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Thursday, June 30, 2011 - Volume 6, Number 6
GFI Newsletter

This Issue: Building Inclusive Green Economies

Field Update: Empowering Communities through Technology

On Monday June 12 the GFI team met in Zone 10 in Guatemala City to
catch a local bus to Santa Rosa de Copan, Honduras. A team of GFI
staff from Alta Verapaz and farmers (trainer of trainers) from the
communities we work with travelled to Honduras for a technical
exchange with our partner iDE -
http://cts.vresp.com/c/?GlobalFairnessInitia/b8f1f2f801/b91e6a0e30/d0eb1b0c8c , who provides the irrigation equipment for our Verapaz Community
Empowerment Program.

Having undergone significant distress due to the violence currently
underway in Northern Guatemala, our staff and beneficiaries benefited
from an opportunity to focus on positive and practical solutions to
economic barriers.

The first day of the training centered on an introduction to
irrigation, principal factors that affect water absorption, and
different irrigation systems. The focus was on the relationship
between irrigation, nutrition, and the environment to stress the
importance of family farms and growing diverse vegetables for
improved nutrition and incomes. Lacking adequate water management and
irrigation systems, farmers throughout Central America rely on crops
that grow with little tending. Farmers learned from iDE trainers
which crops grow best under micro-irrigation, as well as how to
select seeds, conduct budding tests, place seedbeds, transplant buds
and use organic manure.

Of similar importance was working hands-on on the installation of
different equipment, as well as going over upkeep, repair and
dismantling. Different technologies were used, such as treadle pumps,
low cost drip irrigation systems, water collection systems and more.

The trip included visits to existing successful farms that have
embraced the new technology and are growing onions, cucumbers and
other vegetables with the irrigation kits. The GFI team heard from
the Honduran producers how their lives have been changed by
introducing fresh vegetables into their diet and the profits obtained
from the sale of excess produce. The farmers returned to Alta
Verapaz, energized from having seen opportunities in action in a
neighboring country. Their motivation translated into orders for
equipment and setting up demonstration farms, starting to replicate
the trainings immediately upon their return!

OUR WORK: Weekend with GFI a Great Success!

Global Fairness and our friends and supporters celebrated art and
technology at two very different events on Saturday June 25 and
Sunday 26.

Art of the Americas Auction

On Saturday evening, art lovers gathered at the historic Organization
of American States Building on the National Mall for a champagne
reception and live art auction of diverse artworks donated by
generous artists and collectors. Sherry Truhlar of Red Apple Auctions
-
http://cts.vresp.com/c/?GlobalFairnessInitia/b8f1f2f801/b91e6a0e30/749236b88b led the very lively bidding and helped us raise funds that will go
directly to our programs helping the working poor around the world.

BeFair Campaign Launch

On Sunday GFI friends and family enjoyed a casual afternoon at the
home of our board member Sally Painter and a live demonstration of
the newest BeFair technology - the Farmer Livelihood Kit, a drip
irrigation kit accompanied by trainings targeted to Mayan farmers in
Guatemala.

Building on the success of last year's campaign, which delivered
nearly 7,000 solar-powered lanterns to women salt farmers in Gujarat,
India, this year's BeFair campaign will continue to bring simple,
low-cost, and green technology to working-poor communities. The
Launch guests helped us begin our drive to provide 5,000 Farmer
Livelihood Kits to indigenous smallholder farmers in Guatemala.

Several volunteers helped GFI staff install the FLK in Sally's
backyard. The kit's simplicity intrigued everyone, and guests who
carried buckets of water to fill it got a real sense of how much time
and labor it will save the Guatemalan farmers. While guests carried
water from the hose around the corner of the house, women in
Guatemala often walk miles to collect water from rivers or wells.

Each year the BeFair campaign works with a community that could
benefit from access to innovation. We listen to what community
members consider their greatest challenges and what can be done to
help them work more efficiently to improve their livelihoods. Having
identified the technology the community needs, we partner with a
kindred company that produces and delivers it.

For your chance to see the Kit in action, visit the BeFair website at
http://cts.vresp.com/c/?GlobalFairnessInitia/b8f1f2f801/b91e6a0e30/224259f2a2

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http://cts.vresp.com/c/?GlobalFairnessInitia/b8f1f2f801/b91e6a0e30/63df064be3

DID YOU KNOW ?

Fifty percent of the world's population earns less than $2 a day and
largely lacks access to basics like nutritious food, sanitation,
potable water, education, energy, and medical care.

New technologies and low-cost green innovation can bring essential
services and economic opportunity but remain inaccessible to the
world's working poor communities.

GREEN ECONOMIES FOR THE POOR

The Global Fairness Initiative launched the BeFair campaign to bridge
this technology gap and leverage renewable technologies to improve
lives. Each year the BeFair campaign promotes a new technology that
creates livelihood opportunities, addresses the innovation gap, and
delivers real environmental and economic sustainability.

YOU CAN HELP

With your support the BeFair campaign will deliver over 5,000 Farmer
Livelihood Kits to smallholder farmers in Guatemala. These kits use
low-cost drip irrigation and specialized trainings to help farmers
improve their nutrition and increase their incomes by as much as 50%.
Your contribution of $40 will deliver one irrigation kit to an
indigenous farming family in Guatemala.
DONATE $40 OR MORE AND RECEIVE A FREE BE FAIR WATER BOTTLE MADE OF
RECYCLED PLASTIC!

-
http://cts.vresp.com/c/?GlobalFairnessInitia/b8f1f2f801/b91e6a0e30/31b4929e47

LEARN MORE AT

-
http://cts.vresp.com/c/?GlobalFairnessInitia/b8f1f2f801/b91e6a0e30/58cb8fe5b3 www.befaircampaign.org

-
http://cts.vresp.com/c/?GlobalFairnessInitia/b8f1f2f801/b91e6a0e30/e990640f9a Making Globalization Work for the
Working Poor

The Global Fairness Initiative (GFI) promotes a more equitable,
sustainable approach to economic development for the world's working
poor by advancing fair wages, equal access to markets, and balanced
public policy to generate opportunity and end the cycle of poverty.

GFI's sister organization The Synapse Market Access Fund is filling
the often overlooked need for mid-level financing in poor communities
around the globe. Making investments where microfinance cannot and
commercial banks will not, Synapse is helping small producer
communities access financing and connect to high-value, sustainable
markets for their products.

Learn more about the Synapse Fund! -
http://cts.vresp.com/c/?GlobalFairnessInitia/b8f1f2f801/b91e6a0e30/171b087bf7

The Global Fairness Initiative - 1800 Wyoming Avenue, NW -
Washington, DC 20009
-
http://cts.vresp.com/c/?GlobalFairnessInitia/b8f1f2f801/b91e6a0e30/2535cd9120 www.globalfairness.org - info@globalfairness.org - 1 (202) 898-9022

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http://cts.vresp.com/c/?GlobalFairnessInitia/b8f1f2f801/b91e6a0e30/7c6eb28c46 Follow us on Facebook!

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