by Vince Caruana

Fair trade takes an appreciative approach. It rejects the portrayal of cultures and communities in largely negative terms. For example Africa, due to its huge economic problems and regional conflicts, is often portrayed in highly negative terms by the media. Instead, fair trade portrays cultures and communities as having within them the capacity to enrich and enhance the quality of life. In taking an appreciative approach, fair trade also brings about a greater insight into the ideas and moral values that say, African artists express in their art.

Fair Trade shops offer an amazing selection of hand-made craft items, cards, jewellery and clothing. Getting to know the story and community behind the various products can be an enormous source of information on what communities worldwide are doing to improve the quality of their life and take charge of their future. It can also be a source of cultural enrichment.

For example masks are an integral part of African life and getting to know about mask-making in Africa is a stimulating opportunity to increase our understanding of humanity across ethnic, cultural, political and religious diversities.

An appreciative approach helps us see Africa as at a crossroads. On one hand it faces the facts related to Africans getting poorer. Over 300 million people live on less than $1 dollar per day. Life expectancy is 48 years and falling. Twenty-eight million people are living with HIV/AIDS, and 40 per cent of children are out of school. The responsibility for this crisis most probably lies both within the continent and outside it. There is a glaring absence of accountable governance at national, regional, and global levels. Neither does an appreciative approach ignore the fact that the lack of a fair trade system remains a major road block to African development.

However an appreciative approach looks for hope by focusing also on the examples of good practice. Fair Trade producers by developing their creative potential and marketing in the North, recover a sense of pride and personal identity, making meaningful a life-experience that has been historically ignored. In fact fair trade initiatives are contributing to the growing strength of African civil society.

They also bring much needed income into some of the poorest areas of their continent. Together with some extra support in aid, trade, and debt relief this can offer a real chance to tackle the root causes of poverty and conflict. Not least this includes Northern governments opening their markets to all products from African countries.