The India trip 5 – 18th January 2008 was organised by Fair Trade UK based retail company Shared Earth as a buying trip and to gain images of the manufacturing process to use in their marketing materials. Sarah Dyer and Chris Cook from Coconut Creatives accompanied the group to undertake interviews and gain images for press opportunities.
During the trip the Shared Earth team visited many different suppliers in Delhi, Agra, Saharanpur and Kolkatta. These suppliers are working with hundreds of Indian producers to offer fairly traded products world-wide.
The Shared Earth and Coconut Creatives team were taken to a slum, orphanage, villages, cities and funded schools travelling right across India to discover the real positive impact that Fair Trade is making on the workers and their family’s lives.
What we discovered…
Fair Trade projects have been set up by the Indian suppliers throughout India to give back to the community. Details of many of these projects can be found on www.sharedearthnewsandmedia.co.uk. A sample can be found below:
1. A school slum which provides funded education for 60 children from 400 families living in Delhi
2. A funded orphanage which cares for and educates former child workers, child prostitutes and abandoned children from the Delhi region
3. An E-Academy to teach children necessary computer skills in Kolkatta
4. A self sufficient project for deaf and dumb adults giving them a fair chance to work making handicrafts which are sold internationally
5. Many, many workshops that provide consistent employment, fair wages, pensions, healthcare schemes and safer working conditions for master craftsmen and workers throughout India
