Joining Hands Against Hunger
NEWSLETTER
Eleventh Edition, September 2009

Egypt

A Fair Trade Tour through Egypt

by Nancy Lister-Settle, Presbytery of Des Moines

Hunger Action Enabler and Joining Hands Coordinator

Etched brass jewelry. Hand sewn leather bags. Intricately decorated pottery plates and bowls. Colorful scarves and shawls. Brightly dyed palm baskets. Fragrant olive oil soap. Elegant silver thread embroidery. Finely woven Egyptian cotton cloth.

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Together for Family Development (TFD)

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From mid June through early July, I accompanied the director of Partners for Just Trade, Carrie Hawthorne, as she visited artisan groups around Egypt to evaluate producers and their products. Together for Family Development, the Joining Hands partner network for Des Moines Presbytery, had designated fair trade as one of their campaigns this year. So for three weeks we traveled from Cairo to Aswan, to cities and villages where skilled crafts-persons carried on local traditions, creating items that have been produced and traded in Egypt for centuries.

We were hosted by Egyptian Hands Foundation, an NGO working with producers all over Egypt. They handled our travel and accommodations and did all the translating for us. And they helped us to understand fair trade in the Egyptian context:


Nubian basket group vote about where to work - in their homes or together at the local NGO

El Fayoum group members compare sample soaps from American manufacturers with their own product

The artisan groups we visited were varied in how they came into being and how they operated. Unlike many fair trade producers here in the U.S. and in Latin America, they were not cooperatives, but several did work in a more democratic way, with some decisions being made by the artisans.

Basket makers near Aswan took a vote on whether to continue working in their homes while they were gathered together for our visit. And women making olive oil soap in El Fayoum offered their individual opinions when sample soaps from American producers were passed around for comparison.

At each interview we asked for stories from the people we met, and we heard many wonderful accounts: an apprentice turned designer and workshop owner; a young woman who chose her art over an arranged marriage; and mothers who learned their craft as an extension of a community education initiative.

Partners for Just Trade Director, Carrie Hawthorne, interviews members of El Fayoum soap manufacturers

The interviews revealed some differences, though, in how fair trade standards are understood and applied in different places in our world. It took time for all of us to sort out our personal definitions and the goals we each brought to the tour. I readily admit that I had a lot to learn! Partners for Just Trade follows the fair trade principles of the Fair Trade Federation and they are comprehensive.

 

As we measured the artisan groups by those standards I understood how the principles protect all parties—producers, marketers and consumers. And they serve as really good guidelines for any development project.

Fair Trade Federation members commit to:

• Create Opportunities for Economically and Socially Marginalized Producers –

Fair Trade is a strategy for poverty alleviation and sustainable development. Members create social and economic opportunities through trading partnerships with marginalized producers. Members place the interest of producers and their communities as the primary concern of their enterprise.

• Develop Transparent and Accountable Relationships –

Fair Trade involves relationships that are open, fair, consistent, and respectful. Members show consideration for both customers and producers by sharing information about the entire trading chain through honest and proactive communication.They create mechanisms to help customers and producers feel actively involved in the trading chain. If problems arise, members work cooperatively with fair trade partners and other organizations to implement solutions.

• Build Capacity –

Fair Trade is a means to develop producers’ independence. Members maintain long-term relationships based on solidarity, trust, and mutual respect, so that producers can improve their skills and their access to markets. Members help producers to build capacity through proactive communication, financial and technical assistance, market information, and dialogue. They seek to share lessons learned, to spread best practices, and to strengthen the connections between communities, including among producer groups.

• Promote Fair Trade –

Fair Trade encourages an understanding by all participants of their role in world trade. Members actively raise awareness about fair trade and the possibility of greater justice in the global economic system. They encourage customers and producers to ask questions about conventional and alternative supply chains and to make informed choices. Members demonstrate that fair trade can be a positive force for improving living standards, health, education, the distribution of power, and the environment in the communities with which they work.

• Pay Promptly and Fairly –

Fair Trade empowers producers to set prices within the framework of the true costs of labor time, materials, sustainable growth, and related factors. Members take steps to ensure that producers have the capacity to manage this process. Members comply with or exceed international, national, local, and, where applicable, Fair Trade Minimum standards for their employees and producers. Members seek to ensure that income is distributed equitably at all times, particularly equal pay for equal work by women and men. Members ensure prompt payment to all of their partners. Producers are offered access to interest-free pre-harvest or pre-production advance payment.

• Support Safe and Empowering Working Conditions –

Fair Trade means a safe and healthy working environment free of forced labor. Throughout the trading chain, members cultivate workplaces that empower people to participate in the decisions that affect them.Members seek to eliminate discrimination based on race, caste, national origin, religion, disability, gender, sexual orientation, union membership, political affiliation, age, marital or health status. Members support workplaces free from physical, sexual, psychological, or verbal harassment or abuse.

• Ensure the Rights of Children –

Fair Trade means that all children have the right to security, education, and play. Throughout the trading chain, members respect and support the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, as well as local laws and social norms. Members disclose the involvement of children in production. Members do not support child trafficking and exploitative child labor.


• Cultivate Environmental Stewardship –

Fair Trade seeks to offer current generations the ability to meet their needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Members actively consider the implications of their decisions on the environment and promote the responsible stewardship of resources. Members reduce, reuse, reclaim, and recycle materials wherever possible. They encourage environmentally sustainable practices throughout the entire trading chain.

• Respect Cultural Identity –

Fair Trade celebrates the cultural diversity of communities, while seeking to create positive and equitable change. Members respect the development of products, practices, and organizational models based on indigenous traditions and techniques to sustain cultures and revitalize traditions. Members balance market needs with producers cultural heritage.

At Rawya pottery, with from left to right: Rawya and her two daughters, Nancy (standing), Carrie (seated), Denise England (PCUSA mission worker), Bassem Serofin (TFD member) and Nabil Sisostres.

 

We found that none of the producer groups met every one of the criteria, but most were eager to take steps toward compliance. Some needed to modify products in order to move from local to global markets. Most needed help with bookkeeping in order to be in line with transparency requirements.

We met with Together for Family Development members and talked about the fair trade principles in some depth. All of us discovered that we need to learn more about fair trade and how we can be better promoters and consumers.

 

 

Finely woven cotton scarves in striking colors and patterns. Uniquely Egyptian hand thrown and decorated pottery. Now I see the people behind the products and I know that we have the opportunity to make a difference in their lives. Des Moines Presbytery’s Joining Hands team is eager to tell their stories to our neighbors and to help them understand the importance of fair trade.

I’m looking forward to seeing Egyptian products available through Partners for Just Trade in the months to come. Visit their website at www.partnersforjusttrade.org to learn about the artists whose work they market, and about the importance of fair trade to struggling communities in this age of globalization.

Read more about this trip on the blog tab of Des Moines Joining Hands web site  www.desmoineswithegypt.org

Fall projects

by Nabil Sisostres, TFD coordinator

During August 2009, 8 member organizations of TFD network submitted proposals which describe the Fall projects they will implement to include children with disability in the main stream of public elementary education. The new law which gives children with disability the right of enrolling in school will be activated by the beginning of this school year (September 2009).

Projects will include several activities to ensure the successful implementation of the law:
• Constructing resource rooms for simplifying the syllabus in schools.
• Meeting with key persons in the Ministry of Education to follow up the process.
• Workshops for children both with and without disability to ensure the idea of accepting each other.
• Training teachers and school staff to deal with the new situation.
• Exchanging visits with other associations working in the same field

The projects will begin in September 2009 and last for 6 months.

Stay tuned!


Visit TFD's updated Arabic and English website