Fair Trade helps improve quality of life in many countries.
By Niharika Mookerjee
NEW YORK: The argument that globalization is slowly destroying indigenous culture, paying little heed to workers’ rights and feeding the pockets of only the urban wealthy stands challenged by the Global Fair Trade Organization (WFTO) that takes social responsibility for artisans, workers and farmers in tight networks around the world.
Whether they live in impoverished villages or urban slums in countries as diverse as India, Philippines, Indonesia, Ghana, Congo, Ecuador, Panama, the poorest of the poor have a hope for rehabilitation through Fair Trade organizations.
It transpired first in the United States when Self Help Crafts, now known as Ten Thousand Villages began buying needlework from Puerto Rico in 1946, and SERRV, now a member group, began trade with poor communities in the South in the late 1940’s.
At present, the host of products is astounding, extending from cotton to sugar to clothes and handicrafts.
As a movement, it grew in direct response to counteract conventional business patterns followed by giant corporations that failed to deliver sustainable livelihoods to people in the poor countries, who despite back-breaking labor survived on wages far less than $2 per day.
While entrepreneurship is the effect of individual effort and rewards, Fair Trade organizations aim for general prosperity which is a team game with players from all over the world.
To clarify the above statement, here’s a simple example. Just the other day I bought a couple of beaded floral rings, Fair Trade Certified, from Ten Thousand Villages, located in Media, Pennsylvania, the very first of its member stores. The label indicated that it was made by artisans from a remote village in Gujarat, India.
As a customer, I had the satisfaction of knowing that I was not aiding labor practices that exploited helpless people, especially women and children, who were unable to negotiate for fair wages and thus, press for their basic rights for decent employment.
Certainly, it may not come as a surprise to many of our readers that several popular stores, such as Hollister or Abercrombie, inadvertently, engage in funding sweatshops in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and India.
Predictably, this has led to child-trafficking, conflict-financing and desperate working conditions in factories according to a 2009 Oxfam International report.
Moreover, women who make up a disproportionate number of low-paying jobs face little to no wages, harassment, lack of property rights, and lack of access to credit.
Consequently, when we make a Fair Trade acquisition, we become an active participant in the rallying cause for human rights as these products will ensure fair wages, finance houses, schools and hospital, and build a long-term relationship for the marginalized community that has so long remained under the shadows of poverty.
While the movement has matured to a great extent in Latin America, the comparatively fledgling Fair Trade Forum in India already has hundreds of member groups, employing small-scale producers and workers in grassroots organizations, with networks spread all across the country. Their products are sold in thousands of World-shops or Fair Trade shops, supermarkets and other sales networks in North America and Europe.
Since its formal inception in 1989, the stories of dynamism and upward mobility among the disadvantaged, have been numerous and inspiring. They are a testimony to what Sir John Millar, a contemporary of the economist, Adam Smith described: “The strong encourage the weak; the bold animate the timid, the resolute the wavering; and the movements of the whole mass proceed with the uniformity of a machine, with a force that is often irresistible.”
One such acclaimed member cooperative, Asha Handicrafts, located in Mumbai with global outlets in the US and Europe, gives preference to groups managed by women in the production process to promote gender equality.
“The producers are paid a fair price for their products which covers all their input costs and includes a margin of profit determined by the producer. We also provide them with business counseling to help them price their product competitively without reducing the earnings of the primary producers,” said Immanuel Bundellu, general manager at Asha Handicrafts, in an interview to The American Bazaar.
Here’s a story that makes the point. Ram Prasad Patwa is an artisan who had grown up in Khambat, a center for stone beads. He was introduced to Asha Handicrafts in the late eighties to deliver costume jewelry which he had worked upon.
Through an intensive training for design and product development in semi-precious jewelry by Asha Handicrafts, he successfully created his own line of beaded accessories that became increasingly popular with the buyers in Europe and North America.
Remunerated with regular work, he went on to set up his home and workshop at Dharavi slum in Mumbai. Today, his children have been blessed with a chance to pursue a college education that will equip them further with a professional training.
This boost in economic stability has led to a domino effect. Earlier, Patwa’s artisans used to work for him from a loft that was barely ventilated and poorly lit. “Asha Handicrafts assisted him in obtaining premises in an apartment block. His workers have, subsequently, shifted out of the slum to better houses,” said Bundellu.
“However, the biggest change that has taken place is in his thinking. From employing only men for production, he now employs mainly women. He allows them to work from their homes if they are unable to come to his workshop,” he claimed.
Sushila Yadav is one such worker whose chance encounter with Patwa provided her with a job, after her husband had deserted her, leaving her in abject poverty. Moved by her plight, Patwa gave her the responsibility for maintaining records of production and raw material.
The opportunity came as a light at the end of the tunnel which bequeathed her with a salary and the ability to take care of her aged parents as well as her children.
“Due to support and encouragement received from Ram Prasad Patwa, I am able to pay for my house through government subsidy. This would have been nearly impossible for women like me, living without a husband,” Yadav said in an interview to the Bazaar.
With support from Asha Handicrafts, her older daughters are studying in municipal schools, while her youngest is enrolled in an English medium school.
Furthermore, Renee Bowers, marketing director of Fair Trade Federation (FTF) in Wilmington, Delaware, points out that the crafts market at Ranthambor Tiger Resort was given a new lease of life when it came under the sway of FTF.
Initially created by the Indian government to provide displaced villagers with alternative sources of income when the resort was built, it served as a thriving business center during the tourist season. However work slackened when monsoons began, and craftsmen found it hard to maintain a sustainable living.
This is where member organizations of US Fair Trade stepped in to form a workshop with them. “By building these connections with Fair Trade in North America they have a market all year around. During times of slow tourist season, they can export their products and have a year- round income,” Bowers explained.
And yet the unique quality about the clothes or the jewelry is that while maintaining their unique native designs, they exhibit a fashion forward style with colors and techniques with a global appeal.
“We have a designer on our staff, and we take a number of factors into consideration when designing new products. First of all, is the artisans’ skill set, and then we incorporate accessible and sustainable raw materials. We, then, translate this into the designs, based on modern looks and trends, spotted from all sorts of our favorite inspirations,” said Kelly Weinberger of World Finds, who works in close coordination with artisans jewelers in India.
Nonetheless, this global initiative is not without its hurdles. Artisans and farmers face dire circumstances as they are cash-strapped, geographically isolated with poor infra-structure and scarce opportunities.
“To make their goods available to world market, they are connected to a market access organization that is usually located in a centralized area. These organizations help to pick out remote villages that connect to the grid work of crafts people,” Bowers said.
“Additionally Fair Trade Organizations also have to be sensitive to the challenges the marginalized workers face. They need to plan out their product line almost a year and half in advance because they are all handmade. From a market-standpoint, this is a major handicap as we are competing against conventional buyers who do not have to take such things into account,” she said.
Studies have shown that there is an inherent connection between rapid constructions of roads and economic prosperity. So how does this model survive in regions where infrastructure is near to anachronistic?
Maroma, a unit of Aravinda Trust and a part of Auroville Foundation in Tamil Nadu is an exemplary model. As part of International Township built according to the vision of The Mother of Shri Aurobindo Ashram, it shares strong ties with the nearest village, Kuilapalayam. Most of its employees are from there, with others stream in from surrounding villages within a 15 kilometer radius. The administrative staff is from Pondicherry which is about 8 kilometers from Auroville.
They have been aligned with the vision of unity and harmony long before Fair Trade practices were even formulated, says Roma Hira, general manager of Maroma.
“We put back a minimum of 33.3 percent of our profits into the central pool for various developmental activities. In fact, Maroma contributes 40 percent of its profits to the central pool and is the largest contributor,” she said in an interview. The money goes into building and supporting hundreds of houses, dozens of schools, kitchens, medical clinics and community projects.
So enormous are the collaborative advantages that the partnership with the villagers lasts for generations. In its holistic approach to communities, Fair Trade cooperatives encourage inclusion of welfare programs to educate women and children about ways to deal with problems such as domestic violence and addictions among family members.
In a world driven by profits raked from cheap sourcing of products and services, Fair Trade organizations have raised the bar in significantly enhancing the quality of life where it is required the most. It has built pressure upon mainstream businesses to stop excluding marginalized communities from their just share of prosperity.
While much remains to be done about the beleaguered plight of women in India, it may be stated that in rural areas and the slums they are slowly finding their voices to fight oppression in all its villainous forms through these cooperatives and projects.
To contact the author, e-mail: niharikam@americanbazaaronline.com