Piel Ácida is a Colombian enterprise that works with local artisans and community-based arts organizations to produce and market Colombian handcrafts. Established in 1997 as a small workshop specializing in crafts made from orange peels, today Piel Acida has expanded to work with artisan communities throughout Colombia who make a wide-range of contemporary and traditional crafts. With a strong commitment to its artists, Piel Acida is a fair trade organization that pays its artisans fair living wages. Beyond providing much-needed employment opportunities, Piel Acida strives to empower its artisans by helping them to develop business capacity and skills. Workshops in product pricing and efficient production techniques have helped artisans to generate the necessary income to improve their living conditions.

Chiquinquira is a municipality in the Colombian department of Boyacá. It is made up of two zones: an urban center with about 40 neighborhoods and a surrounding rural zone. In a supply and production chain involving workers from both areas, Chiquinquira has become known for its unique arts and crafts made from tagua, the large seed from a palm tree native to this tropical region. In the rural areas, farmers harvest the tagua and transport it into the city where it is sold to artisans who create colorful, dimensional jewelry and accessories. Due to Colombia's ongoing civil war, the rural zones have become dangerous places to work with few opportunities for poor unskilled workers who seek alternatives to working in the coca production industry. In attempt to provide assistance to the most marginalized members of the tagua art production chain, Piel Acida is working with Global Goods Partners to buy donkeys for the farmers. This will allow the farmers to transport and sell a much larger quantity of tagua seeds than what they could when only transporting tagua by hand. Piel Acida is also working to involve the urban artisans in the donkey project, hoping to foster a sense of community and solidarity between artisan and supplier.

Tagua is the seed from the ivory-nut palm tree found in the South American rainforest. The smooth seed, also known as vegetable ivory, is found inside the large woody, burr-like fruit of the palm tree. Each fruit contains between 20-25 seeds. Once the tagua is removed, it is dried and the brown outer skin is removed, leaving a smooth white exterior that is similar to natural ivory. The seed is then polished and carved into intricate arts and crafts, including beads, jewelry, figurines, and even buttons. For the jewelry and accessories sold by GGP, the final step involves painting the tagua with natural dyes in dark, rich hues. Tagua has been recognized around the world as a renewable resource whose use promotes environmental conservation. In South America tagua harvesting provides a sustainable alternative to slash and burn agriculture, the leading cause of rainforest destruction. Across the ocean in Africa, the use of tagua as an ivory substitute has helped to save a shrinking population of elephants from being killed for their tusks.

Region: Northern South America
Capital: Bogotá
Population: 44,379,598 (July 2007)
Size: About twice the size of Texas
Independence: From Spain on July 20, 1810
Currency: Colombian peso
Languages: Spanish

Literacy rate: 92.8% (2004)
Education: Free and mandatory between the ages of 5 and 15
Primary School Enrollment Rate: 83% (2004)
Life Expectancy: Female, 76.2; Male, 68.4 (2007)
Infant Mortality Rate: 20.13 deaths/1,000 live births (2007)
HIV/AIDS Prevalence Rate: 0.6% of the population or 190,000 people (2005)
Poverty Rate: 49.2% of the population lives below the national poverty line (2005)
People living on less that $2 a day: 17.8% of population (1990-2004)
People living on less that $1 a day: 7% of population (1990-2004)
Access to Clean Drinking Water: 93% (2004)
Access to Proper Sanitation: 86% (2004)
Doctor to Patient Ratio: 135 doctors for every 100,000 people (2004)

All statistics from CIA World Factbook 2007 & UNDP Human Development Report 2006

Colombia today is unfortunately best known for violence and drugs. Since the 1960s over 200,000 Colombians have died and three million have lost their homes in the fighting that first began as a struggle for land and social equality. In Colombia, the people of European ancestry have enjoyed the most wealth and the best opportunities for jobs, education, and healthcare while the majority of the indigenous, African, and multi-racial populations live in poverty. In the late 1960s this inequality led to the formation of two rebel groups that wanted to take over the government, claiming that they would run the country with the interests of the people in mind. But instead of helping to improve Colombia and conditions for the poor, the two main rebel groups, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN) only brought more violence and unrest. In response to the creation of these groups, the United Self-Defense Force of Colombia (AUC) was formed by citizens claiming to protect the state and themselves. Ultimately, all three groups have been involved in kidnappings, massacres, assassinations, and torture, leaving the average Colombian caught in the middle of violence that has lasted over 40 years. Today the AUC, FARC, and ELN are all on the United States' list of foreign terrorist groups. The government of Colombia is working to engage all sides in peace talks. The US has a close relationship to President Uribe and the current government of Colombia.

Colombia's civil war is difficult to resolve because of the involvement of the AUC, FARC, and ELN in the illegal drug trade. Colombia is the leading producer of cocaine in the world and it supplies 90 percent of the cocaine found in the United States. Crime related to drugs is the second highest cause of death in the country, and the sale of drugs provides the money the AUC, FARC, and ELN need to continue fighting and buying weapons. Although the government of Colombia has tried to put a stop to cocaine production, efforts have not really worked so far because of the high demand for illegal drugs around the world. In addition, growing coca (the plant used to make cocaine) is often the most lucrative way peasant farmers can make enough money to feed their families. Because farmers make a lot more money selling coca than other legal crops, it is hard to convince them that they should stop growing it.

In recent years the US has sponsored the destruction of coca fields in Colombia in order to stop the flow of drugs into the US. This project has been harmful for rural farmers because of the effects on the environment, human health, and their ability to earn a living. Many complain that the chemicals used to destroy the coca fields also poison the soil, not allowing farmers to grow anything at all, and because the poison is sprayed from planes, it often destroys surrounding crops as well as coca plants. In addition, many argue that the destruction of coca is unfair since the plant has traditional use in medicines and religious ceremonies. Fortunately, in some regions, with the help of various nonprofit organizations, peasant farmers have begun to turn to different agricultural and income generation activities such as the production of arts and crafts. Growing and harvesting certain plants indigenous to the region allow farmers and artisans to distance themselves from the drug trade and the violent civil war and slowly move their country towards peace.