What started two years ago as a source for socially responsible, fair trade products has emerged today as a leading alternative to traditional school fundraising campaigns. Global Goods Partners (GGP) launched its fundraising program in September 2006. Working in partnership with forward-thinking school communities around the country, the program has been adopted by pre-schools, elementary and secondary schools, and student clubs on college campuses.
Key chains made by refugee women on the Thai-Burma borderThis past May, the Convent of the Sacred Heart (CSH), a K-12 all-girls school in New York City, worked with GGP to plan a day-long workshop focused on the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (see www.un.org/ millenniumgoals). Through GGP’s Global Classroom initiative, the upper school hosted special guest Naw Musi, a former refugee represent-ing the community based group Karen Women’s Organization (KWO), which operates in refugee camps on the border of Thailand and Burma. Large numbers of Karen people, one of the largest ethnic groups in Burma, have fled to Thailand to escape violence and oppression at the hands of the government. Over the past several decades, the country’s ruling military has closed Karen schools, burned houses, forcibly evacuated villages, and killed innocent civilians. KWO is providing critical services to Karen women living in refugee camps, including training in design, business skills, marketing and traditional Karen handcrafts. By acquiring these new skills, women are able to earn an income and provide for their families.
When addressing the students, Naw Musi spoke of her experiences growing up in a refugee camp and underscored the direct effect that a purchase of products has on the lives of women craftworkers. During the day, GGP also presented a workshop to a group of middle school students, introducing them to the concepts of community development and economic empowerment.
Global Classroom programs gives students at GGP partner schools an understanding of how the purchase of a product in their own community has a global effect on those in need and provides a direct connection to the women who produce the crafts. While many GGP partner schools use their portion of the funds raised to help fund scholarships and other programs, some schools, like CSH, opt to give the full amount of the proceeds directly to GGP partners in the developing world.
Craftswoman of Gone Rural, SwazilandAs the fundraising program grows, GGP will be able to provide greater economic opportunity to impoverished communities across the globe and award grants to fund advancements in health care, education, and economic empowerment to a larger number of its global partners. GGP is excited to move into the new school year, continuing to work with its 2006 school partners and welcoming a number of new schools—including the Black Pine Circle School in Berkeley, California; Bull Run Elementary School in Centreville, Virginia; and the School of American Ballet in New York City—into the community of socially responsible fundraisers.
There are few people in the world who do not know the chilling story of the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Though the world was slow to react at the time, the murder of more than 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus in that small central African country stands as a warning to all of us of how quickly community and political tensions can spin wildly out of control.
While we may know about the events of those months in 1994, most of us know little of what has come to pass in Rwanda since then. How has the country recovered from the death of one-tenth of its population? Where are those who were arrested for planning and perpetrating the worst of the crimes? How have the survivors coped with the recovery and rebuilding of their communities?
There are currently dozens of inter-national aid organizations working throughout Rwanda to assist in the development and maintenance of infra-structure, and the government has instituted gacaca—a traditional system of dispensing justice based on Rwandan culture—to facilitate reconciliation. However, one of the unforeseen and, until recently, largely ignored after-effects of the genocide has been the alarming prevalence of HIV and AIDS among female survivors who suffered sexual assault during the violence.
WE-ACT member at work, with her childRecognizing the severity of the crisis as well as the unpromising prospects of receiving attention and support from the international community, a group of Rwandan women and international activists came together at the end of 2004 to form Women’s Equality in Access to Care and Treatment (WE-ACT), one of GGP’s newest partners. Central to its programs, WE-ACT provides direct medical care—including the free distribution of anti-retroviral treatment (ARVs), donated by Columbia University—to HIV-positive women and their children. In addition, WE-ACT works to improve public health services for vulnerable families, offers psychological care and therapy for those affected by HIV, conducts internationally recognized research on reproductive health issues, and increases awareness of HIV/AIDS, its causes, and its treatment.
Although the distribution of ARVs was fairly straight forward, WE-ACT faced the daunting problem of providing adequate nutrition to treatment recipients, the majority of whom, due to their illness, could not hold regular jobs and thus could not always afford to buy food. As Frank Mugisha, the former food program manager for WE-ACT, describes, “Taking ARVs without food is like dying another death,” as the drugs cause patients to become extremely weak. For several months, WE-ACT managed to acquire donated food through the World Food Programme, but the assistance, already inadequate for the growing number of women receiving support from WE-ACT, ended in March 2005.
In order to help women to provide for them-selves, in late 2005 WE-ACT initiated a pilot income-generation project on the outskirts of Kigali. Consisting of twenty-five HIV-positive women, all but one of whom are genocide widows, the project produces dolls, purses, household goods, and clothing for sale locally and abroad. Working five days a week from 9 AM to 3 PM, project participants make about $3 per day, enough to buy food for themselves and their families.
Dolls made by WE-ACT members, waiting to be shippedMary, a member of WE-ACT since its inception and the bookkeeper for the income-generation project, believes that without the project, she would have died. “Before joining WE-ACT,” she says, “I was sick but did not know why. Now I receive treatment and can earn some money for myself. I am weak but alive. Everyday I can work beside others like me. I feel at ease here.”
Before the genocide, Mary worked in a home for the elderly. Today, she volunteers her time within her own community, providing free counseling to other HIV-positive women and widows and assisting them in acquiring the same sort of free treatment that she receives from WE-ACT. She feels that the income-generation project holds great potential for other women, as well. The problem is that the local market is not strong enough to produce significant demand. “With a real market,” she says, “we could include more women who can use our support.”
And that is where WE-ACT’s new partnership with GGP can help. In the spring, GGP began selling dolls made by the women participating in the income-generation project. Each doll is a hand-sewn mother with child dressed in a colorful, pattered dress that stands around 20 inches tall. With the additional revenues generated from sales through GGP, WE-ACT plans to upgrade their infrastructure and equipment and hire an outside trainer who can help with product development. Once the new market becomes stable, WE-ACT hopes to incorporate more women into the project.
WE-ACT dolls are available this fall on the GGP website. Each doll comes with a special tag that describes WE-ACT and its powerful mission.
Seed bracelets from Pampa Brava, ArgentinaOne of the most fulfilling aspects of the GGP fundraising program is the excitement and energy that young people bring to the discussion of global issues. Groups of middle and high school students have taken the initiative to combine their fundraising efforts with a more active agenda. Students from participating schools have created school clubs and organized service projects that address critical issues facing impoverished people in their own communities and around the world.
Last April, at the age of 13, Alexa Herlands of Glastonbury, Connecticut, did her part to bring attention to global poverty by hosting a GGP event in her community. By doing so, Alexa enthusiastically fulfilled a growing tradition of engaging in community service in preparation for her bat mitzvah—a Jewish ceremony that recognizes a girl’s coming of age. “I was trying to find a project that was influenced by art and that also helped people,” Alexa said. “It was a combination of doing something good for other people who are less fortunate than I am and doing something that tied in with my interest in art.”
Alexa set up a GGP booth at her Sunday school, explaining to interested buyers where and how each product was made and some of the challenges facing the women who crafted the products. She selected specific items from the GGP product line—all made from eco-friendly materials—that would hold the most appeal to kids her age. Among the products that Alexa sold were notepads made in India from recycled paper, seed bracelets made in rural Argentina, and treasure boxes from Bolivia made of orange peels.
According to Alexa, the day was successful, and offered a valuable learning experience. “I like to know what is going on in other parts of the world and I guess you could say I’m curious,” Alexa said. “I thought it was important to help other people even though I made only a small difference. It was incredibly fun and felt really good to do something for others.”
Alexa added that her peers “were really impressed” by her efforts and would be keen to volunteer for similar projects where they can make a real difference in the world. “When I did this project … a lot of kids learned a lot from this and they understood that these things were from other countries and about other people. Some of the kids said they want to do the same kind of thing—have fun and learn a lot, too.”
In the future, Alexa plans to remain involved with GGP and is interested in staying up to date with GGP products and projects in the field. “I try to make people aware of the website and have sent friends there who ask about it,” she said. “They might be interested in some of the programs and in knowing that they are doing good and, as the website says, shopping with their values at the same time.”
GGP had the great fortune to work with five fantastic college interns this summer:
Priya, Yang Yang, Julia, Lizzie, and AwaraEach of these young women made concrete contributions to the organization, most significantly to GGP’s Global Classroom and outreach programs. Priya Bhayana described working for Global Goods Partners as “one of the most educational and enjoyable exp-eriences I have had. The projects I was assigned allowed me to explore the many facets of a small nonprofit, including how it is run and developed and the intricacies involved in collaborating with small grass-roots organizations. Through my research on the developing world, I’ve also learned invaluable information about the countries in which GGP works and their daily struggles. As I head back for my senior year of college, I walk (reluctantly!) away from this experience with a great sense of fulfillment.”
Global Goods Partners is committed to promoting the self-sustainability of our CBO partners. With the proceeds from product sales and directed contributions, GGP’s Community Development Fund awards small grants to our community based partners. These grants focus on strengthening the capacity of their microenterprise operations and their community development programs. Within the first six months of 2007, GGP awarded grants to the following organizations:
Artisans Association of Cambodia (AAC, Cambodia): For marketing initiatives. AAC is acquiring a boutique space in Phnom Penh to showcase the work of member organizations located in rural provinces. The boutique will provide exposure and increased sales potential for groups with otherwise limited market access.
Foundation for Needy Communities (FDNC, Uganda): For the Bye Kamahono art program. FDNC employs a part-time instructor for the design center, is creating a quality control workshop, and is providing materials and supplies for participating students at the center.
Kachin Women’s Association of Thailand (KWAT, Thailand-Burma Border): For an income generation program in Chiang Mai and Chang Dao, Thailand. KWAT is training women in outlying provinces in traditional doll-making, providing them with sustained employment, and evaluating product marketability.
Pampa Brava/Niwok Foundation (Argentina): For a reproductive health program for the indigenous Wichí community on the Argentina-Bolivia border. Pampa Brava is providing training to 40 young women and men in reproductive health and human rights. The health program also promotes dialogue, exchange, and further training of peers and families.
A nonprofit endeavor, GGP pursues this mission by partnering with organizations, associations, and cooperatives worldwide that integrate their commitment to community development—specifically, improvements in education, health, women’s rights, and employment opportunities—with socially responsible income-generating enterprises. GGP provides its partners with direct access to new markets in the United States, increasing both their revenue and global awareness of their work. GGP uses proceeds from product sales to provide technical assistance and grant support to its partners, assisting them in building stronger, more effective programs.
Donations to GGP are tax deductible and are used to support capacity-building grants and the promotion of products made by GGP’s partners around the world.To make a contribution, to arrange a fundraiser for your school or organization, or to learn more about GGP, please visit the website at: www.globalgoodspartners.org.