Reception forTwo Nicaraguan Women Working with Women’s Fair Trade Coffee Coops - May 7, 2008
INVITATION:
Please join us for an informal RECEPTION and DISCUSSION with Diana Martinez and Rosa Amelia Centeno, guests
View an online gallery of La FEM coffee growers.from the Fundacion Entre Mujeres - Among Women Foundation (FEM), Nicaragua.
The reception will take place in The Windows Room at The Faculty Club May 7, 2008 at 4:00p.m.
Please come to welcome our guests and share a Fair Trade beverage.
RSVP: Miranda Pfeifer at miranda.pfeifer or 966-7909 by May 2, 2008.
People and agencies organizing / supporting the visit include: College of Medicine Internationalization Committee, former students of Global Health II (CH&Ep 412.3), Engineers Without Borders, Oxfam, SCIC, The National Farmer’s Union, Centre for the Study of Cooperatives, and the Canadian Cooperative Association.
INFORMATION on visit of FEM to U of S:
The North Saskatchewan Fair Trade Network and the Department of Community Health and Epidemiology at the U of S are co-sponsoring a visit of two Nicaraguan women working with rural women’s coops growing Fair Trade Coffee. The visit will take place during National Fair Trade weeks (May 1-15, 2008). Funding has been secured through the Saskatchewan Council for International Cooperation (SCIC) and the College of Medicine Internationalization Committee. A number of educational events will be taking place, including a film night and coffee house in a community venue (St. James Church on May 9th). Meetings with University faculty and researchers are also scheduled.
All U of S students who have taken the course CH&EP 412.3 (Global Health II-Selected Issues in Nicaragua) have been hosted and worked alongside of FEM in one of the communities where it works. The reception will be a chance to informally share those experiences, and return the hospitality that they have generously offered our students. As well the reception is a personal chance to meet fair trade coffee producers and learn more about their work. Simultaneously, we hope that the reception and informal discussion will offer a chance for U of S faculty, students, administration and staff to discuss what actions have taken place or could occur at the U of S to support Fair Trade.
Fundación Entre Mujeres (FEM) is a local organization that works for and with rural women in thirteen rural communities surrounding Estelí, Nicaragua. FEM works through integrated gender-responsive literacy, health, eco-agricultural, and women’s leadership development programs. FEM also promotes and markets organic Fair Trade (FT) coffee produced by women-owned and operated cooperatives in those communities. The visit offers a rare opportunity to engage with women FT coffee producers and to learn about what makes their particular form of organization unique. As well, the visit offers a chance to learn more about gender issues in Nicaragua and about women’s movements linked to the FT movement.