Fair Trade
Every Halloween, I try to make conscious choices about my candy purchases. I know many like-minded people are the same and want to be sure that their purchases aren’t contributing to the extreme poverty that we all work to eradicate on a daily basis. But it’s hard –- where do you start? How do you ensure that you have a fair trade chocolate Halloween?
Fair Trade Halloween: Sweet Earth Trick or Treat Chocolates
(more…)
In Liberia’s capital of Monrovia, I had the pleasure of meeting Chid Liberty, the energetic co- founder of the Liberian Women’s Sewing Project. Chid’s family owns Vamoma House, located on one of Monrovia’s biggest boulevards, an imposing multi-story building painted in faded light blue and cream. During the Civil War, Vamoma House was occupied and pillaged, providing a safe haven for warring factions, including Charles Taylor. Chid returned to his native Liberia to bring his family’s building, scarred with bullet holes, back to life. In the basement of Vamoma House, the women of Made in Liberia, Africa’s first free trade-certified garment factory, are filling orders for companies like J.Crew, prAna, and FEED.
Tenneh and me
(more…)
I just got back from Mali, and you know what was one of my favorite stops? Le Ndomo in Segou. It’s a company that employs local artisans to make beautiful products, from blankets and scarves to pillows and napkins.
(more…)
We’ve heard from a number of commentators as part of our Trade and Development blog series on the importance of helping Africa trade more with the US and with itself. Richard Gilbert of Business Action for Africa and Zenia Lewis of the Brookings Institute both talked about the need to bring down the barriers between countries and make trade quicker and easier. New research from the World Bank says trade between southern African countries accounts for just 10 percent of all their trade compared to 40 percent in North America.
Initiatives like AGOA and technical assistance from the Millennium Challenge Corporation can help build roads and improve communications — but the political will to open borders has to come from African governments themselves. They have been promising to do this for some time (they first committed to a Common Market for Africa at the Africa Union in 1970s) and have signed a myriad of overlapping free trade agreements among themselves (around 27 across the continent at the last count) but few tariffs have been eliminated and it still takes longer to transport goods between countries than practically anywhere else in the world.
(more…)
Valentine’s Day is fast approaching and romantics around the globe are busy thinking about how to celebrate.
Many choose to express their love for each other by giving flowers, chocolates and gifts. But whatever we do on this day, just like the other 364 in the year, we can also have a real impact on the lives of millions of other people around the world.
So how can you celebrate love and romance on February 14, and help fight extreme poverty at the same time?
Flowers
What can be more romantic than a bouquet of beautiful red roses for that special person in your life? Thankfully you can make sure that the flowers you buy also bring joy to more than just your loved one.
One of the best ways is to look for flowers with the Fairtrade Mark. Fairtrade offers you a powerful way to reduce poverty through your every day shopping. It provides a better deal and improved terms of trade for producers, which in turn allows them the opportunity to improve their lives and plan for their future.
You can also order flowers with ONE’s sister organization (RED). (RED) has so far generated over $160 million for the Global Fund to help eliminate mother-to-child transmission of HIV by 2015. All arrangements from Flowe(RED) are composed of ethically-sourced flowers and profits go to helping those living with HIV in Africa so that they can continue caring for their families and contribute socially and economically to their communities. The bouquets are stunning too!
(more…)
Everyone, give a warm welcome to the New Media team’s new intern, Lorraine Chu. She’ll be helping us cover more topics on the ONE Blog, so leave her a comment and say hello!
Oliberte employs workers in Africa to manufacture their shoes. Photo courtesy of Oliberte.
Entrepreneur Tal Dehitar’s two-year-old business, Oliberte, is booming. Selling high-quality casual shoes, Oliberte has gone from selling a mere 200 pairs of shoes in 2009 to a projected 18,000 in this year alone. Most would consider this a huge accomplishment in itself, but what makes Oliberte such a success story is that it is the first international company to market shoes made entirely in Africa.
Dehitar is bringing much-needed help to an almost scarce African middle class -– Oliberte currently employs around six workers in Ethiopia and will expand this year to train and employ up to 50 workers in Liberia. Dehitar also makes sure that his workers are given proper treatment.
“We make sure they pay at minimum the minimum wage with the understanding that as we grow as a company, they’re committed to improving their conditions, whether it’s through [initiatives such as] health insurance programs … now all the factories provide maternity leave programs to all the women,” said Dehitar in a recent CNN story.
Canadian-born Dehitar is intent on making people see Africa as a continent with some major manufacturing potential. His concept is simple: do good while living well. “If you want to pay people right, if you want to treat them with respect, use good product, then come to Africa,” he said.
And consumers seem to be in agreement. At the PROJECT trade show in New York City — a showcase for clothing brands across the world — buyers from trendy stores like Urban Outfitters and high-end boutiques showed great interest in Oliberte’s products.
Andrew Pollard, an industry expert, said that “What [Dehitar] is doing is he’s forging new ground. Where most people in the industry would never even know that Africa is a viable place to manufacture, he’s showing that it is.”
A entrepreneur with a conscience, Dehitar is successfully proving Africa’s manufacturing potential. Here at ONE, we are excited to see where Oliberte will go and how it will hopefully inspire others to think more globally.
The hyacinth — can you believe it is an invasive species?
Twenty years ago, the hyacinth, a lovely purple blooming water weed, was brought to Lake Victoria — the largest body of water in Africa — from outside the ecosystem. Doubling in size every 15 days, it quickly became an invasive species. The plant flourished on the lake’s pollution and grew to such an extent that it began blocking the local fisherfolks’ access to the water and choking the lake’s tilapia population.
In attempt to eradicate the species and restore the livelihoods of fishermen, the World Bank contracted a company, the Swamp Devils, to mechanically cut and clear the weeds around key ports. While their work allows for fishing boats to pass in and out of the ports, it is expensive, weeds quickly grow back and the dead weeds floating in the water continue to pose a problem for marine life.
But the hyacinth can be harvested by hand and used to make a variety of products. Local organizations on the banks of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda — the countries bordering Lake Victoria — began exploring these possibilities, creating jobs while keeping the weed in check. It can be used to make gas, animal fodder and a sturdy rope –- a rope so strong that it can be made into walking bridges across the river.
Local artisans and organizations also make it into a variety of crafts: cards, paper, lampshades, sturdy furniture, baskets, footwear, string, handbags, mats, etc. As a result, jobs have been created in harvesting, processing and craft-making.
Since the weed grows at an alarming rate, efforts to control the weed need to be scaled up. In an effort to broaden the impact of the craft-related activities, the Kisumu Innovation Center — Kenya (KICK), an NGO, and Hyacinth Crafts, a small business, joined forces. Since then, they have they worked to develop a sustainable business model utilizing the weeds, and their products are sold on the Internet through retailers like Afrika Pamoja and in fair trade storefronts like Ten Thousand Villages.
Learn more about fair trade through the Fair Trade Federation.
