Fair Trade
Fair Trade is a social movement and market-based approach aiming to alleviate global poverty and promote sustainability. The movement advocates fair prices as well as social responsibility and environmental standards. The primary focus up until the present has been on exports from developing to developed countries. Among other products, some very notable Fair Trade commodities are: handicrafts, coffee, cocoa, sugar, tea, bananas, honey, cotton, wine, fresh fruit, and so on.
EWB has partnered, and continues to partner with Fair Trade advocacy groups as well as the Product Certification/Labelling bodies to promote the knowledge of Fair Trade products in everyday life and in the workplace.
Aeroplan Miles
In May of 2003 EWB partnered with Aeroplan in the program Miles Without Borders. The idea was simple; but the outcome was staggering and inspiring. As of 2007 Aeroplan members had contributed over 17,000,000 miles to EWB!!
The program was renamed to Aeroplan Beyond Miles and on May 17th 2007, to mark its 1st anniversary, the Beyond Miles Program, its members, and its partners donated an astounding 4.1 million miles to EWB. The contribution is equivalent to 28 return flights to Southern Africa and it significantly helped to reduce the costs of our work overseas.
The long-standing and continuing partnership has been incredibly successful and plays a crucial role in allowing EWB to continue overseas projects in Human Development.
To donate your spare miles, visit Beyond Miles online.
Treadle Pump
The Treadle pump is a human-powered, highly efficient, pump resembling a stair-master. Beyond its physical form, the treadle pump symbolizes one of the most comprehensive and empowering forms of simple and appropriate technology. These pumps help to boost the income that farmers generate from their land by extending growing seasons and allowing farmers to choose from a greater selection of crops to cultivate. The purchase costs are as much as 75% cheaper than that of a motorized pump. The operation and maintenance costs are half that of a regular pump. This is simply one of many examples of appropriate technology allowing subsistence farmers to break out of the cycle of poverty by empowering themselves.
International Worker
Dorothy is the archetypal embodiment of anyone and everyone that EWB is motivated by and works for. She is no one person; at times she is the single mother raising three children and cultivating a crop of maze. At other times she has a business selling fruit in the local markets. A quintessential, passionate, tireless women, she is our raison d'etre. It is for Dorothy that all of us focus less on what we hope to do, and in turn we are motivated by what we wish to achieve. In her lies the distinction between digging a well, and providing safe, clean, secure drinking water for a village.