Allpa, Peru

Allpa are a private trading company established in 1986. Allpa means 'earth' in Ayacuchan Quechua, reminding them that the objects which surround them and are worked with come from the earth, such as stone, wood, clay and metal. Allpa currently work with 100 handicraft workshops, with a mission to make the production of handicrafts a source of sustained employment for a major sector of the Peruvian population.

Silver jewellery workshop at Allpa, Peru

ASHA Handicrafts Association, India

Asha Handicrafts have been practising Fair Trade since 1975, even before the concept of Fair Trade became popular abroad. Asha in Sanskrit means 'hope' and Asha have brought hope by providing a marketing outlet to the individual craftsmen. Based in Mumbai, India, Asha is an association of voluntary businessmen dedicated to helping craftsmen, financially, ecologically and spiritually through its welfare centre and interrelated programs. The team of Asha welfare workers are stationed at different producer groups and co-operatives and move closely with them and their family sharing skills, extending medical help and education. Technical training is also provided to increase efficiency and productivity to encourage the growth and development of cottage industries.

Silversmiths at Asha Handicrafts, India

Aspiration International, India

Aspiration are based in Delhi, India and are a fairly small Fair Trading organisation in comparison to others in India. Aspiration believe in sincere work for the welfare of artisans and families which are located all over India including Jaipur and Sarangapur by promoting and developing cottage industries, improving economic and social welfare and proving fair wages.

Aspiration organise groups of semi skilled and skilled artisans and help bring them up from poverty to being able to stand on their own. Some groups have even become independent artisans in their own community.

Specialist wood work artisan from Aspiration, India

Bugz Workshop

The Bugz Workshop started in South Africa as a project to help the residents of an informal settlement in the Cape.The Bugz workshop provides its workers with a decent wage, comfortable and safe working conditions and the dignity which comes from being part of a successful, productive team.The Cape Town City Council has installed electricity and running water into many informal settlements. The Bugz workshop is not a charity. It is a successful commercial enterprise with a vision.

   Staff at Bugz Workshop  

CIAP (The Inter-Regional Centre of Artisans of Peru)

CIAP is a non-profit making association of handicraft producers in Peru, which aims to improve living conditions and support the development of artisans’ communities. It assists the artisans by helping with the production, export and marketing of goods. The principles include defending and preserving the artisans’ cultured identity.

Handmade patchwork wall hangings being made at CIAP

Craft Aid, Mauritius  

Craft Aid was founded in 1982 in Rose-Hill, Mauritius. It provides employment for disabled people, giving them priority in the workforce. It is a member of the National Council for the Rehabilitation of Disabled Persons (NCRD). All profits are shared with the employees or re-invested. The work activities are carefully chosen to fit in with the economic realities of the island, and with consideration of the social and cultural situation.

Card being handmade at Craft Aid  

Earth Bags, India

Earth Bags is based in Kolkata, India and specialises in bags made from jute, a sustainable material which is becoming increasingly popular as people search for alternatives to plastic bags. It is not a recognised Fair Trade organisation, but goes out of its way to ensure that its wages and working conditions are excellent.

Earth Bags produced Simply The Best's own jute bags, which became available in August 2010. Simply The Best are committed to ensuring that ALL profits from the sale of these bags will go to sponsor a little girl named Rani who lives in one of the SOS Children's Villages in India. If sales of the bags and other promotional items go really well, then Simply The Best will also help sponsor the SOS Children's Village at Kolkata - where the STB bags are made. The project benefits from around £2.50 for each bag sold.

Making jute bags at Earth Bags

Equitable Marketing Association, India

EMA is one of the oldest Fair Trade organisations in India - its founder worked with Gandhi! They run a community 10 miles from Kolkata in India where disabled people from nearby villages live during the week and make leather products, candles and musical instruments enabling them to contribute to their family’s income. All EMA employees receive a provident fund, pension, medical insurance and a yearly bonus.

The charity Ekta Trust was set up by EMA which provides scholarships for widows and unemployed people living in Kamarhati, donates text books to numerous students through its text book grant scheme and is developing a centre for single mothers, widows and troubled wives. They also have an aim of planting 10,000 trees per year with the help of youth clubs in South Kolkata.

Leather workshop at EMA

Get Paper Industry, Nepal

Get Paper Industry is a hand made paper products co-operative, using waste materials such as cotton rags, waste paper and agricultural waste. The production process is environmentally friendly, with the paper being dried in sun light and a waste water treatment plan is used to process waste water.

Their mission is to carry out traditional hand made paper crafts of Nepal in a commercial as well as environmentally sustainable manner and provide employment opportunity, mainly for women. 40% of Get Paper Industries profits is put back into social development issues of Nepal including girls' education, AIDS awareness, tree plantation, and agriculture based income generating programmes.

Handmade paper in the process at Get Paper

Karm Marg, India

Karm Marg literally means the 'path of action' and began with a handful of children living on the New Delhi railway station. With the help of a social worker, they took to bring about a change in their lives by starting a small kitchen on a street-side to prepare free food for children there. The kitchen was run on the money contributed daily by the older children.

In the last seven years with the help of a small group of dedicated people, Karm Marg has grown to become a home for about 60 children, based on 1.5 acres of farm land in Faridabad, outside New Delhi. At the heart of Karm Marg's functioning has always been the idea to provide these children with a strong support system and to provide them with skills that allow them to be self reliant and sufficient. It is not only a home where children get love and care, but also a place where the children are exposed to various learning experiences.

Bags being sewn at Karm Marg

Madhya Kalikata Shilpangan, India

MKS work by the following motto: to promote quality products, provide good working conditions for artisans, encourage environment friendly technology and develop community based production. MKS rejuvenate the dying Indian handicrafts by helping artisans develop their skills through training workshops, providing educational and medical facilities, financial aid for new equipment and long term interest free loans. In addition they have introduced dust free equipment in their stone production unit to provide a more environmentally friendly working atmosphere.

Making leather accessories at MKS

Mahaguthi, Nepal

Mahaguthi produces, exports and markets crafts from Nepal. Over a thousand individual producers are supported, many of whom are from remote and mountainous areas. Forty percent of their generated income provides women and children of the Tulsi Mehar Mahila Ashram with food, shelter, clothing, healthcare and education. The centre (Ashram) was founded by the late Tulsi Mehar Mahila, who implemented many programmes for the empowerment of women in Nepalese society. Originally Mahaguthi produced and sold only Khadi cloth. Now they produce a wide range of handicrafts.

Weaving at Mahaguthi

Mai Vietnamese, Vietnam

Mai Vietnamese is based in Ho Chi Minh City in southern Vietnam, who provide employment, training and promote self-reliance to disadvantaged women, children and ethnic minority families. The project allows women to supplement their income with flexible work at home with rates far higher than they would get from normal commercial employers. Sales profits are used for funding various social work activities

Making silk bags at Mai Vietnamese

Mitra Bali, Indonesia

The Mitra Bali Foundation was established in 1993 and is based in Bali, Indonesia. As a member of IFAT and a non-governmental and non-profit organisation they act as a market and export facilitator for small craft producers.

Mitra Bali work within a framework of approx 100 producer groups employing over 1,000 artisans with access to a free Design Centre facility for producers which provides a library of books, current magazines and consultations with product designers. They also hold monthly workshops focusing on new trends, technical aspects of production, health & safety and the use of environmentally sustainable resources.

Making Bali Leaf products at Mitra Bali

Motif, Bangladesh 

Motif in Bangladesh works with a number of small family owned businesses as well as disadvantaged women artisans. Motif looks to employ women experiencing discrimination for reasons other than just(!) poverty: some are former prostitutes; others have been affected by leprosy; some may have been divorced or abandoned - each situation scars women with a stigma that reduces their chance of decent employment. Employment at Motif daily provides a ‘safe place’ where they can share with other women and be earning at the same time.

Their accessories and stationery items are made from different recycled materials such as cement bags and crisp packets. Traditional techniques are kept alive in hand-weaving, hand-loom weaving and basket weaving. The image opposite shows some of the women weaving their recycled crisp packet boxes.

Women weaving at Motif

SALAY - Salay Handmade Paper Industries Inc (SHAPII), Philippines

SHAPII are located in the Philippines and started in 1987 as a family business and have grown to employing over 200 people, making handmade paper, cards and stationery items. The Philippines government regard this project as a mode for creating rural employment without large investment. The employment it creates has brought real stability to the small seaside town of Salay. The production areas are light, airy and spacious and benefits include free medical consultation, dental health and eyeglasses. Workers participate in decision-making and have the option of becoming shareholders.

The paper is made from grasses and leaves which are gathered from the streets and gardens nearby and production helps free the village of the weed cogon grass.

Women making the handmade cards at Salay

TARA Projects, India

TARA Projects (Trade Alternative Reform Action) were founded in 1973 to help poorly organised and struggling artisans in Delhi find markets for their goods. By creating opportunities for these home-based craftsmen market and sell their goods, TARA projects helps to generate steady work and income. Based on the early success of this program, they have been able to expand to a 120-mile area surrounding Delhi.

TARA projects fund non-formal and vocational schools as well as literacy centres for adults and constantly campaigning and educating people about fair trade. Their goal is to end injustice and manipulation in the world mass trade system.

Skilled beadwork in progress at Tara

Teddy Exports, India

Teddy Exports was founded in 1990 by Amanda Murphy, and produce products that are both environment and people friendly by adapting traditional skills and using sustainable local resources as raw materials. They employ over 300 local people with a host of benefits including above the norm salary, bonuses, pensions, subsidised meals, maternity pay, free creche, medical services and medicines.

The Teddy Trust puts Teddy Exports social commitments into effect through its social welfare projects such as Education, Health Services, AIDS Awareness, women's development and vetinary assistance for local farmers.

Women handcrafting bags at Teddy

Tejemujeres, Equador  

Tejemujeres is a co-operative founded in 1992 in Gualaceo, in the province of Azuay, Ecuador. They consist of approximately one hundred women who knit their products to improve the lives of their families and community. In many cases the women are the main earners of the family. These products are made using only 100% natural wool, alpaca and cotton fibres.

Women hand knitting at Tejemujeres

Threads of Yunnan, China 

Threads of Yunnan was the first Fair Trade organisation from China to be recognised by IFAT. Its mission is to improve the standard of living for women who live in the remote and mountainous region of Yunnan province whilst helping to preserve their traditional handicrafts. Many of these women have never attended school.

Cards being hand embroidered at Threads of Yunnan 

Touch Of India, India

Touch of India was founded in April 1998 and is ISO certified. They produce a wide range of goods including bags, photo albums, jewellery, scarves, boxes and homeware. They pride themselves on using old traditions of hand embroidery techniques and use recyclable materials. There are 150 employees who benefit from provident funds, paid maternity leave and insurance. Touch of India have also adopted 4 children and now provide for their education and upbringing.

Skilled embroidery work at Touch of India

Women's Skills Development Project, Nepal

The WSDP provides vital opportunities to the most unfortunate local women from the town of Pokhara in the Annapurna region. Their objective is to provide handicraft-related skills training so that they may become self-supportive. Many of the 200 employees come from rural villages and are widowed, divorced, disabled and abused. At the WSDP they are trained in material cutting, sewing, weaving, dying and business management. There are also classes in health awareness and English language which is provided by local and foreign volunteers. To help with family commitments, the women are able to take ready-dyed materials and work from home.

Weaving fabric at WSDP