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GFI Newsletter: Brookings Institution on GFI Success

January 2012 - Vol 4 # 1

Need to Wind Down?
Here's your chance: listen to live music, have a drink or two, and
support the Global Fairness Initiative!

Thursday, February 9,
join us at Guarapo in Arlington anytime from 6-10:00pm for our Happy
Hour Fundraiser. Stay for live music, and keep our fund-raising
efforts strong!

80% of all proceeds will go to the BeFair Campaign!

GuarapoThursday, Feb 9
@ 6:00pm
2039 Wilson Blvd Arlington VA (closest metro: Courthouse - Orange
Line)

RSVP here! -
http://cts.vresp.com/c/?GlobalFairnessInitia/71d01f9137/b91e6a0e30/239b7b6402/eventId=48301142&action=detail

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Can't Make it Feb 9 to Guarapo?

On Thursday, February 23, catch us at Madam's Organ Blues Bar and
listen to some cool live music.

Just eat, drink, and have fun - $1 from each drink ordered and 20% of
food purchases go directly to the BeFair Campaign.

It's a great reason to indulge in some of the best soul food in town!

Madam's OrganThursday, Feb 23starting at 5:00pm 2461 18th St NW

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You Can Help

The Global Fairness Initiative launched the BeFair Campaign -
http://cts.vresp.com/c/?GlobalFairnessInitia/71d01f9137/b91e6a0e30/7eeda71f37 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/71d01f9137/b91e6a0e30/6871a4d8e6

The Brookings Institution releases report on Global Fairness & SEWA
Success

The Brookings Institution recently issued a report on the strong
impact of GFI's successful program Women Farmers With Global
Potential (WFGP). Implemented in partnership with the Self Employed
Women's Association (SEWA) in India and funded by the Tecovas
Foundation, WFGP is a multi-stakeholder project for the economic and
legal empowerment of women farmers. It focuses on integrating the
women into local, national, and international markets and structures
so they too can benefit from India's economic growth. The report
shows that the Farmer Development Centers (FDC) created during the
program were especially successful at targeting the poorest of SEWA's
members. The FDC's:

1. increased awareness
2. helped link to the financial sector
3. diversified opportunities
4. served as a link to markets

Under WFGP participant women farmers increased income, food
consumption, household and farm productivity, and crop yield.

Beyond noting income improvements, the report also stresses the role
that SEWA plays in growing the collective bargaining power of women,
securing inputs, selling outputs, decreasing transaction costs,
improving production efficiency, and increasing equity within their
communities.

Read the full report here! -
http://cts.vresp.com/c/?GlobalFairnessInitia/71d01f9137/b91e6a0e30/1af65f98f2

Beyond Vulnerability The core success of the WFGP program lies in
the innovative Farmer Development Centers (FDC), which provide a safe
haven for women to consolidate production and increase wholesale
capability while gaining access to needed services. Registered under
Sec. 25 of the Indian Companies Act, the FDC is a legal entity
incorporated as a business with a cause. Women, the shareholders of
the FDC, elect the board of directors and manage the Center
themselves, sharing the profits from sales as well as reinvesting
part of their gains into services for the community and for the
growth of the business.

The Centers address the most vulnerable communities who face the
daily disadvantages of middle men exploitation, climate change risks,
and exclusion from services and infrastructure. Thanks to WFGP over
150,000 women now have a secure buyer for their produce and products.
Selling wholesale under the same brand guarantees them a better price
and gives them a common identity when talking with buyers,
government, universities, and more. In Ganeshpura FDC members
negotiated with government officials to obtain legal licenses for
previously unused government land. A partnership with Anand
Agricultural University has provided trainings on cropping patterns,
use of fertilizer, and other techniques to improve productivity.
These and other partnerships demonstrate SEWA's and the WFGP program
success through organized collaboration.

FDC's also provide the opportunity to decentralize production and
hence adapt to the demands of womens' schedule. In the field of
embroidery for example, SEWA linked women workers with designers who
provide trainings and set quality standards. Producers can then sew
the garments at home, around their own schedules, and bring the
finished work to the FDC at the agreed-upon time.

Targeted Development

Organizing SEWA members has taken 22 years of hard work. Today SEWA
is known in Gujarat and beyond through word of mouth from mothers,
family members, friends, and neighbors, encouraging more young girls
to join. It is SEWA's targeted and effective approach that keeps the
Association growing. For example, unlike standard micro finance
approaches, SEWA will provide loans to a woman member who has been
saving for 6 months. Not only does this requirement promote a
culture of savings, but it also provides financial access to women
normally considered unbankable.

As stated in the recently released Brookings Institute report on
SEWA's work under the WFGP program, SEWA's impact is beyond economic.
In the words of Ghanian small holder farmer and partner Zaharawa
Imran "The sense of belonging of women that SEWA is their own
association is very commendable. They take pride in introducing
themselves as shareholders of the company. The fact that they started
on a very small scale and made it big is learning for all."

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The Global Fairness Initiative - 1800 Wyoming Avenue, NW -
Washington, DC 20009
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