Our supplier returns 10% of their sales to West Africa to fund community enhancement projects. These projects are designed to help lift their communities out of poverty and become self-sustaining. Their projects focus on the future, emphasizing the environment, gender equality, education and empowering communities.
Women are the backbone of African societies. It is time to honour their contributions by working towards gender equality. One way to do this is to place fair monetary value on the unique skills of African women, such as handcrafting shea butter, and compensate them with fair values for their products and knowledge. This economic and moral boost encourages gender equality in the family institution. Over the past four years our Fair Trade cooperative members in central Togo have seen a shift in family equality. Their regular salaries help them to support their families and give them more voice in their communities.
Alaffia and Cebra believe that the future of Africa lies in the hands of the young and that if young Africans are helped with the dilemmas they face - such as harsh poverty and lack of infrastructure - they will in turn help Africa in the future. Alaffia have several ongoing projects, including donating school supplies, roofs and furniture and their bicycles for education project in which they collect used bicycles in the United States to distribute to students in rural Togo.
Protection of sub-Saharan Africa's complex and diverse environment is essential to the quality of life of present and future generations, especially as our climates change due to global warming. Alaffia are currently focusing on one major problem, deforestation, through their Reforestation and Shea Tree Protection programs. To date, they have distributed trees to more than 150 households in central Togo. They hope to plant more than 500 trees next year, as well as expand the project throughout other regions of Togo and West Africa.
Cebra finds Alaffia's skincare range the to be one of the best vegan, organic creams, lotions and soaps on the market and we endeavour to support their projects on an ongoing basis by steadily increasing sales of their products in the UK and Europe.
