Oro Fairtrade – Kenia – un rapido aggiornamento.

Solo un post veloce per aggiornare tutti sui progressi compiuti qui in Kenya e il nostro progetto Fairtrade Oro destinazione.

Dall'inizio dell'anno ho lavorato con Giulio Opiyo e Migori County Artisanal (MICA) minatori Coop iniziare il cammino verso la certificazione Fairtrade Fairmined.

MICA hanno ottimi progressi pazzo di quest'anno, having obtained their COOP status, export license and are now days away from being the first Kenyan artisanal gold miners COOP in the history of Kenya to export directly to the international market.

As I sit here in Kenya, we are awaiting confirmation of the money arriving in the MICA account, to release the first 24 Troy Ounces of gold. Needless to say the 25 members of the COOP are extremely happy as they recognise this is a significant step in their ‘liberation’ as local people from the hands of unscrupulous traders.

This first trade for them, means that they are putting the commercial systems in place to facilitate regular shipments of gold to international buyers, as well as cementing an important part of the Fairtrade requirements of having a traceability system in place that guarantees provenance over their gold.

There are huge issues in this region that includes, lavoro minorile, mercury usage, poor mine shafts that recently led to 6 deaths in the region, economic exploitation of small-scale miners and much more.

Yet the COOP here are making good progress to build a process that will lead to Fairtrade Certification and broader positive community impact.

More to follow, but good news

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