Who and What is Fair Trade??

On my fourth application of chap stick during a one hour sitting, it became official that harmattan had arrived, with its bone-dry skin and dusty saharra feet. This is the season when the wind from the desert north blow southward, bringing its intensely dry air and leaving a trail of red dusk behind. The days resemble that of a desert, where the sun is harsh in the daytime and nights are cool, and I would qualify even cold (although remember this is coming from a girl who hasn’t experienced anything below mid 70s for several months). I actually enjoy this season, for all its harshness and desert allure and more so because it serves as a reminder of the role and value of shea butter. Locals in these climates have sheltered their skins for hundreds and thousands of harmattans, applying it to their entire bodies for its intensive moisture and healing properties of shea butter.

So, in this truly authentic spirit of shea, I wanted to give a little update on where we are at with our projects. The past month we have been studying the criteria for fair trade and strategizing on our approach for its implementation. Not surprisingly, it is a lot of paperwork. We are organizing several documents for office use- proof of fair pay, granting of all legally required benefits and pensions, evidence of hired staff’s understanding of workers rights, etc., and for field use- develop traceability documentation to distinguish between fair trade shea nuts and conventional, help develop the coops internal control system documents (contracts, constitutions, MOU’s, roles assignments, etc.) and I’ve been doing my best to diligently put things together in time for our audit. This coming month we will be making more trips out to the community for training sessions with the intent of educating the women on how to manage a fair trade system and decide on a use for the premium fund (the additional profit from sale of the butter that will put back into a community development project fund). I will be sure to update you with our field excursions, including our 3 night overnight in Daboya during the trainings ( :

We are excited about working with our certifier, IMO, for our fair trade project. We believe that their definition of “fair trade” is indeed, most fair, and approach more realistic and practical for our situation as a company working along several levels of the supply chain, from the tree to the shelf. It has been an interesting experience to learn how “fair trade” in theory translates into application with different “fair trade” certifiers. As the ethical motivations governing fair trade have become more popularized in mainstream culture, the actual practice of fair trade and its ability to deliver the intended effects to its beneficiaries seems to have become unfortunately diluted in the larger picture. In my own experience, I strated to perceive the famous “Fairtrade” logo as becoming more of a corporate symbol, exclusive to larger sized producer entities that could afford all the associated fees and the additional required kickback that goes back to the certifying organization, which, depending on who certifies you, can be quite expensive. Of course, most of it is reasonably justified as administrative costs but several certifying bodies are criticized for setting the returns beyond what is necessary to maintain a seamless internal administrative functioning therefore taking more away from the profits that could return to pockets at the producer level, which may occur as somehow contradictory to the intent of fair trade or deceiving to the supporting consumer base at best. So the question remains, is fair trade really the best way to make the right changes in this often biased global market place? And what organization best represents the ethical aims in their policies and certification mandates? I don’t know if I am able to answer the former outside (indeed, it is still a healthy ongoing debate) of our immediate context as a shea butter manufacturing company but do believe within parameters relevant to us, IMO is the right organization for our intents and goals, of profiteering and empowerment for our producer women groups and us in the most direct way possible.

A few elements stood with IMO that made it seem most appropriate for us, and one that better addressed the shortfalls of more conventional fair trade schemes.
I was first attracted to IMO’s version of price setting, where rather than it being set and enforced by a third party arbitrator who is often not well informed about current market relevant data, it is rather set by a process of open, transparent and documented negotiations directly between the fair trade processor group and the buyer. I believe the latter gives the group more autonomy and ability to market to various buyers in changing market environments. I also think IMO strategy helps promote partnerships among various levels of a given supply chain, which makes fair trade more accessible to various producer groups who otherwise would find difficulty finding the necessary support for certification. It is a more qualitative approach to fair trade in our estimation as compared to most of its counterparts, and we believe will translate into the intended benefits at ground level.

So, all of this gives us confidence in going into this but the real proof will inevitably be after implementation, when we can get feedback from the women about the specific ways in which a fair trade scheme has impacted them, as individuals and as a group entity. Sekaf already practices fair trade aspects in many ways using micro financing with the groups, creating communal platforms like the Shea Butter Village for their collective participation and carrying out several skill building trainings, all of which we believe qualifies as a fair trade system. However, the establishment of real documentation system and producing of tangible evidence of these activities and its consequential advancements are equally important to legitimize fair trade and give more confidence in the integrity of its definition with the larger consumer base.

With that, I’ll leave you with my thoughts as far as they have progressed at this point until further development. Also wish to encourage every reader in a cold wintery and wet environment to APPRECIATE it with gusto. My dusty lungs are longing for some cold breaths of damp air!

Cheers to you all and happy holiday season from Ghana!

We Moved!

Please visit us at our new blogspot address:

www.sheabuttervillage.blogspot.com

We decided this name more appropriately and specifically representative of what we do (shea butter and oil production), how it's done (by hundreds of organized local women groups) and where it takes place (at the Shea Butter Village, a centralized processing facility, in Kasalugu!).

Our sincere apologies for any inconveniences this has caused.

Please redirect yourselves to the above address to follow up on our company happenings, from our Fair Trade certification to our newly launch shea products (shea butter soap, black soap, shea oil and shea body cream) and future developments with the construction of new shea butter villages for local women. It should be an interesting run and we would love to share the stories with you.

Cheers all,

Sarah