Fair Trade

Fair Trade promotes economic, social and environmental justice worldwide. Artisans are paid fairly for their products and earnings are reinvested in community projects such as health clinics, child care, education and literacy training.

Fair Trade also means that workers learn important leadership and organizing skills, safe and healthy working conditions are maintained, and producers gain greater control and decision making power over the use of their local resources.

Fair Trade Criteria include:

-Paying a fair wage in the local context

-Offering employees opportunities for advancement

-Providing equal employment opportunities for all people

-Engaging in environmentally sustainable practices

-Being open to public accountability

-Building long-term trade relationships

-Providing healthy and safe working conditions within the local context

-Providing financial and technical assistance to producers whenever possible

-Ensuring that there is no abuse of child labor

Fair Trade Benefits:

-Values and preserves traditonal cultures

-Generates fair income for thousands of artisans around the world

-Educates consumers about trade and cultures

-Promotes people-to-people ties among artisans, traders, and consumers

-Gender equity: 70% of craft artisans are women

-Provides resources for education, health care, and community development

-Promotes environmental stewardship

-Supplements income in between harvest cycles, when rural communities most need income

-Promotes democratic participation in cooperative group structures

-Ensures that artistic technologies in indigenous cultures are passed on to the next generations