Attending the CLAC Conference in Guatemala
Posted by Rick on 30 Oct 2008 at 7:00 am | Tagged as: Fair Trade
Below is a report sent in by Rick Peyser, Green Mountain Coffee’s Director of Social Advocacy and Coffee Community Outreach, while attending a two-day CLAC conference in Guatemala. CLAC (Coordinadora Latinoamerica del Caribe Pequeños Productores de Comercio Justo) is a Latin American Small Fair Trade Producers Assembly held every two years. Last time this assembly was held in the Dominican Republic. This week, it is being held in Antigua, Guatemala.
Antigua was the first capital of Guatemala before it was destroyed in an earthquake. It is a beautiful colonial town with cobblestone streets, beautiful buildings and many ruins – some as a result of the earthquake. It is surrounded by at least three volcanoes. Today was a beautiful day, although I had very little time to enjoy it because we were indoors all day.
This morning’s session began with a welcome from the Economic Minister from Guatemala to welcome the attendees. The first working session was focused on FLO’s (Fair Trade Labeling Organization International’s) new strategic plan and business model. That was presented to many of the people who were here. Most had seen it before, but some of it was brand new, and others had not yet seen it, so it was a topic for discussion in a variety of areas.
This afternoon’s session focused on competition – talking about unfair competition from the multi-nationals corporations / transnationals that have gotten involved in Fair Trade. There is a tremendous amount of concern on the part of small scale producers around this competition. Other topics wrapped up the day. The overall tone was very, very positive. The news about Starbucks doubling their Fair Trade purchased was well received here overall by producers.
Late this afternoon, we broke into more working groups focused on a few different themes. The group I was in worked on producer relationships and how buyers could perhaps collaborate on different areas to support the regional producer networks, of which there are three. CLAC is one, obviously, in Latin America. There is also an African producer network, and an Asian producer network. The first of our group’s work was looking at ways companies and NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations) can support and strengthen the producer networks which, in turn, will help the co-ops that work within their system.