‘Berg Hosts Lecture On Fair Trade
Doug Dirks, director of public relations for Ten Thousand Villages, will present a talk, “Alleviating Poverty by Trading Fairly with Disadvantaged People in Developing Countries,” on November 26 at 7:30 p.m. in the Great Room, Seegers Union.Wednesday, November 21, 2007 01:59 PM
This event is sponsored by the Center for Ethics and students in Gail Eisenberg's Marketing in Not-for-Profit Organizations class.
The lecture is free and open to the public, and will be preceded by a themed "fair trade" dinner in the Garden Room.
The presentation will focus on how Ten Thousand Villages works at job creation and poverty alleviation by fairly trading in handmade crafts made by artisans in developing countries. Through stories and pictures, participants will learn that small business small business development and fair trading can be an effective way to alleviate poverty for disadvantaged people in developing countries.
Dirks has traveled to most of the 35 countries where Ten Thousand Villages buys products and has met many of the artisans who handcraft the products featured at Ten Thousand Villages. This travel has enabled him to collect many personal artisan stories showing how sales through Ten Thousand Villages has positively affected the lives of artisans, their families and communities.
Ten Thousand Villages provides vital, fair income to artisans in developing countries by selling their handcrafted products and telling their stories in North America. Ten Thousand Villages works with artisans who would otherwise be unemployed or underemployed. Income artisans earn helps to pay for food, education, health care and housing.
Muhlenberg College will host the Ten Thousand Villages Fair Trade Festival in Seegers Union 108-110 on November 28 and 29.
For more information on this program or other Center for Ethics programs, please visit www.muhlenberg.edu/cultural/ethics.
Muhlenberg College gratefully acknowledges the Christian A. Johnson Endeavor Foundation’s support of the Center for Ethics.
