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Impact
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What is Fair Trade?
Fair trade aims to create a safer, more equitable and dignified work environment in which ethical and sustainable products can be sourced, and artisans empowered. Fair trade gives consumers the opportunity to vote with their dollars and support businesses that promote their ideals and principles.
What does Fair Trade mean to Project Have Hope?
As a proud member of the Fair Trade Federation since 2010, Project Have Hope is committed to fair trade principles. Fair trade enables the artisans with whom we work to showcase their skills, retain cultural identity, earn a fair wage and gain opportunities. Not only do we pay above market price for the crafts they produce, we offer additional opportunities to enable the artisans to secure financial stability and access education. As displaced refugees, many of our artisans have grown up with little security. The threat of LRA rebels during the civil war in Northern Uganda forced them to flee their homes and their agricultural existence known for generations, and to only find safety within the confines of an urban slum. Through the work of Project Have Hope, these artisans have regained financial autonomy and their children have greater opportunities to break free of the shackles of poverty.
Does my purchase really make a difference?
Yes! Emphatically, yes! Your purchase makes it possible for artisans to feed their families, educate their children, build homes and create a brighter future. The wage earned for 12 necklaces or 25 bracelets is enough for an artisan to pay rent for one entire month! The bigger impact is the power of your dollar. As consumers demand transparency about who makes their products and the conditions faced by those workers face, companies are forced to make changes and adopt fairer practices.
Who’s on the naughty list?
Ethical Consumer has created a list of some of the least ethical companies. Read more:
https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/retailers/five-unethical-companies
Who’s on the nice list?
https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/retailers/top-5-ethical-companies-brands
Do you want to learn more about Fair Trade?
Visit: https://www.fairtradefederation.org/what-is-fair-trade/
Interested in reading what other Fair Traders have to say?
Dunitz Fair Trade has compiled a list of FTF Member blogs
https://www.dunitzfairtrade.com/2020/07/fair-trade-federation-bloggers.html
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"I think big!" gushes Eric. "I want to be the best designer ever!"
His goals aren’t limited to fashioning clothes, but to every aspect of design. With unbridled ambition, a strong work ethic and passion, this 22 year old is unstoppable.
Thanks to Project Have Hope's scholastic sponsorship program, Eric had the opportunity to pursue a course in fashion and design, and is currently employed by a company that manufactures clothes for government contracts.
Eric’s passion for design was ignited when he was 17 years old. His uniform was too big and ill-fitting. He was determined to fix it. “ ‘Let me try,’ ” he recalls saying to himself as he sat behind a sewing machine for the first time to adjust his uniform. “From that day, I loved tailoring.
Pursuing a course in tailoring would have been an impossibility without the financial support of Project Have Hope. Susan has gained both a skill and a confidence that helps her to navigate the future and the challenges that persist.
Much of Susan’s youth was spent rising before the sun and going to bed long after the moon had risen. Her day would start at 4am, when she would rise to head to the fields to work. She’d return home as the sun was setting and begin the time-consuming task of preparing a meal. Day after day.
At 19, a young mother herself, Susan moved to the Acholi Quarter. There, she labored in the stone quarry, often with her infant baby on her back.
When Project Have Hope began, it was a welcome relief to Susan. She could work from home with her daughter seated nearby and roll paper into beads. “It was simple work, easy work,” Susan carefreely recalls. Not only was the work easy, but she’d earn twice what she earned in the quarry. “It was a very great change for me.”
Susan later enrolled in a tailoring course through Project Have Hope’s support. From the beginning, she was thrilled with the opportunity tailoring presented. “You can expect money any day, any time,” Susan beams. “If I return to the village, I can bring my tailoring machine and work from there and earn a living. I can work anywhere.”
