'Make it Biashara Ya Haki, please!'
‘Biashara ya haki' is swahili for Fair Trade, and these words are being heard more and more in the rural areas of Kenya where I’ve been this week.
The Kenyan economy seems to be back on track. Children aged between 4-14yrs can receive free education and a newly established Community Development Fund now puts rural development at the top of the agenda, together with supporting farmer's prices.
However, there is still a long way to go. Fifty-six per cent of Kenyans live on less than US$1 a day and there is a constant threat of drought, which recently had the whole country abandon work for the day simply to pray for rain. It came. Water really is the new currency for propriety, the difference between life and death, essential to crops, to animals and the deciding factor in the hardship people suffer.
I've come to Kenya to work with People Tree's seven partner groups here, together with our handicraft designer Mayuko. I wanted to find out what effect low prices and machine production were having on the lives of kiondo basket artisans. The kiondo is a traditional Kenyan basket, used when a bride goes to her new family. Filled with agricultural tools and a little food, it signifies she is strong and ready to contribute to her new family.
For over twenty years export sales of kiondos have provided much needed income for rural Kenyan women who have few alternative ways to earn money during the 6 months when they are not farming. Today machine-produced kiondos are depriving them of their income and even those handmade kiondos that are made in Kenya are being sold on our high streets for as little as 50% less than a Fair Trade kiondo.
A Masai lady: Crafts of Africa is now internationally patenting kiondo designs to secure livelihoods of many people in Kenya.
This problem was discussed with Fair Trade members at a kiondo design and quality workshop which People Tree held in Nairobi. Agnes, a kiondo weaver that I spoke to, would like to earn US$3 for a day's work, the minimum wage set by the government but ignored by crafts traders. She, like many other weavers, explained how the middlemen offer very low prices for their goods. The women try to negotiate for a 'decent' price, but often sell bags for less than they cost to make. The women cannot wait for a better deal - they have no choice but to sell their work for less than the cost of production in order to feed their hungry children. According to them, the middlemen take advantage of their desperate poverty.
As the head of the Export Promotion Council in Nairobi tells us, 'This creates confusion in the market and prevents Fair Trade products getting the distribution they deserve.' She is keen to support best practice and encourage Fair Trade because it supports the governments aim to alleviate poverty.
As the workshop discussion continued people were excited to hear about the Fair Trade movement, and that increasingly people around the world want to buy products which are free of exploitation. We have stricter environmental legislation - why not regulation to protect people from exploitation? I tell the group about the Company Law Reform Bill in the UK (click here for more information about the Bill and what you can do to help) and how, in addition to Fair Trade, conventional trade will have to become more responsible.
People Tree is planning a Kiondo campaign to help kiondo basket weaving communities and we hope to be able to tell you more in mid-September!
Dancing with women from a kiondo basket making group.