EDUCATION

Fair Trade provides farming families with the income and stability they need to keep their children in school, not working in the fields. From Nicaragua to India, Fair Trade farmer cooperatives have provided school supplies, tuition and uniforms, set up scholarship programs, and financed free, healthy meals for children.

One Fair Trade coffee cooperative in Ethiopia funded school improvements and construction of new schools. In the Ivory Coast, Fair Trade cocoa cooperatives establish training programs to combat forced child labor, an endemic problem in the industry. A Fair Trade coffee cooperative in Mexico provides lodging to enable youth to continue their high school and university studies while far from home. In China, a Fair Trade tea garden built a library and computer classroom for farmers' children.

"We have eateries where school children can get a healthy meal, and we provide school supplies, notebooks, and pencils. We're also designing a transportation system for high school and university students. That's what we do in our educational program with Fair Trade revenues."

"Together, we have elected to use Fair Trade profits to fund a local vocational college. I have big dreams for my children. They are extremely ambitious, and want to go on to higher education."

"Life has changed a lot because we don't go through intermediaries. Before Fair Trade, the need to work forced families to make their children help out on the farm instead of sending them to school. Now children have an easier time continuing studying and not resorting to farming."

"What really helps us is the Fair Trade social premium. The most important benefit is the schooling of members' children. This year there will be 3 recipients of an educational loan we set up. With this project more parents and more farming families are thinking of sending their kids to school. Because in this country there are very few professionals, and without professionals, a country can't grow."