These are:
Focusing our efforts more narrowly will enable us to achieve maximum impact in these key areas. A more concentrated approach will allow us to further develop and deepen our knowledge and expertise, and build up our credibility and profile in these sectors.
Why these themes?
We have selected these themes because they are relevant to the countries in which we work and are the areas in which we feel we can achieve the greatest impact. There are significant needs in each one and we have important experience and expertise to offer in tackling those needs.
While we will focus our efforts on these themes, this will not prevent us from tackling other issues that are important in a particular country context or from exploring other issues which could become core themes in the future.
Tea producers
The tea industry provides an income for large numbers of small producers and casual labourers and is a key industry in both South Asia and East Africa. We already have extensive experience of working in the tea sector in India, and are now exploring possible projects in Bangladesh and in East Africa.
Key issues in the tea industry include exploitation of workers, use of pesticides that are harmful to health, closure of tea plantations, and fluctuating prices over which producers have little or no control.
Cotton producers
Cotton production is an important livelihood for many thousands of farmers, especially in South Asia and East Africa. We have successfully implemented two key projects in India which have dramatically improved the lives of poor cotton farmers, and are now looking to build on these successes with further cotton-focused projects in other areas of India and also in East Africa.
Key issues in the cotton sector include large numbers of casual and hired workers who are vulnerable to exploitation, issues around child labour, use of harmful pesticides, spiralling debts, and US/Chinese subsidies which distort the cotton market.
Craft producers
The production of handicrafts is an important livelihood for poor families across the world and can provide essential income for some of the most disadvantaged groups, including women and the disabled. We have a long history of work in the crafts sector and have built up significant expertise in this area across all our regional programmes.
Key issues include problems with quality, products that are not suited to market trends, inefficient production processes, and competition from Asian suppliers that are able to produce similar products at a fraction of the cost (in the case of Africa).
Business Development Services (BDS)
Enterprises in developing countries often need assistance from others to help them overcome the problems they face. But often this assistance is not available, not appropriate to their particular needs, or just too expensive for them to afford. Even when business development services are available, often enterprises don’t understand how they could benefit from them, or don’t know how to access them.
We have significant experience of both building demand from small businesses, and developing the capacity of local organisations to provide such services. This is core to our work in all our regional programmes.
Fair trade
Fair trade has always been a key focus for Traidcraft, and we are widely recognised as pioneers in this field. Traidcraft’s unique position as both a fair trade trading company and a development charity gives us important credibility and experience, and we are well known in the European and international fair trade movement.
Fair trade demonstrates that trade can be made to work for the poor and can be an important force for poverty reduction. We work to help producers in developing countries to access fair trade markets in Europe, and are also encouraging the development of domestic fair trade markets, for example in India.
Influencing and Advocacy
Trade has the potential to lift millions of poor producers out of poverty, but only if current unfair trade practices and policies are changed. At Traidcraft we realise that, in order to maximise our impact, we need not just to grow our own work but also to influence others to change their own practices.
Our Policy unit in London undertakes vital policy and advocacy work on key trade issues, both in the UK and in Europe. And in our overseas programmes a key focus is on building the capacity of poor producers to engage with decision makers, making sure their voices are heard and their needs taken into account.
