New Year, New Grant Awards
St. Nicholas has long since packed up his bags, but the giving spirit is still in the air here at CRS Fair Trade. In December the Fair Trade Fund committee came together in Baltimore to consider applications that either work “on the ground” to help producers enter the Fair Trade market or here “in the marketplace” to encourage consumer participation. Since 2005, the CRS Fair Trade Fund has awarded approximately $530,000 worth of grants thanks to the generosity of our partners, individual Catholic contributions, and continued commitment among Catholics to purchase fair trade products.
Here’s a nice shot of artisans and CRS staff sharing knowledge of product designs in Kenya, thanks to a previous grant from the Fund.
And here’s the official announcement, from our cracker-jack media team, about the first round of 2009 grants!
Catholic Contributions to Fair Trade Fund Support the Movement
BALTIMORE, MD, Jan. 5, 2009 — Catholic Relief Services has awarded grants totaling more than $139,000 to fair trade institutions and supporters worldwide. The grants were made possible through contributions of devoted Catholics, supporters of economic justice, and the work of CRS’ fair trade partners. Every time someone makes a purchase from one of CRS’ fair trade coffee, chocolate or handcrafts partners, a percentage goes to the CRS Fair Trade Fund.
The fund makes high-impact grants to expand the fair trade model. Overseas, the Fund makes “on the ground” Development Grants to help disadvantaged artisans and farmers gain access to the fair trade market. Market-Building Grants support initiatives that have unique potential here “in the marketplace” to help grow the demand for fair trade products.
The 2009 grants support work in:
• Vietnam: $25,000 to increase fair trade-certified coffee production in Quang Tri province by helping ethnic minority coffee farmers meet Fair Trade standards, access the fair trade market and stabilize their earnings.
• Bolivia: $22,000 to support and train members of Fundacion Accion Loyola, a network of more than 350 indigenous, small-scale farming families operating in chronically food-insecure communities.
• West Bank: $18,600 to help Holy Land Handicrafts Society (HLHS), a 900-member woodwork cooperative, to better market their olive wood products in the local and international fair trade market.
• Haiti: $10,000 to provide Web development training to members of Comite Artisanal Haitien (CAH), a nonprofit cooperative of more than 170 individual Haitian artisans and groups, and build their capacity to establish much-needed links with local and international markets.
• Indonesia: $5,000 to assist the Foundation for the Development of the Indonesian Handicraft Producers in its efforts at training producers in business management.
• Diocese of Orlando: $13,600 to create a Fair Trade Youth Leadership Council by training groups of youth and young adults to expand the fair trade movement in the region.
• University of San Diego: $10,000 to support members of the school’s Fair Trade and Sustainability Group to visit with coffee farmers in Mexico and implement an economic justice awareness campaign on campus.
• U.S. Communities: $35,000 to support the work of CRS’ Fair Trade Ambassadors who promote the movement in their neighborhoods, dioceses, schools and workplaces in an effort to expand the market for fair trade products.
Applications for Fair Trade Fund grants are considered twice a year and must be sponsored by a CRS partner or program.
Contact: Kim Pozniak
Catholic Relief Services
(410) 951-7281
kpozniak “at” crs.org
Tags: fair trade, haiti, holy land, indonesia, orlando, vietnam
