Access to education for children through fair trade

Manoshi Roy (above left) is a proud mother who loves her job at EMA. She began 6 years ago and at that time EMA helped with her son’s education. He was a successful student and is now earning enough money as a computer engineer that Manoshi doesn’t have to work. She however wouldn’t consider leaving as she says everyone loves her here and she enjoys it.

Wanita Haldah (above right) was 20 years old when her husband died of cancer and left her with two children. At the time she was a housewife but had to find an income to support herself and her children. Wanita has been working for EMA ever since and her daughter (18 yrs) is now about to graduate from high school. Her son (14 years) is also in school. Wanita says that the income she earns from EMA is enough to support herself and her children.

Banee Hoshal (above right) has been working at EMA for 7 years. Her husband suffers from Asthma so had to give up his well paid job and Banee was left to provide for the family. She heard about a women’s cooperative that EMA worked with so she joined the group and starting doing craft work. At one time there wasn’t enough work for all the women in the cooperative and EMA needed staff at the production centre so she moved to EMA. She feels that luck let her find the job at EMA but says if it didn’t then she would have found a way to survive. EMA helped her with a grant to pay for her son’s education and her hope is that he will be self sufficient and be able to provide for her when she is older.

In April each year, the producers bring in their children’s book lists from school and EMA pays for the books.

Bhatpoa Women's Self Employment Group was founded by a village woman called Taslima. Taslima herself only has education up to grade 7 but she was determined to improve the situation for women in the village and to improve their children's chances of receiving enough nutritition and education to build a strong next generation.

Taslima with her daughter		"I am Taslima. We are all village women and we wanted to create a group for self employment. We are all muslim women. We started this group called Bhatpoa Women's Self Employment Group in 2001 and we came to work with EMA from 2003. I wanted to include those women who are below poverty level and my dream is to create income generation for these women. Our husband's income are not enough to support our children's education and books they need for education. I wish to create other opportunities for them. Like we started to make puffed rice, we sell them to our own domestic market. We also produce jam, jelly and hammocks. We are doing this for alternative income generation."
In joining together as a community group,  Taslima's group are now in a much stronger position to ensure they will not have to be reliant on their husband's erratic income as their only source of income. The group now has 22 members and a portion of income from sales is put into a group fund which can be used to access credit for group members in need. A low interest rate is charged and this is invested back into the fund. In periods when the demand for their handcraft fluctuates, they now have other ways to bring in money. It is still tough for the group to make ends meet for their families but moral is high. The women in the village have a stronger voice and a new dignity with their new skills and financial independence and the future is looking brighter.
Taslima, with some of the village children			Suraiya and Roshonari, group members crafting mandalas