Community development - International Trade Forum - The quarterly magazine of the International Trade Centre

By Peter Hulm, Prema de Sousa and Natalie Domeisen, ITC

Non-governmental organizations can bring complementary skills, knowledge and commitment to trade development projects, particularly those helping poor communities.

Coffee Kids: Helping Families of Poor Producers

By Morten Scholer, ITC

Coffee Kids gives coffee-growing communities a hand up, not a handout.

Many non-governmental organizations (NGOs) work in the coffee sector. Some offer funds or sponsorship. Others implement programmes in the field. Some work only in the coffee sector, others don’t.

© G. Byrde

Cambodia’s Silk Road to Poverty Reduction

By Paul Ress

Wiped out by the Khmer Rouge, the ancient Cambodian tradition of women weaving and wearing silk is enjoying a renaissance.

© Still Pictures/Ron Giling These bananas were harvested from a fair trade plantation in Ghana. Marketed under a fair trade label, they will sell to European consumers wanting to support African producers.

Fair Trade as a Business Model

Don’t look at fair trade as a charity — treat it as a business model, argues Paola Ghillani, former head of the Max Havelaar fair trade organization in Switzerland.

Fair Trade Has Limits as a Model for Development

By Alexander Kasterine, ITC Senior Market Development Adviser

Fair trade is one of the few development models that reaches marginalized (often indigenous) rural communities who rarely benefit from economic growth and who have little choice between subsistence farming or migration to the cities.

In Mozambique, Communities Use Wood, Save Trees

By Trade Forum editorial team

Mozambique has been losing its forests to poor people who scrape a living from this valuable natural resource. Today, some are producing chic wooden bracelets for the world market while conserving precious woodlands.