Cooperation around the World: Global Mamas

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I’ve wanted to write another article about the cooperative movement around the world for some time now. I had been having trouble pinpointing a subject because many times

A Global Mamas
dress

cooperatives as a subject can be a bit dry: credit unions, agriculture, industry, they are worthy causes, but not always good writing subjects.

So I expanded my horizons to look for groups of people helping people seeking to make a difference in society; and taking into account that March was Women’s History Month, I tried to find something related to women. I wish I could have brought you this subject during the month of March but I am not sorry for the delay because it has allowed me to learn a lot about Global Mamas and their amazing history and quest.

Let me tell you a little about women in Ghana. You see, this small western African nation, like others in the region, have a history and culture that traditionally put women second. They are secondary at home, where they are expected to manage the house and children while also holding a job; they are second in education, usually expected to stop studying after primary studies, and to hold jobs in informal sectors such as crafts or farming, and always for lower wages than men. And even in the craft trades education

women are given lesser training than men.

Global Mamas was founded as a NGO in 2003 to help bring prosperity and health to women in Ghana via craft. These women had met a decade before and had witnessed the difficulties that uneducated women had finding jobs that would provide them with a decent living, and also experienced the hardship of making a living from trade in a growingly competitive Ghana craft economy. With all these things in mind, they sought to expand the sale of high-quality crafts globally instead of nationally. With that income, they would be able to teach other women the skills and crafts necessary to make a living on their own. And it worked. Global Mamas sells worldwide.

As they put it “A promising solution to build prosperity and equalize the balance of power

The Global Mamas cofounders

across gender relationships rests on greater economic independence for women. Investing in women yields profound returns not only for the women involved, but also for their families and for society-at-large.” They invest in women.

With the early steady income of those first sales Emma Myers, one of the co-founders of Global Mamas, built her own workshop to keep her batik business going without having a landlord looming over her. And once she felt that her family’s future was secure, she became a teacher and mentor and has taught the art of batik to hundreds of women. Some of them work with her, and others have obtained successful employment elsewhere or have even started their own businesses.

What struck me about Global Mamas is their policy of caring from beginning to end. They provide useful job training, providing women the income that allows them to make sure that

their own daughters get proper educations beyond primary. They educate them to understand the production chain from obtaining supplies to using income to pay for those supplies, so that they can consider starting their own trade chains. All of their training goes to provide more equality in employment in their nation. They provide basic healthcare seminars to their apprentices and workers to improve quality of life at work and at home.

They were able to expand their business operations over time and nowadays they produce batik that is sold whole or made into amazing clothing and housewares; hand-weaved products; jewelry and home décor; skin care products made from shea butter, and soaps hand made using traditional methods and ingredients.

At Global Mamas they try to recycle everything. Cloth scraps are used to make different lines of items, and they use recycled plastic and glass to make other items. They buy local Fairtrade materials to make their crafts, providing additional income to their region.

They belong to the Fair Trade Group and are even used by the World Fair Trade

Organization (the one which grants the Fair Trade seal) as an example to others.

The quality of their work is outstanding and this has ensured their continued success in sales worldwide. Indeed, they have shops around the world and their wares and clothing can be purchased on Amazon

I am going to buy some of their housewares (good, original tablecloths are hard to me by and I love theirs, which have matching napkins available) and soaps. If you want to help their cause you can do so by making a purchase, a donation, volunteering or even hosting parties to sell their wares. Either way, I strongly encourage you to check them out and share them with your friends and family. They’re a true, honest good cause.