Gift Focus, January 2008

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Jeremy Piercy is one of a growing breed of entrepreneurs proving it is possible to trade fairly and be successful.

Despite a difficult retail climate in the UK in recent years, Shared Earth’s seven shops have continued to thrive. Now founder Jeremy Piercy is hoping to double fair trade sales in the UK over the next five years by franchising the business model. He feels strongly that the time is now right to provide an array of fairly traded goods to customers, hungry for ethical products. (more…)

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Ethical Living, January 2008

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Interest in fair trade shows no sign of slowing. “Fair trade is here to stay,” says Jeremy Piercy of Shared Earth. “People have begun to realise that enormous poverty in a world of plenty is not right. It’s picking up momentum all the time because people know it’s a just movement and want to do something to help.“

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20 girls and boys have had the opportunity to learn basic computer skills thanks to ASHA Handicrafts. As part of an organised Fair Trade project called E-Academy, these children have the opportunity to attend daily IT classes and learn skills that will help them to gain future employment.

ASHA – the Hindi word for Hope – pays for the computers and the rent on the building which includes the main training and teaching room and living accommodation for the tutor and his young family. Each child is able to work towards sitting an exam and gain a recognised certificate for ability in Microsoft Word and Excel.

The classes are open to everyone and not just restricted to the children whose parents work for ASHA in their Agra based workshops. Many of the parents within the area work with stone either within Fair Trade organisations or on the open market.

13 year old Belall has attended the E-Academy for 6 months and travels by bicycle 20 miles a day, 6 days per week to learn the computer skills. “I want to work in business and computers,” he says. This project is just another way that Fair Trade is helping to empower individuals and raise their expectations in life.

Poverty is not only about shortage of money or lack of adequate skills. It is about rights, relationships and opportunities. It is possible to improve this by teaching skills that improve the way children and adults are treated and how they regard themselves. Projects such as this one will enable future generations to expect more and stand up to unfair trade and working conditions.

For further information or for further images please contact the Shared Earth team.

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Agra is famous for its soapstone so it was not surprising that the Shared Earth team visited a stone workshop on Friday 12th January!

Accompanied by Lavina Randive Executive from ASHA, the Shared Earth team were taken on an extensive tour of the huge 13 year old workshop set up by TARA Projects. The operation consisted of several buildings with room for further development as the workshop continues to grow.

The workshop deals with Gorara, Palewa, Sand and White stone and has a team of master craftsmen and artisans which create many beautiful products that are sold including candle holders, stone animals and pestle and mortars.

Many of these craftsmen were previously working on the open market where their earnings were less than 1/3 of what they earn now within Fair Trade. One master craftsman named Abdulla has been at this workshop since 1996. He said it takes 10 years to learn his level of skills of freehand design, cutting and embedding Mother of Pearl into the stone.

This workshop supports 104 Indian artisans and their families. Lavina explains why this workshop is so important, “It is a challenge to bring up the down trodden people in Agra. When anyone faces a problem, we deal with it together as one big family.”

The craftsmen benefit from free health care, schooling for their children and a fair wage from regular work. The working conditions are closely monitored as stone can be messy and dusty to work with.

The visit ended with a question and answer session between the artisans and the Shared Earth team. Both parties learning from each other through the common ground of Fair Trade.

For further information or for further images please contact the Shared Earth team.

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Fair Trade handicrafts producer Aspiration invited the Shared Earth team to open a brand new wood workshop owned by skilled artisan Imran Ahmed.

Imran has worked with Aspiration for the last 8 years as a labourer in other workshops and it was always his dream to open his own in Saharanpur. Recently, with support from Aspiration, he was able to do this.

Tammy Hullis, Shared Earth York shop manager was asked by Aspiration founder Padam Kapoor to open the workshop on Thursday 10^th January during the India trip. A large number of onlookers including many of the local children came to watch as Tammy snipped the red ribbon that declared the workshop officially open.

With cheers of encouragement and excitement, the Shared Earth team entered the smart workshop for a tour of the facilities and to review some of the products recently crafted to order for Shared Earth.

Aspiration has been working hard to build a Fair Trade community within India and has supplied products to Shared Earth for many years. Tammy explained how this works “Shared Earth gives 50% of the money for the order up front which is passed on to the producers through Aspiration. Workshops like Imran’s can use this money to buy the necessary raw materials to fulfil the order,” says Tammy.

Traditionally producers would have to borrow money from local loan sharks in order to purchase the raw materials. These lenders usually charge high levels of interest often leaving the producer with no profit after fulfilling the order. The cycle is then repeated for the next order. Aspiration has worked hard to build a sustainable and fair network of overseas clients who can pay money upfront to help break this cycle and enable the producer to make a profit and stay out of high interest debt.

Imran now has regular orders for products from Aspiration through Shared Earth “I am very happy that Shared Earth was able to come today. I am so proud to have a workshop of my own,” said Imran. The workshop will also create additional jobs and enable Imran to teach other people in the area traditional Indian handicraft skills. .

For further information or for further images please contact the Shared Earth team.

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The Shared Earth team traveled 5 hours by coach from Delhi to Saharanpur on Wednesday to visit a range of workshops from Indian Fair Trade handicrafts supplier, ASHA. The trip would uncover the complete Fair Trade cycle from the start of a products life in its raw material state, to its finished form.

The first stop was at a timber auction where a range of native woods including Shesham, Mango, Guava and Indian Elm are offered by wood sellers. These wood sellers buy the wood from special government agencies that harvest the timber from managed plantations. There is a strict system in place for planting new trees in direct ratio to the amount cut down to ensure the sustainable source of these materials.

Many different producers attend the auctions to buy their raw materials that they then season for up to 1 year. This wood is then used to produce products, which are sold throughout India as well as being exported globally.

Next we went to visit one of ASHA’s producer workshops called Amina Enterprises, who make the unique secret lock boxes which Shared Earth sell throughout the UK. The secret lock boxes are made by master craftsmen and include a sliding panel along the bottom that releases the catch to open the box. Each craftsmen can make up to 3 boxes per day which are hand crafted from Shesham wood with beautifully elaborate carvings.

Sixty year old Qurban has worked with wood for 45 years. He tells us that it takes 6 years to learn the skills required to make each box. All the patterns are completed freehand using both hands and feet in the process! Fair Trade workshops and suppliers such as ASHA have dramatically improved the lives of these craftsmen and their families. Each craftsman gets around 70 – 80 Rupees per box for regular orders through Fair Trade channels, compared to 50 – 60 Rupees at best on the open market where work is irregular. As well as fair pay, regular work, safer working conditions and improved hours they also receive additional benefits that include health care, pension schemes, family support and education projects for many of their children.

For further information or for further images please contact Shared Earth.

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Bristol Shared Earth shop manager, Matt Kent was so moved by hearing the recollections of a colleagues past visit to an Indian orphanage that he decided to do something to help them. 

The Karm Marg orphanage was established 12 years ago to give a home and support to the street children of New Delhi. Now run by the older children and their peers. The orphanage gives refuge to many children that otherwise would be begging, working or selling their bodies on the street to get enough money to survive. Matt spoke to Shared Earth founder Jeremy Piercy who agreed to donate a large handmade wall hanging as a prize for a raffle that Matt had decided to organise.

The raffle, which was run over September and October last year, raised 362 pounds. Matt was already traveling to India with the Shared Earth product development team and was delighted when Jeremy asked him to deliver the funds himself and meet some of the children face to face.

The Shared Earth team arrived at the orphanage on Tuesday afternoon just in time to enjoy a puppet show organised by one of Shared Earth’s suppliers, to dance and sing with the children who were welcoming and enthusiastic to practice their English.

The Karm Marg project is funded by a combination of Shared Earth and their suppliers within Fair Trade to help give disadvantaged children a good start in life. The children’s education includes learning English and children from 15 years or older learn skills in the Karm Marg onsite workshops which give them skills to use in future careers. Seventeen-year-old boy Ram Babu, has been at the orphanage for 8 years after his Delhi based mother could no longer afford to care for him and his 2 brothers and 2 sisters. Unfortunately his father liked to gamble and drink alcohol on a regular basis, which left the family very little money for food. His mother found out about the orphanage and desperately wanted him to have a good start in life that she could not provide. “I love it here,” he said. “We play together, study together, it is like a home.” He talks fondly of his mother who comes to visit him once a month.

It was very apparent from talking to these children that they are encouraged to look to the future and to aim high. Ram Babu wants to become an engineer and enjoys mathematics. “I help to teach the younger children,” he says. Nineteen year old girl named Rumpita is already on her path to becoming a graphic designer. She currently runs one of the Karm Marg textiles workshops that make bags made from recycled materials that are sold in Shared Earth’s shops in the UK.

For further information or for further images please contact Shared Earth.

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The Shared Earth team was given a warm welcome on Monday afternoon when they paid a visit to the Indira Camp School based in one of Delhi’s slums. The team was greeted with garlands made by the children, dancing, singing and a short play about their understanding of Fair Trade.

Backed by TARA Projects, the school educates the children daily in Mathematics, English and an array of other subjects to give them a solid base from which many will be able to go on to college. The school offers education and hope to the 500 families that have occupied this particular area for many years. The community tries to live by the 9 Fair Trade standards so that in the long term they will have the skills, knowledge and tools to sustain themselves and not fall prey to the unfair contractors and employers.
1. Creating opportunities for economically disadvantaged producers
2. Transparency and accountability
3. capacity building
4. promoting Fair Trade
5. Gender equity
6. Ideal working conditions
7. Payment of fair wages
8. Protection of the environment
9. Protection of child’s rights

By setting these standards and communicating them to as many people as possible throughout India, the circle of unfair trade will eventually be broken down to the point where it can no longer effectively function. Many children and adults end up in the hands of unfair trade because they did not have the knowledge that there was a better way. They simply accepted the situation.

After the school visit, one mother named Jagwadi proudly led us through the tiny slum streets to her home which consisted of one small room where she slept with her 2 youngest daughters aged 13 and 15 and her husband. Her oldest daughter, aged 17 is now at college studying to become a teacher. Her youngest daughters also hope to go on to college when they are old enough.

Images of the slum, the school visit and the children are available on request to Shared Earth.

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The Shared Earth team arrived safely in India after a delayed journey. With a rest day planned for Sunday, Monday began with a planned trip to one of Shared Earth’s main suppliers, TARA Projects.

TARA projects began in the 60’s and works closely with the Fair Trade Forum to offer a sustainable form of economic development throughout India .Established by Professor Sharma, they have helped to form many support groups and a world wide infrastructure to supply fairly traded products to companies like Shared Earth. “There is big scope for Fair Trade to make a difference for the little person,” says Prof. Sharma. “There are over 100,000 families all over India that need our help and it is my wish to cover all of India where so many people lack so many basic things in life. They are very insecure,” he adds.

Later he shows us an undercover video made to expose the continued use of child labour. The images are moving and horrific with dark, crowded rooms filled with children as young as 9 working for over 12 hours a day to make jewellery in 45 degrees heat. Most of these children also sleep and cook in these rooms as they have been abandoned by families that can no longer care for them.

Shared Earth’s PR agent interviewed 24 year old Anwar Husain former child worker that now works with TARA Projects. He was 12 years old when he started his working life. “It happened because I had 6 sisters and 6 brothers and our family was in a state of economic helplessness,” explains Anwar. “It was a family decision for me to go and find work as my parents couldn’t afford to feed us all. I was a burden.” Anwar found work in a Jewellery workshop in Delhi where he earned 700 Rupees per month which is around 9 pounds. However after his employers made deductions for food he was left with just 400 Rupees (5 pounds) per month. Needless to say he couldn’t afford to sustain himself let alone send money back to help his family. Anwar now works 8 hours a day with TARA Projects, earns decent money and is able to help his family. He has plans to marry and have 2 children. “I want 2 children only,” he says “I hope for them to be educated and to save money in the bank,” he adds.

The reason for this unfair trade is that many parts of the commercial sector are so competitive that the price is driven down to an extreme level. With contractors outsourcing production to other contractors the accountability of the supply chain can not be accurately managed or controlled. Therefore many big national and international companies that may have a policy of purchasing from fairly traded goods can not be 100% sure that the products they receive originate from a fair source.

Organisations like TARA Projects and the Fair Trade forum are working to expose the unfair trade organisations to create opportunities for economically disadvantaged producers and workers.

For full information on TARA Projects, the 3 interviews or to view a copy of the child labour film please contact Shared Earth.

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Making Money, January 2008

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Shared Earth is currently booking places on its second Discovery Day on February 12 after the huge success of its first one in November.

Since the launch of Shared Earth’s franchise scheme in October 2007, over 100 people have expressed strong interest in the concept, including two current wholesale customers. (more…)

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The Shared Earth India trip organised for 5 - 18th January begins tonight with 10 members of the Shared Earth team meeting at Manchester Airport in the early hours of Saturday morning. We will arrive in New Delhi at 23.00 local time with a thankful rest day on Sunday.

On Monday we plan to visit Tara Jewellery Workshops where we will have a behind the scenes tour of the workshop and have an opportunity to speak to some of the artisans that work there. In the afternoon we will pay a visit to a school in the Indira Camp slum. Our photographer will also be present to capture these visits and these images will be available for printed media on our return.

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Giftware Review, January 2008

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York based company Shared Earth recognised the need for fair-trade way back in 1986 developing products with more than 30 producers across the world. Spotting the trend in the market place and now with 7 stores across the UK, this retailer and wholesaler has recently launched the first Fairtrade franchising operation in the UK. Jeremy Piercy, founder of Shared Earth, has extensive knowledge of this industry and regularly travels to India, Nepal and The Philippines to work with dedicated producers. Jeremy says, “We have always aimed to address the imbalance of wealth, working together with people from different cultures while earning a decent living, and because we make good profits, we are able to offer our suppliers in the third world a good and fair price for their products.”

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