Wear Your Difference – Guatemala
The need for comprehensive development in Guatemala’s rural regions is urgent. Fewer than two out of ten girls in the country’s indigenous communities complete the sixth grade and 67% of the indigenous children suffer from chronic malnourishment. Mercado Global is a non-profit fair trade organization whose mission is to link the world’s most rural and economically disadvantaged cooperatives to the US market through a model that provides both fair wages and investments in local educational projects. Mercado Global provides technology, support and marketing assistance and enables Guatemalan cooperatives to earn up to five times more than within the Guatemalan workplace. Mercado Global invests 100% of its profits from sales into local educational projects, scholarships and school construction.
Our Involvement
Mercado Global was our agent on the ground in helping to feed the victims of Hurricane Stan in the fall of 2005 and we are very pleased at the efficiency and diligence of this organization.
Hands On Tzedakah has partnered with Mercado Global by providing the technology and training needed to overcome barriers to US market access. HOT’s investments in floor looms for weaving cooperatives, larger and hotter stoves for ceramics groups, stainless steel tools for jewelry making and training sessions for artisans has increased their production volume by a factor of four. With Levi's and Whole Foods on board, this once tiny not-for-profit is becoming an incredible success story (as featured in July 3-10, 2006 issue of >Newsweek in the "Giving Back Awards." Click here: 15 People Who Make America Great - The Giving Back Awards - MSNBC.com ) As Mercado Global's sales base increases, more floor looms and kilns will have to be purchased. More wholesale accounts cannot be accepted until there is further investment in more looms. Mercado Global is also launching a new training initiative by working with a local Guatemalan university to provide business and finance courses to the artisans recognizing there must be three different levels - for those with a high school education; a middle school or elementary education; the uneducated and illiterate.
Contact Information:
Mercado Global, Ruth DeGolia, Executive Director, 20 Mitchell Drive, New Haven, CT 06511; email: ruth@mercadoglobal.org, telephone (203) 772-4292; Wear Your Difference is their e-commerce website found at www.mercadoglobal.org where you can see how consumers combine their purchasing power and giving powers.
