Fair Trade month brought a lot of attention to responsible gift giving at the holidays and shopping all year long. The Catholic Spirit in New Jersey recently featured how a variety of communities and groups in Metuchen promote Fair Trade and are using it as an intentional way to promote solidarity when budgets are being tightened this year.

Our own Catholic Relief Services newsletter also featured a story called “Fair Trade Gifts for the Holiday Season” to help us get ready for gift giving at Christmas time. We’ve printed that story below, in case you missed it!

“Better pricing for our baskets has helped us send our children to school. Before, we had to weave all night to pay school fees.” These are the words of Teni Ayamga, a basket weaver from Ghana whose children are able to go to school thanks to fair trade.

A weaver from Trade Aid in Ghana creates a Bolgatanga basket. Photo by Serena Sato/SERRV

Teni is the beneficiary of a trade model that guarantees fair wages to disadvantaged artisans, farmers and workers around the world while providing socially conscious consumers in the United States a way to shop responsibly. By purchasing fair trade products, consumers promote fair wages for impoverished workers in developing countries, and fair trade helps these small-scale farmers and artisans to survive in a very competitive international market.

“Before Trade Aid [a fair trade organization in Ghana], I had to sell in the market and didn’t consider the cost of my skill and the materials. I sold too low. With Trade Aid, I learned to consider the raw materials and workmanship, and I sell my baskets for double,” says Anyopoka Apana, who also earns a living as a basket weaver.

Teni’s and Anyopoka’s baskets are part of a large selection of gift items available through Catholic Relief Services’ Fair Trade program, which also includes coffee, chocolate, specialty food items and other handcrafts. The items were put together by 90 small producer groups and artisans in more than 36 countries throughout the world, and are now available.

CRS has also partnered with 16 coffee companies throughout the United States that are committed to the principles of fair trade. They offer a variety of quality roasts, and with every purchase designated to support CRS, consumers are contributing a percentage to CRS’ Fair Trade Fund, which benefits fair trade organizations in the United States and abroad.

In Madagascar, for example, a CRS grant was used to train Malagasy artisans in product design. Sharing their own skills and learning about product trends—such as a growing interest in recycled materials in the American market—prepared them to more effectively export their products. One of their most popular items, a schoolbag made from recycled denim, has recently been added to CRS’ handcrafts selection. In the United States CRS promotes the bag as a way for students to learn the importance of reusing materials and to learn about the country of Madagascar.
Bolgatanga baskets.

“The bag is an easy way to build understanding about the power of fair trade,” says Jacqueline DeCarlo, program manager for CRS Fair Trade. “The message of recycling materials to protect the planet while promoting opportunities for artisans really resonates with young people.”

For many Catholics, the principles of fair trade closely reflect their values, and the Catholic market for fairly traded goods has seen double-digit growth in recent years. The commitment of Catholics in this country to pay a fair price for the products they enjoy, and to introduce fair trade to their parishes, helps CRS’ long-term efforts of promoting economic justice around the world.

“Fair trade is a very tangible way of supporting farmers and artisans by investing our money in communities that promote opportunity,” DeCarlo says. Last year, more than 130 Catholic dioceses held fair trade sales, selling crafts, coffee and chocolate in their parishes. With their help, CRS’ fair trade sales jumped to $2 million in 2007, a 53 percent increase over the previous year.

Both the fair trade online and printed catalog are filled with an extraordinary selection of fine jewelry, kitchen and tableware, household items, gift baskets, games, accessories, and holiday decorations. By purchasing these fair trade items, everyone wins: consumers get high-quality one-of-a-kind handcrafts and the people who created them get hope for a better future for themselves and their families.

written by Kim Pozniak, a communications officer for CRS based in Baltimore, MD.