Project Description

For too long, Colombia’s good people have been overshadowed by the stories of cartel and terrorist groups. This reputation has prevented others from bringing aid to a small, but desperate population. On our last trip there, we met a woman entrepreneur that has been volunteering her knitting skills to help poor artisans in desolate villages. She asked for our help, and we created project "Promising Growth" or "Asi Crecemos" ("how we grow" in Spanish). Our mission is to help create economic opportunities for these Colombian artisans so that they can support their families. In addition to purchasing and marketing their handmade products in America, we assist them in becoming economically self sufficient through product training, technical assistance and market access. We are working with a single village now (about 60 families) and hope to bring them out of poverty level within 12 months. We started this in January, are self-funded, and manage our business using fair trade guidelines. We hope to get fair trade certified by the end of the year. Every purchase helps to create jobs and gives families a higher quality, and much more fulfilling, standard of living through their craft. Learn more at http://www.PromisingGrowth.com or email us at [edited by DS staff]

Project Description

Mercado Global is a non-profit fair trade organization that links the world’s most rural and economically-disadvantaged cooperatives to the U.S. market through a model that provides both fair wages and investments in each community’s long-term development.

We work with women’s artisan cooperatives in Latin America, helping them to develop and produce beautiful, all-natural handmade products. Our primary product lines include: organic, naturally dyed cotton products, eco-friendly ceramics, and all-natural jewelry. We market these product lines through our online store www.mercadoglobal.org/shop and through our Fair Trade Sourcing Program, which targets large retailers and other distributors.

All our sales provide women with fair wages, and 100% of profits return to our partner cooperatives to fund scholarship programs, school construction, and other local development projects.