“We want trade to be fair, to contribute to social justice, to create a better and more sustainable world so that the future is fairer, that is the mission that unites us as a system and movement”.
Fairtrade is a very valuable tool to reduce the inequity and advance on the Sustainable Development Goals. Fairtrade is based on commercial relations with solidarity, equity and justice and ultimately contributes to improving the living conditions of producers and workers’ families throughout the world.
CLAC’s work focuses in accompanying and empowering organizations of Fairtrade small- scale producers and workers’ organizations in their development process in Latin America and the Caribbean. This is achieved through different services that include trainings, exchanges of experiences, and advisory, as well as facilitating contacts and venues to promote their products.
Our work mainstreams themes such as: Climate Change, Environmental Sustainability, Gender, Child Protection, Food Sovereignty, Youth Inclusion and Labor Rights.
CLAC’s operational work is guided by a strategic plan built in a participatory manner by our membership, and approved in the General Assembly, which takes place every three years.
In addition, CLAC has more than fifteen years of experience managing development projects in alliance with local, national, and international organizations, cooperation agencies and commercial partners.
To that end, CLAC relies on more than 100 collaborators, specialists in different topics, who work from different countries in the region to provide advice and services. Furthermore, CLAC counts with support staff based in our headquarters in El Salvador, to incorporate the optimal human talent, technology, administration and finances to operate.
Since its foundation, CLAC has been characterized by operating in a global context of great complexity and constant challenges. Thus, our practices have been strengthened through multiple and diverse challenges we face daily; adapting to changes imposed by society, the market, and the international situation. The aim is to contribute to the improvement and development of grassroots organizations and to influence social, political, and economic entities in the region.
The COVID-19 pandemic is one example. From the beginning, CLAC has provided remote assistance to its organizations and has actively looked to raise funds to meet the urgent needs of producers and workers and to support their economic recovery.
In the coming years we will continue fortifying our region’s fertile soil so that trade is increasingly fair, for the benefit of our producers and workers’ families and their communities.
“We are convinced that Fairtrade is a very valuable tool to reduce the inequity and advance on the Sustainable Development Goals”.
Xiomara J. Paredes, CEO CLAC
