E-Commerce / Online Markets for Indigenous Products

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There are numerous companies and initiatives that can help and support local artisans and indigenous peoples to sell their products online. Below is a list of just a few; an agency might ask an online volunteer to review these web sites, and research online to find even more, to help choose the right one for a particular area or effort (NOTE: The UN Volunteers program does not in any way endorse the following organizations or their services; this information is provided for research purposes only):

• Artisan Project Funedesin: Non-profit support for Education and Development
  Dedicated to the revival and dissemination of craft traditions in Ecuador's Amazon Region through educating young artisans, fostering an awareness and appreciation of indigenous culture, and creating new markets for local crafts. Provides training to local artisans by resident master artisans in indigenous crafts; brings marketing consultants to the center to help the local artisans identify the craft traditions that can be marketed in the international gift market, and modify the artisan products as necessary to ensure marketability; provides internet marketing on the Funedesin web site; and provides affordable financing to artisans who want to establish a workshop, purchase new equipment, or otherwise increase their productive capacity.
• Critical Digital Dividends: Articles & News
  Includes "Digital Dividend Case Studies" relating to e-commerce, microfinance and development: "Education for the E-economy", "Expanding Microfinance", "Internet Commerce for Development", and "Precision Agriculture: how digital tools could make farming more productive and more environmentally benign."
• Everywhere Fair Trade Import Store
  Supports artisans in third world countries by providing an internet outlet for selling their unique pieces. Purchases through the Fair Trade network of non-profit organizations and other importers that ensure the artisan earns a sustainable level of living. Provides customers affordable prices on high quality, handcrafted items from artisans and artists from around the world.
• Fair Trade Federation (FTF)
  An association of fair trade wholesalers, retailers, and producers whose members are committed to providing fair wages and good employment opportunities to economically disadvantaged artisans and farmers worldwide. FTF directly links low income producers with consumer markets and educates consumers about the importance of purchasing fairly traded products which support living wages and safe and healthy conditions for workers in the developing world. FTF also acts as a clearinghouse for information on fair trade and provides resources and networking opportunities for its members. "By adhering to social criteria and environmental principles, Fair Trade Organizations (FTOs) foster a more equitable and sustainable system of production and trade that benefits people and their communities."
• First Peoples Worldwide
  Advocates for indigenous self governance and assists in the delivery of culturally appropriate economic development. Its goals are: To assist with financial and technical resources in order to strengthen and facilitate indigenous-controlled, culturally appropriate development projects, programs and intermediaries; To facilitate and foster equitable environmental, legal and economic participation for indigenous peoples; To create an information clearinghouse and mutual self-help database called the Indigenous Network for Global Linkages (INGL); and To advocate for indigenous self-governance.
• Global Exchange
  A non-profit research, education, and action center, founded in 1988, promoting people-to-people ties around the world. Global Exchange's Fair Trade Program provides a sustainable model of international trade based on economic justice. "We offer consumers the opportunity to purchase beautiful, high quality gifts, housewares, jewelry, clothing, and decor from producers that were paid a fair price for their work. We tell the stories of the cultures and families, primarily indigenous peoples and women, that created these amazing crafts from Bali, South Africa, Haiti, Guatemala, Kenya, Mexico, Cambodia, Nepal, Thailand, as well as the United States." Fair Trade means an equitable and fair partnership between marketers in North America and producers in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean.
• Indian Arts and Crafts Association (IACA)
  A not-for-profit organization established in 1974 to support the ethical promotion and protection of authentic Native American art and culture. Members include Native American artists, wholesale and retail dealers, museums, collectors and others who support the goals of the organization. IACA supports and works for the protection of indigenous art worldwide.
• Indigenous Art Shop of the Borneo Project
  Identifies market outlets for handicrafts made by women's cooperatives, assures that all profits go directly to the artisans, and provides training for indigenous women in project management, accounting, and the use of revolving credit funds.
• Indigenous Arts Service Organization (IASO)
  A non-profit society formed in 1995 to support and serve Indigenous artists in all artistic disciplines in the province of British Columbia. IASO's mandate is to promote and increase exposure of Indigenous artists' works on a provincial, national and international level, by empowering them with information and access to existing services and resources within the provincial arts community.
• Information and Communication Technology: A Handbook for Entrepreneurs in Developing Countries
  Aims to help entrepreneurs in developing countries understand new information and communication technologies, and their application in business. The handbook covers four areas: an introduction to ICTs in small business; guidance for particular types of small business; advice sheets on communicating with customers; and advice sheets on using the new technology.
• Oxfam Fair Trade
  For Oxfam, Fair Trade is Trade which promotes sustainable development by improving market access for disadvantaged producers. It seeks to overcome poverty and provide decent livelihoods for producers through a partnership between all those involved in the trading process: producers/workers, traders and consumers. Oxfam Fair Trade is both a development program and a business which: Helps people earn a living from their skills; Pays them a fair price; Links producers and consumers; Helps people towards a better future through support and training.
• Quipus
  Centered on the Foundation's Laikakota Cultural Complex in La Paz (which includes the Children's Museum, Craft Development Program and Museum of Bolivian Arts and Culture), Quipus is a non-profit organization established in 1985 and is concerned with the promotion and preservation of the cultural and artistic expressions of Bolivia's diverse ethnic groups. The Quipus Craft Development Program (QCDP) highlights and promotes the richness of ethnic and popular art, and stimulate its production through marketing, design, promotion and training.
• PlaNetFinance
  An NGO supporting organisations that provide financial support to the world's poorest. Direct clients are microfinance institutions and other organisations that provide banking services for the poor and the very poor. "PlaNet Finance does not aim to compete with banks, but to help them to develop their activities in this new field as efficiently as possible." Web site is available in English, French and Spanish, and provides lots of resources and and updates about microfinance in developing countries. The site also provides a lot of basic information about what microcredit programs are, and how they can help bring people out of poverty.
• ThaiCraft Association
  A nonprofit association serving about 70 community-based groups of artisans from all regions of Thailand. Helps craft workers to achieve self-sufficiency by providing income generating opportunities and developing marketing skills. The aim is to preserve and make broadly available the beauty of traditional Thai handicraft skills. The Association is operated by a dedicated team of volunteers with the help of two producer liaison staff.
• Ten Thousand Villages
  Formerly SELFHELP Crafts, this is a nonprofit alternative trading organization that provides vital, fair income to Third World people by selling their handicrafts and telling their stories in North America. Ten Thousand Villages works with artisans who might otherwise be unemployed or underemployed. This effort helps improve the economic situations of an estimated 50,000 artisans by providing income that can pay for nutritious food, education, health care and housing. Thousands of volunteers in Canada and the United States contribute to this organization.
• UNiTradeS.Net Standards for Electronic Business.
  This web site provides background material regarding e-Business in transitional economies, resources regarding legal aspects of e-Business, and a list of e-Business market sites and trading portals. UNiTradesS.Net is a project of the UN Economic Commission for Europe.
• The Virtual Souk
  A web site offering hand-crafted products from Morocco and Tunisia. Created and organized by local NGOs and the World Bank (EDI) in early 1998, the Virtual Souk has opened the global market to crafts people living in extremely remote areas.
• World Crafts Council (WCC)
  Founded in 1964, this is a nonprofit, nongovernmental organization (NGO) working to strengthen the status of crafts as a vital part of cultural and economic life, to promote fellowship among the craftspeople of the world and to offer them encouragement, help and advice. WCC members take part in a wide range of domestic and international activities, such as seminars, workshops, exhibitions, competitions, exchange programs and specialist conferences. Members contribute to programs in diverse ways, including sending experts to meetings or workshops, and entering craft works in exhibitions.

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