, a bold and innovative education project they built from the ground up. In a region where educational opportunities are often limited by resources rather than potential, COMSA is proactively shaping the future. Much like their approach to coffee, their vision for education is thoughtful and community-driven.
Founded in 2015, the school began with just 65 students and a big vision. Today, it serves nearly 200 pupils across pre-primary, primary, and secondary levels. The original primary school was built in 2015, and the secondary campus was recently acquired. Now, with construction underway to expand the secondary school’s library and add a cafeteria, the school is investing not only in infrastructure but in a better future for its students.
Education That’s Anything but Traditional
What makes COMSA International School stand out is its pedagogical foundation. Drawing inspiration from the Glenn Doman method, originally developed to enhance brain development in young children, the school applies it as a universal model for all students. The approach emphasises physical and cognitive stimulation, movement-based learning, exposure to factual knowledge, and high-frequency engagement, nurturing both curiosity and capability from an early age.
We saw that for the Primary School, every morning started with Japanese movements and classical music, setting the tone for the day designed around engagement and stimulation. Students participate in balance and climbing exercises thrice a day and rotate through fast-paced micro-lessons on subjects like Mathematics, English, History and Nature, all delivered in short and dynamic bursts at these times.
Perhaps most strikingly, the school rejects conventional phonics in favour of immersive reading techniques and avoids fictional tales in favour of fact-driven knowledge acquisition. This feeds into the overall philosophy of COMSA which was started by Rodolfo Peñalba, the General Manager and a founding member of COMSA, after returning from Japan.
A Multilingual Gateway to the World
Students at COMSA learn in four languages: Spanish, English, French, and Japanese. This multilingual approach isn’t about prestige; it’s part of a broader philosophy that links language acquisition to cognitive development, cultural empathy, and future opportunity for future academic and professional success. As one teacher put it, they are building young people who are “rooted in their culture, fluent in many worlds, ready to innovate and lead with respect and vision”.
And it’s working! During our recent visit, we were struck by the confidence and clarity with which students expressed their goals and held conversation. Fluent in English, many aspired to careers as doctors, engineers, or agronomists, ambitions nurtured by a school environment that places no limits on what’s possible.
Access and Equity
While the school is supported by COMSA, it is not exclusive to members of the cooperative. In fact, nearly 60% of current students attend on scholarships funded by COMSA, while the rest pay privately. The school is deliberately open to the wider community, reinforcing the cooperative’s commitment to inclusive, community-led development.
COMSA’s support extends beyond finances. Board members are actively involved in the school’s administration, helping to align educational goals with the cooperative’s wider mission of sustainable agriculture, innovation, and social transformation.
Challenges and Commitment
Innovation is never without its complexities, and COMSA International School is no exception. When we asked the school’s leadership about the biggest challenges they face, they were candid: balancing progressive educational models with traditional expectations is an ongoing effort.
Some families, teachers, and even students can be hesitant to fully embrace new approaches. Teacher training for methods like project-based learning or blended education requires time, resources, and continuous support. And while the school emphasises creativity, collaboration, and critical thinking, these skills are not always captured in standardised tests, making it harder to measure success by conventional metrics.
There are also practical constraints. Building innovative programmes and facilities comes with high costs, and maintaining them sustainably requires careful planning. Yet despite these hurdles, COMSA’s results, from student engagement to academic growth and career readiness, make a strong case for their approach.
COMSA International School isn’t just an inspiring outlier. It’s a living model of what can happen when a cooperative invests deeply in education, not as a side project, but as a core part of its mission to cultivate positive change. It proves that with the right vision, coffee communities can nurture not just great coffee, but the next generation of changemakers.
