Editorial
During 2006, for a number of reasons, we did not manage to produce and publish our quarterly news bulletin. We hope that when you read this special edition, a major part of which is dedicated to looking back at our work last year, you will forgive our absence. Maybe you will also be able to appreciate that despite the absence of our news bulletin, we were somewhat active in the course of the year!
Since January 2006 we have been able to broaden and deepen the scope of the work of FLO Centroamerica through the recruitment, with the support of HIVOS, of an additional Liaison Officer for Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama.
Possibly the most important event of 2006 was the approval of the project “Building Trade Capacity - Fair Trade and Ethical Trade: A Strategy for Poverty Reduction”. This project which has a five year duration (July 2006 to June 2011) has the potential for supporting the majority of the certified organizations in the region, especially in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua.
Together with the certified organizations, FLO Centroamerica aims to ensure that the opportunity which the project represents for strengthening the Fairtrade system will be well enjoyed!
Looking back at 2006 we will remember it as a year of progress, a major step forward on the road to self sufficiency for many organizations. The two principal capacity building projects “Institutional Capacity Building of Small Scale Coffee Producer organizations – financed by Irish Aid – and “Capacity Building of Small Scale Producers in Guatemala and Honduras –financed by ICCO PSA in Holland—really picked up pace and with that, the extent of their impact in the organizations in the projects.
Part of the role of the Liaison Officer is to link certified organizations to the marketplace in which they are operating. During the last quarter of 2006 and the first quarter of 2007, FLO Centroamerica took advantage of a number of opportunities to act as a bridge for organizations to become more acquainted with the needs of the buyers and simultaneously facilitate more direct relationships between buyers and organizations.