Shop for Change

For those who want their gifts to really keep on giving this holiday season, mark your calendars for Dec. 17 from noon to 8pm. That’s when the Urban Zen Foundation opens its doors to Global Goods Partners (GGP), a fair-trade, not-for-profit organization dedicated to alleviating poverty and promoting social justice around the world.

GGP makes strategic impact investments in women-led development initiatives in marginalized communities in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and the Americas. It also offers technical assistance and skills training to its global partners while providing critical access to Western markets. The NYC event will showcase and sell crafts from the groups with which GGP partners and will feature fair trade gifts, accessories and home items. There will also be a discussion with the founders of GGP, Catherine Shimony and Joan Shifrin, along with other panelists including a staff member of GGP’s partner organization in Afghanistan, from 3pm - 4pm. Catherine and Joan will highlight their experiences in the developing world and the mission of GGP.

Consistently, it is women’s groups that spearhead positive change in their communities, even in the midst of great challenges. Women often emerge as leaders in education, food security, economic development, and health in the developing world with the right combination of support and technical assistance. They work collaboratively to support each other and their families by forming small community-based organizations (CBOs) that collectively offer health care, education for children, women's literacy programs, safe houses, sustainable agriculture practices and human rights training. Many of these women are talented artists who seek to continue their cultural traditions of weaving, sewing, embroidery and other skilled arts. Their efforts translate into new sources of income, opportunity, security and sustainability.

GGP works with 47 community-based organizations in 24 countries. Joan and Catherine, in their work supporting development initiatives around the world, met many of these dynamic women who were creating beautiful textiles and unique handmade pieces. The founders decided that the most effective way to harness the energy and talent of these women's groups was to help them gain access to US markets for their products. In taking small steps with the help of GGP, local groups have built a path toward sustainability, enabling women in their communities to create stability and security for themselves and their families.

You can find GGP working in the most troubled regions of the planet. In Darfur, for example, GGP is supporting a project in tandem with the United Nations Development Fund for Women to bring Darfuri women’s handcrafted products to the US marketplace. The opportunity to sell their products in the US provides these women with critically needed income and a sense of fellowship and empowerment. A women’s center in an internally displaced persons (IDP) camp, built by the People’s Organization for Development and Rehabilitation, offers a safe haven for displaced women, who have survived the horrors of civil war and genocide. Here, the women share their experiences while creating hand-woven baskets and generating critically needed income. In Sudan, as in much of the developing world, a women’s role in society is much undervalued compared with that of her male counterpart. Organizations like GGP work to help women gain a foothold in their communities to raise both their standards of living and their place in society.

In the US, GGP promotes social responsibility and conscious consumerism by providing extensive online information about its global partners, their products and the countries where they work. It is also a leader in the school fundraising sector, offering an easy-to-implement, educational, eco-conscious, fair trade alternative to traditional school fundraisers of wrapping paper and candy bars. All GGP products are available for sale on its website, www.globalgoodspartners.org.

GGP invests the proceeds from the sale of its products into the communities where the items are made, helping to create sustainable livelihoods for women and advance healthcare, education, and social justice within their communities.

For more information, visit the GGP website. The Urban Zen Foundation is located at 711 Greenwich St., NY, NY.