Peruvian Women and SPC SIFE                    Launch Fair Trade Micro-Business

On January 4, 2008, the Andean Air Mail & Peruvian Times reported “more than 50 percent of women in Lima had been victims of physical or sexual violence.”  The Nancy Cole Women's Home in Lima, Peru is the only permanent refuge for teen girls and women ages 13 to 28 who are victims of addiction, abuse, homelessness, and abandonment.  Former Superintendent of Brunswick County Schools, Dale Baird, designed a two-year program christened Project Restoration to address the needs of the whole person by providing education, rehabilitation, therapy, and counseling for Nancy Cole residents.

In 2008, the SPC SIFE team traveled to Lima to help Project Director Baird establish an education outreach program.  This year Mr. Baird asked the team to return to Peru to develop a “fair trade” micro-business “La Victoria Inc.” or The Victory Company to enable residents to commercialize artisan talents to generate sources of sustainable income.  To connect potential customers to future products, the SIFE team sought media exposure for the new business in print publications such as Carolina Life Magazine.  Also, we were asked to teach residents Microsoft Word as a springboard to learning workforce skills. 

Project highlights:

• Formed micro-business on February 21, 2011 to sell hand-crafted silver jewelry and textiles
• Hired local silversmith to teach jewelry-making four Saturdays a month for six months
• Partnered with Vessels of Mercy International Inc. to hire skilled seamstress in Lima for 12 months of instruction
• Registered SPC SIFE with the Fair Trade Federation and attended their 2011 Building up Fair Tradeconference
• Developed computer-based training in Microsoft Word and employed multi-lingual translator to convert Microsoft Word manual into Spanish language teaching tool
• Provided self-guided English language training using Rosetta Stoneto aid international business communications
• Received $3,000 sponsorship grant from Northrop Grumman to replenish silver and textiles raw materials inventory
• Next Step: Travel to Peru in June to meet with on-site operations manager for strategic planning and initiate Part 1 of 8-week Microsoft Word training with Part 2 to follow over Internet-based Skype