FLO in Palestine: Training Cooperatives for Independence
Chiraz Skhiri, the Fairtrade Regional Coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa, is travelling through Palestine visiting with local farmers and cooperatives to provide training and services on behalf of the Fairtrade Labelling Organizations.
Monday 20.12.2010: Today I held a strategic meeting with 22 participants from 12 cooperatives. It was an extremely good training day, one of the best I have done.
These 12 cooperatives are all individually Fairtrade certified because they were part of an EU project.
But once the project is over on 31 December 2010, the producers will need to cover their own costs certification. As part of our work in Producer Services and Relations, we provide support in these cases to help them make the transition.
So here is what we did:
- I provided them with an overview of the market
- Cost benefits analysis
- And helped evaluate the different options
During that training I asked a Fairtrade contact from the Palestinian Association of Fair Trade Production (PAFTP) to provide information to these cooperatives on how they could create an association of cooperatives, or a 2nd grade organization, that would help them pool resources more effectively.
After providing all the necessary information and tools to the producers, all non-members and I were asked to leave the room and the group held a meeting to discuss the challenges and opportunities.
After 45 minutes of discussion the producers reported back. It was a very positive meeting. The producers are looking for a solution to remain and succeed in Fairtrade. FLO and PSR will provide more follow-up to help the farmers.