Taking the time to visit our producer partners is essential for building strong and lasting relationships that contribute to the success of our work.  Through these visits we learn directly from our partners about their needs and are able to establish long-term written agreements to work with them to obtain the training, technical assistance, and organizational and product development skills they need.

We also maintain close day-to-day communication with our partners, providing feedback on products, problem-solving, connecting them with potential resources. We hear about their successes and when they are going through difficult times. Because of this, we can confidently say that we know where our products come from and are committed to improving the lives of the artisans and farmers who make them. 

Spotlight on our Relationship Building Work

Jyambere Mutegarugori – Rwanda – New Partner Visit

As part of our ongoing effort to expand our work in Africa, we began partnerships with new artisan groups in underrepresented countries of Africa. One of these new relationships was with Jyambere Mutegarugori, a rural basket-making group in Rwanda.  This area of Rwanda was gravely affected by the genocide of 1994 and many of the women in the group are widows. We made our first on-site visit to the group to learn more about the group and their needs in early 2007.  As a follow-up to this visit, SERRV staff went to Rwanda in March of 2007 to work with the basket weavers on new designs and producing their first order for the U.S. market.  The women in Jyambere Mutegarugori received their first purchase order from SERRV in 2007. 

IFAT Annual Meeting – Participation and Travel Grants

Several of our staff members attended the general meeting of the International Fair Trade Association (IFAT) held in spring of 2007 in Belgium. The bi-annual meeting is an important time for members of IFAT to meet to strengthen our efforts in helping fair trade grow. We provided travel grants to our partners Prescraft in Cameroon, Trinity Jewellry and Nyabigena Soapstone Carvers in Kenya so that they could attend the meeting and build relationships with other fair trade organizations from around the world.