

Your journey into the world of Fair Trade
By Glenn & Rebecca Fadner
You'd think that an event about Human Trafficking would be a "downer", wouldn't you? Well, nothing could be further from the truth. No, it certainly wasn't an occasion for partying, and there were plenty of sobering and somber statistics, but the prevailing mood was one of hope and optimism, mixed with a dogged determination that slavery MUST be wiped out and CAN be in our generation.
When the folks at Not For Sale Campaign conceived of this Forum, they were hoping that 250 people would attend. Oops! As of the first session, over 750 were expected.The final number pushed 800! That posed a few logistical challenges, but the staff an NFS and North Coast Calvary Chapel did a great job of accommodating everyone.
It was amazing to see people from around the world, from a wide variety of political and religious backgrounds, all united in the belief that there MUST be an end to global slavery in all its forms.
Speakers such as Lou de Baca (US Ambassador-at-large for issues of Human Trafficking) and David Arkless (Manpower President for Global and Corporate Affairs) were among the keynote speakers. US representatives and a Canadian MP sent video greetings and encouragement. Breakout sessions covered topics ranging from changing justice systems to the use of entrepreneurial models as means of combating trafficking.
There's a great recap of the Forum online. Click here to access it.
By Rebecca and Glenn Fadner
Fair Trade only works because people believe in it and "vote" for it with their shopping dollars. Whether it's coffee or chocolate or our KVI products, it first takes people to believe that EVERYONE ~ from the producer to the retailer ~ has a right to make a fair and living wage.
Subsequently it requires individuals to choose to spend their money purchasing Fair Trade products.
By Marita Greenidge
"Multiply the population of the US by three. That’s how many people around the world live on about a dollar a day.
Do it again and now you have the number closer to $2. About forty percent of the world lives on $2 or less a day.
What’s that like? What happens to you when you have two dollars a day to live on. It’s almost impossible to imagine. I mean, $2 is the rent on your apartment for about 45 minutes. $2 buys you one bite of lunch at a local restaurant...
And yet, two billion people survive on that sort of income. "
Those are the opening lines from Seth Godin's post last week Friday. You should definitely read the entire post here. Godin speaks about why entrepreneurship is so important to social and economic development. The focus eventually turns to the Acumen Fund, a non-profit Seth will be working with. I particularly like the Acumen Fund because they seem to share our ideals here at KVI. Here's an explanation of what they do:
"Acumen Fund is a non-profit global venture fund that uses entrepreneurial approaches to solve the problems of global poverty. We seek to prove that small amounts of philanthropic capital, combined with large doses of business acumen, can build thriving enterprises that serve vast numbers of the poor. Our investments focus on delivering affordable, critical goods and services – like health, water, housing and energy – through innovative, market-oriented approaches." - Acumen Fund Wesbite
So the idea is that charity alone is not the answer because it creates dependency. However using charity and investing in projects that have the potential to offer the world's disadvantaged ways to support themselves negates the need for continual charitable donations. This is very important because it means that if charitable dollars run out, persons aren't instataneously transported back to poverty. Donations become more like investments than hand-outs.
This is why we at KVI believe in Fair Trade and helping our artisans find marketable solutions to their economic problems. We are facilitators giving artisans connections to distribution channels they wouldn't normally have so that they can chart their own entrepreneurial course.
Of course this brings into question what happens when we aren't there to facilitate but that's a discussion for another post when we'll talk about why succession planning is so important.