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GFI Newsletter: Announcing the Sapin Fellowship

March 2012 - Vol 4 # 3

-CORRECTED VERSION-

News:

Befair Campaign Has a New partner!

The Guatemalan Federation of Coffee Cooperatives (Fedecogua) will
work with GFI to deliver farmer livelihood kits to help small coffee
farmers diversify productions and improve food security.

See pictures here! -
http://cts.vresp.com/c/?GlobalFairnessInitia/033c4bcdae/b91e6a0e30/6dd748bf6e/eventId=48301142&action=detail

With woman representing the minority of coffee farmers in Guatemala,
Fedecocagua will work with wifes, mothers and daughters of their
members so they too can benefit in the belonging to a cooperative
that promotes organic certification.
See pictures here! -
http://cts.vresp.com/c/?GlobalFairnessInitia/033c4bcdae/b91e6a0e30/58fe62bdea/eventId=48301142&action=detail

-----------------

You Can Help

The Global Fairness Initiative launched the BeFair Campaign to bring
low-cost technologies that improve livelihoods.

Farmer Livelihood 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 plus technical trainings to an indigenous farming
family in Guatemala.

Donate $40 or more and receive a BeFair water bottle!

LEARN MORE AT
BEFAIRCAMPAIGN.ORG -
http://cts.vresp.com/c/?GlobalFairnessInitia/033c4bcdae/b91e6a0e30/c6a04e4ff1

Fellow Feature: Meet Andile Mxotwa, our first Sapin Fellow

As a South African, I have firsthand experience in how the most
vulnerable communities can find themselves in a structural poverty
trap while trying very hard to extricate themselves from it. This
happens in a numbers of ways, such as the inability of poor
communities to navigate the channels that are required to start a
business, or just lacking the necessary expertise to get access to
funds, and the salient element that accompanies all poor people,
illiteracy—a result of lack of educational opportunity.

Thus, my firsthand experience of how devastating the lack of economic
development can be for most people in developing countries will aid
my learning through this fellowship, with the aim of plowing what I
learn back to those vulnerable communities I left back home. To be a
fellow at GFI is to situate myself in an organization that is
grappling with the developmental issues for developing countries and
developing solutions.

As a fellow at GFI I am exposed to the vast experiences that they
have accumulated through dealing with issues of a similar nature in
their engagements in developing countries from from West Africa to
South America and South Asia. My experience at GFI will give me a
perceptive lens to filter some of the developmental issues that face
my own country. I am able to compare the issues from a global
framework and translate my experience at GFI for the betterment of
poor communities back home.

That is why I would like to thank GFI and the Sapin Family for giving
me the opportunity to be a fellow. Shirley Sapin strived for equality
and opportunity for all people; and I intend to espouse the same
values when tackling the problems of economic development while at
GFI and throughout my life.

About the Sapin Fellowship

Created by the Sapin Family and in honor of Shirley Sapin and her
commitment to equality and opportunity for all people, the Sapin
Opportunity Fellowship (Sapin Fellowship) was established to offer
students in post-secondary institutions the opportunity to work for
four months with Global Fairness Initiative (GFI) on issues of
economic development and workforce equity.

Fellowship Overview

The Sapin Fellowship is a four-month program offered twice each year
to any student pursuing a graduate or undergraduate degree from any
accredited academic institution. The Fellowship creates an
opportunity for engagement, networking and training through direct
and substantive work with GFI on issues and programs at the heart of
economic access for the working poor. They participate on all levels
with GFI staff and initiatives and are exposed to the broader
international development community in the Washington, DC region. A
grant of $2,000 is included for the four-month term of the
Fellowship.

Who is eligible to apply?

Sapin Fellowship applicants must be willing to commit an academic or
summer semester to working at GFI. Fellows must meet a minimum of 18
hours of work per week and are required to complete a research study
or proposal on a subject to be developed with GFI staff. Applicants
should also be able to demonstrate a range of academic interests,
personal perspe, and life experiences suited to work with GFI and our
beneficiaries.

How do I apply

If you want to learn more about the Sapin Fellowship contact us at
sapinfellows@globalfairness.org -
http://cts.vresp.com/c/?GlobalFairnessInitia/033c4bcdae/b91e6a0e30/84b7e17016/utm_content=hbiden%40rosemontseneca.com&utm_source=VerticalResponse&utm_medium=Email&utm_term=Text%20Version%20-%20Link%204&utm_campaign=Announcing%20the%20Sapin%20Fellowship

Field Update: Building the Foundation For Successful Market
Development

GFI hosted a 2-day training with the Board of the Association of
Agro-Producers of Alta Verapaz.This interesting training focused on
organizing small farmers who currently operate in the informal market
in Guatemala. Most farmers who are able to grow enough produce to
sell to locally have to do so on the streets, as there is no
infrastructure for this type of sale in a near by town of Fray
Bartolome. Selling on the street and putting their produce on the
ground while carrying a handful of samples to show to passer-bys,
they pay the municipality a small amount for using a public space. If
they were to abide by standard taxation laws for small producers,
they would have to pay an aggregate of approximately 30% of their
earnings—which for a small farmer would entail reverting to a food
insecurity situation. Also, farmers have a limited math skills and
cannot calculate complicated percentages and calculation needed to
pay their taxes.

The association has successfully negotiated with the municipality to
refurbish an old building in downtown Fray Bartome, with the
Municipality providing running water and services,and farmers working
with them directly for the payment of their dues in an affordable
manner (and in increments as the market gets more settled and the
farmers gain more experience).

The training helped farmers organize responsibilities of their
members, agree on the activities and effort needed to re-build the
selected building, organize their receipts, agree on products each
will market, pricing, promotion and more. By forming an association,
farmers have space to help each other, where the ones with greater
knowledge and experience can coach other farmers. But also it gives
farmer a voice that allows them to negotiate to improve working
conditions. In the photos you can see snapshots of that training,
next month you will see the before and after pictures of the market,
stay tuned!

-
http://cts.vresp.com/c/?GlobalFairnessInitia/033c4bcdae/b91e6a0e30/c55886a643/utm_content=hbiden%40rosemontseneca.com&utm_source=VerticalResponse&utm_medium=Email&utm_term=Text%20Version%20-%20Link%205&utm_campaign=Announcing%20the%20Sapin%20Fellowship

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