Why is Fair Trade Important in Palestine
Fair trade is important in Palestine because marginalized producers are particularly vulnerable operating under the military occupation and blockade. Fair trade practices facilitate access to resources, the wider marketplace, and helps producers to overcome movement restrictions, imposed by checkpoints and permit regimes, which prevent them from trading their crafts easily. Find out more about fair trade here.
Sunbula is a Guaranteed Fair Trade Member organization of WFTO. Regularly audited based on WFTO’s guarantee system, we are committed to upholding the 10 principles of fair trade.
How Sunbula’s Fair Trade Model Works
With every purchase:
75%
goes to artisan groups to cover raw material, wages, and operations.
25%
goes to Sunbula to cover business operations, capacity-building support for producer groups.
As a fair trade organisation, Sunbula is committed to monitoring and evaluating our fair trade processes. We use relevant insights to improve our strategies, planning, and standards-setting for our fair trade craft production.
Delivering Real Impact
Economical Impact
$2,198,881
in revenue given back to artisan groups since 2021.
2 X
more sustainable craft artisan groups since 2005.
Social Impact
Supporting local businesses within artisans' supply chains, such as in the purchase of raw materials.
Offering artisans capacity building support in other aspects of business management, such as bookkeeping.
We've helped to establish new community income-generation projects:
1. Haneen Project
Established in 2007 as a result of Sunbula’s product development training for the women in Balata refugee camp in the West Bank, the women formed an embroidery group to utilize their newly-acquired skills for income-generation. In addition to training, Sunbula helped to outfit a new workshop for the project.
2. Khayma 35
This silk-screen workshop was established in 2018 for the women of Abu Nuwar Bedouin community. Sunbula set up the workshop and trained the women in production skills and basic bookkeeping. The project grew into Abu Nuwar Bedouin Charitable Society, the first and the only registered nonprofit for and by Bedouin women in the West Bank.
3. Tahhadi
A wool-felting project established in 2017 in Al-Mehtwish Bedouin community in the Al-Khan Al-Ahmar area, east of Jerusalem. Sunbula helped the community to set up a workshop, and provided skills training in wool-felting and the basics of running a community enterprise.