In 1992 the site of a starving child dying in its mother's
arms while they waited for medical assistance in northern
Ghana was the catalyst for Charlotte di Vita to develop an
international fundraising organisation focused on ethical
trade.
In 1997, Charlotte established a British registered charity,
the Trade plus Aid® charitable trust, in order to donate surplus
profits from these ethical trading initiatives to fund development
projects designed to alleviate poverty.
"Ethical trading creates the opportunity for long term
income and employment for disadvantaged communities, which
in turn brings self-esteem," explains Charlotte. "These
communities are tremendously hard-working and creative. They
consider that this an enormous opportunity."
To date, Charlotte's trading ventures have enabled over US$5,500,000
to be returned to producer communities as payment for their
handicrafts.
In addition, Charlotte and Trade plus Aid have committed US$420,200 to fund development
projects in Africa, Asia and South America for impoverished
communities that could not be directly assisted through ethical
trade.
Charlotte di Vita believes that, "Poverty does not exist
because there isn't enough money in the world. Poverty exists
because there aren't enough people using their moneymaking
skills positively."
To read about the founding of Trade plus Aid click here
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