Where in the world have Trade Aid staff been?
Visiting our trading partners on their home soil is an important part of the work we do. In 2015–2016 Trade Aid staff made visits to 11 countries to meet with 26 of our trading partners.
What were they doing?
- Working in collaboration with our trading partners to develop new product designs to suit the New Zealand market and help to increase their sales.
- Sharing market and sales knowledge with our partners, and learning more about the techniques and processes involved in the production of the goods we buy.
- Developing our relationships with our partners.
- Being involved in the international fair trade movement through the World Fair Trade Organization.
- Taking an education tour of Trade Aid staff and volunteers to learn about our trading partners and the talented producers they work with.
- Taking a group of coffee roasters from New Zealand to meet growers face to face and share feedback from their customers.
Helen Borg, Trade Aid’s Handcraft Product Manager, with Virgilio and Norma, artisans from CCAP in the Philippines who produce the beautiful vine reindeer that Trade Aid sells in our shops.
Justin Purser, Trade Aid’s Food Product Manager, visiting with staff and producers from Eksteenskuil Agricultural Cooperative, South Africa, who produce our delicious raisins.
Michelia Miles, Trade Aid’s Development Manager, and Rosa Borg, Trade Aid’s Product Developer meeting and spending time with artisans from UPAVIM, Guatemala
The education group visiting with Mr and Mrs Do Van Tha, the leaders of a community group in the Thai Binh Province who produce textiles. The group was accompanied by Lan, the Director of our trading partner Craft Link, Vietnam.
Rosa Borg, Trade Aid’s Product Developer, with artisans from Silence in India.
Trade Aid’s food manager Justin Purser was joined on a visit to coffee trading partners in Colombia and Peru by coffee roaster clients from C4 Coffee, Bay Espresso and Peoples Coffee. Here John Mainor Moreno, quality manager for the CENCOIC co-operative, assesses the quality of a coffee sample at the co-op’s cupping laboratory in Popayan, southern Colombia. From dialogue with Trade Aid and roasters we supply, John is able to maximise the returns his co-op’s farmers can earn by matching us with specific coffee for which we are able to pay premium prices.
Geoff White, our CEO, continued his work volunteering on the Board of the World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO). Here, the Board is pictured at the WFTO Annual General Meeting, Milan, 2015. Photo credit: Michael Sarcanga
Trade Aid 