The peculiarity of Avenue Colombia is to lean above all on a long professional and associative experience in Colombia, which gives us another approach of the concrete realities to which have to face both the workers and the small employers in a country of very heterogeneous development and where takes an internal conflict for more than 40 years.  

In particular, we know pretty well what is legal or not in labor law, compulsory or optional in social welfare as well as the diverse possible options in a way that everybody can take out there, knowing that in Colombia as in Europe the legislation evolves constantly (idem for the means to by-pass it). Therefore, we are able to estimate the social commitment of a company, considering the specificities of its professional sector andor geographical location.

Concretely, for example, this means that considering the cultural differences, it is out of question to require from a company of the Caribbean region the same efforts as from an equivalent company of Bogota. It would seriously compromise the chances of survival of this company which has to deal with with very strong regional particularities and very binding political situation which do not allow to be as competitive as it counterpart of the capital.

Conversely, our partnership to a company of Bogota fully satisfying the classic criteria of the fair trade can denied if we consider that its commitments are below what is effectively possible, in view of its situation. What we can guarantee is a fair attitude according to what what can be legally asked (every situation being a particular case which requires an evaluation adapted to its context), rather than the strict application of universal principles, either excessive or insufficient because too general.

In principle, our approach is applicable to any country, but it is necessary to understand that its stake in work requires an intimate knowledge of the functioning of the society, the world of work and its institutions, the national and local situation, what can be obtained only by a long dumping in real situation and not only by occasional journeys of study. Involving a country which lives a situation so absurd as Colombia, to appreciate what is fair or not in a given context also requires the help of diversified sources of information, which is a long and delicate process. In what concerns ourselves, our domain of skill is strictly limited to the crafts of Colombia, and still, we are far from covering the whole country.

The choice of producers

We chose to privilege human-sized companies which go to the right direction so as to incite the others to follow them. Indeed, we prefer to help small firms which made the proof of their dynamism, rather than craftsmen in precarious situation. The international recognition has to be of use to them for penetrating better into the national market so as to raise the level of requirement of the national consumers, who in return will make the rest.

To our opinion, it is in the sense that the North / South fair trade can facilitates the social progress in a durable way, while the aspect "help in the most deprived" is a draft of oxygen, certainly considerable and completely respectable, but without future. By experience, we think that the best we can do is to support the Colombian actors of the humanitarian aid, not to make their job. They are the most competent to set up emergency or durable solutions, then let trust them.

Concretely, for the most part of the products which we propose you we looked for at first for the bst available quality so as to have a sort of quality standard; for example, to be retained by Artesanias de Colombia, a public institution, is generally a reliable criterion of quality. We also left our contacts taken on the occasion of the big annual fair of crafts in Bogota (the biggest of South America) during the previous years. And then we also rely on our own network to pick up good products. Then we proceed by successive eliminations, at first by informal interview then by visit, according to the quality of products, social / environmental initiative, etc.

Colombia uses an employment legislation very comparable to that used in occidental countries, the problem is not the law but its strict application. This situation is reminding that in Europe during the post-war years. It was a pleasant surprise to see so many companies are already engaged on the right way, without making a mystery of their difficulties. So we put these companies in relation the ones with the others in a way that they share their know-how, their experiences, even their resources. We assist them of best that we can in their administrative procedures to be able to export or in their communications strategy, for example. Between the first contact with a company and the actual import, by way of all the intermediate stages it is necessary to count approximately 6 months of tough procedure.

The prices

On a business level, we accept prices appreciably superior to those of the national market provided it is justified by effectively noticed efforts. If we do not negotiate our prices we think nevertheless that in a fair relation the respect has to be reciprocal. Certain companies too much used to the North American market have been disregarded because of their prohibitive prices.

Ordering

One often reads in the charters of fair trade that the global volume of the orders should not to pull of dependence. We completely subscribe to this rule( and considering the fame of our partners this risk is null, but we go farther. Indeed, to offer products to the best price we should rather pass of well targeted large orders. But an opposite effect of this initiative is to oblige the producers to work with less qualified temporary workers and possibly without social protection to face sudden working excess loads  

This it is exactly what we want to avoid. So we prefer to place small orders but regular, so as to stabilize jobs in due form, even if it induces a higher final cost andor regular shortages of stock. Of course this practice is possible only because we have a big variety of products from the same country. You will thus find a good number of references in our shop, but please keep in mind that every product is available only in few units at the same moment and that the time of resupplying goes from two weeks to two months.

The payment

The payment is made with order when the delivery period is very short (typically the precolombian jewels) or otherwise 50 % with order and the rest in the delivery in the point of boarding. It is not a favour which we provide to the producers in the name of the "fair trade", it is simply the mode of normal functioning in Colombia.

The sustainable development

One tends to present the fair trade, the organic products and the sustainable development as a trio of inseparables; the reality is more qualified, we are going to give some examples. Main concerned articles are the wooden items and those based of fruits or natural fibers. All the wooden articles benefit from a Colombian label guaranteeing that the export of the concerned wood is ecologically acceptable; moreover no wooden article can be exported without a rather tough procedure of control. So, several wooden essences which were excessively exploited are forbidden to export at the moment (diomate, nazareno, etc.).

Nevertheless, one should not be made too many illusions. This label simply means that the sort of this tree species is not threatened (not yet), but the forestry development in Colombia is widely wild according to official authorities themselves and in the best case this wood results from plantations in the place of a primary forest destroyed since a variable amount of time (on another continent, Tasmania, for example, is sadly famous for its certified wood stemming from durable forests, planted on still smoking ashes of an exceptional primary forest!). Seen from a western country, one imagine that such a label must be necessarily imposed by a "developped" country, or for example by an NGO as "Rainforest Alliance" who proposes a very impressive code to give its blessing to the companies which want to recover an ecological virginity, as for example Chiquita and its famous bananas. Unfortunately, immortalizing a long tradition of the banana companies, recently, the involvement of Chiquita in the financing of the paramilitary groups was clearly demonstrated but the company was finally condemned only to pay a symbolic fine but none of the American person in charge was worried. Conclusion, nobody is perfect…

• www.rainforest-alliance.org/programs/agriculture/certification/faq_french.html

• www.prnewswire.co.uk/cgi/news/release?id=156290

• www.i-dem.org/rd/2007/marzo/220307-1168.htm

Other natural resources, as for example the fruit of a palm tree, the tagüa or the vegetal ivory, are not subjected to such limitations in the export and it is indeed pity. Moreover we find without any trouble quantities of relatively cheap jewels realized from this walnut in numerous shops and on a many of sites referring mostly to the fair trade. It is fully exact that it constitutes a appreciable resource for diverse communities, including native (idem in nearby Ecuador). But the galloping exploitation of this resource easy to use asks questions on its "sustainable management and its possible drift. The Von Humbolt institute, the most credible authority in the field of the environment, has already published recommendations in this direction.

A fiber stemming from another palm tree, the werregue, is of use as support to a famous basketwork using natural colours stemming from the forest products too. But even there the exploitation of this resource raises problem even if in that case it is in smaller scale. Involving traditional crafts of native and afro-colombian communities still little spread abroad, it is not excluded that in the future we propose some articles of this basketwork, but in voluntarily very limited quantity and under high surveillance. The objective is to incite the concerned authorities to regulate the usage of this resource while it is there even time (solutions of sustainable exploitation exist).

This situation is to be compared to that of the palm oil that one easily finds in any organic products store, the origin of which is vaguely indicated "South America"; what implies with a near certainty « el Choco », one of the richest biotopes in the planet which extends along the oriental mountain range of Colombia to the North of Ecuador. Regrettably, this environment was destroyed on a large scale to give way to this African palm tree under the leadership of big American multinationals and this destruction continues today still in support of the famous agency USAID which under the cover of humanitarian aid has for mission to prepare the ground with the local populations. Organic or not the ecological and human impact is the same.

The organic aspect is finally relatively simple to verify because strictly technical and can be completely disconnected from ecological and social aspects. The fair trade aspect is above all human and of this fact requires a robust reference to the local culture; it can be appreciated according to a list of universal indicators. The ecological impact is by far the most complex notion to be analyzed. Only specialized agencies as the Institute Humbolt have capacities to set up field studies about the impact of the use of natural resources; one remains then to appreciate the degree of independence of such agencies, what is not a simple matter.

In Avenue Colombia we chose a global initiative in mind of the sustainable development, but our initiative owes also to be pragmatic and take into account specific factors in Colombia. We do our best to facilitate solutions which seem to us acceptable but the certainty is not our daily dish. Finally, from the moment we agree to import products of another continent it is necessary to moderate our lessons (idem for the green tourism which we support but which cannot be done without the air transport).

The environmental concerns are still very recent among Colombian companies and even there one has to impulse or simply accompany a movement and not impose standards which too little could follow without being appreciated at its right value in the national level. It is clear that at the level of the reprocessing of the waste or the use of substitution products or even raw materials (organic cotton for example) there is subject to progress; but the train is on the rails. There are especially large disparities, as on the social plan, between the producers who have the means to make efforts and already harvest the benefits, and those who have to fight to protect the few jobs that they managed to create. It is there where your support can make the difference; often very little is missing to allow a decisive change.

Relations with the native communities

If we mention the fights of the various native peoples, in a general way, we do not wish to contribute that peoples still little bound to our consumer societies are increasingly bound. Now, from a generation to the other one the temptation makes a disturbing progress. The native crafts have another social function which risks to disappear completely while merchandising. Finally except rare exceptions the traditional items are difficult to accommodate to the occidental way of life.

We shall make a few exceptions, every time for particular reasons. Wayuus, for example, is one of these exceptions; items which we shall propose later are made by friends and in small quantity. In that case we are completely confident on the possible impact of our commercial relationship. On the other hand at the moment Wayuus deserve some interest. Unfortunately they are not the only ones to be victims of the diverse armed groups which want their grounds. Without going very far from Guajira, Kogis, who maintain living a spiritual treasure next to which the museum of the gold of Bogota is nothing are in great danger even while some hope was returned to them these last years by E. Julien, who bringed their causes to our knowledge, mostly in France and Canada. We can only encourage you to visit this site dedicated to support them