Renae Adam, an American who is the project's co-founder, originally came to Ghana in 1994 as a Peace Corps volunteer and was struck by the lack of support for women-led enterprises. She returned two years ago after earning her graduate business degree to launch her project.
Ghana RPCV Renae Adam helps Rural Women's Crafts Reaching Global Markets
Rural Women's Crafts Reaching Global Markets
As the tourist season wraps up in Turkey, many travelers are hunting for that perfect handmade rug. Some of those rugs, like other crafts around the world, are produced by co-operatives that help women become financially independent.
By Yigal Schleifer
WeNews
August 21, 2005
Excerpt
In Ghana, a project called Women in Progress based in the city of Cape Coast is helping some 26 female-owned businesses--many of them making traditional Ghanaian clothing--get off the ground with training and financial help and with marketing their goods through an on-line store called Global Mamas.
Renae Adam, an American who is the project's co-founder, originally came to Ghana in 1994 as a Peace Corps volunteer and was struck by the lack of support for women-led enterprises. She returned two years ago after earning her graduate business degree to launch her project.
"Women are the heart of the family, so by helping women you can be sure that the money will go back into the family," Adam says, speaking over the telephone from the city of Cape Coast in Ghana.
Many of the women who approach her are experiencing major struggles in their lives. Some have been evicted from their homes. Others can't afford to send their kids to school.
"We've done a lot of reporting and you can see that the money does get put back into the family. You can see that the children are going back to school," Adam says.
Adam's organization pays the women up front for the products they sell on its Web site, which allows the women to reinvest the money in their businesses. While Ghana's average annual income is around $200, the women working with the organization are sometimes earning up to ten times that. Adam says some of the women have even started paying for their relatives' children to go back to school.
"You can definitely see that it's bringing up the whole family and the whole community as well," she says.
Organizers of the artisan projects say the biggest hurdle still facing them is marketing their products. The emergence of the Internet as a sales tool has been a big help, however.
The growth of the larger fair trade movement has also been significant for them. By being connected with the fair trade issue, the women behind the different crafts-producing organizations are hoping next time a tourist buys a rug in Turkey, an embroidery in India or a gown in Ghana, perhaps they will stop to think about the craftswoman who made it and whether she was paid a fair price for it.
