Ten Thousand Villages

Ten Thousand Villages (TTV) is a non-profit corporation of the Mennonite Central Committee, an international relief and development agency based in Winnipeg, Canada. It provides vital income to Third World people by selling their handicrafts in stores across North America. The company works with artisans who would otherwise be unemployed or underemployed, providing them with both market and product development assistance.

The income earned by the producers helps pay for food, education, healthcare and housing.

RealMedia Clip: Introduction

Since its beginnings in the 1940s, TTV has grown from a small, grassroots operation to a large, self-sufficient business. It still differs from traditional business in one fundamental way, though: the primary objective is not generating profit. Instead, the aim is to provide work, income and hope for producers in developing nations.

Beverly Hiebert is TTV's sales director for Western Canada. In the 1960s, she and her husband decided to join MCC as volunteers, working with stores in Akron, Pennsylvania.

'Many people who come back to Canada from an overseas volunteer experience don't know how to translate that experience back in their local community,' says Hiebert. 'When we came back, we got 10 families together who committed themselves to providing time and money to start a TTV store. Even though most of us had careers, none of us knew anything about business. But we felt this was a way for us to translate our overseas experiences into something useful.'

She adds: 'I believe strongly in what we do. I wouldn't do it if I didn't feel we were making a difference. I've had the opportunity to meet a lot of producers overseas and I know how TTV helps them.'

Hiebert explains: 'We are producer-driven rather than profit-driven. Our main focus is to provide a market for people in developing countries who make beautiful things but do not have direct access or the ability to reach consumers. But to remain viable, we need to remain competitive and be concerned with profit. The more we sell, the more we can buy from these producers.'

Examples of TTV's success are evident. 'Many of our producers have said that they are now able to send their children to school or to have two or three meals a day instead of one,' she says. 'This provides hope for people who in many instances are fairly hopeless.'

TTV belongs to the International Federation for Alternative Trade. To be a member of IFAT, a company needs to sign a code of practice that includes a list of fair trade criteria. People are paid a fair wage according to local standards of living. This means not only money, but food, shelter and education for producers and their children, as well as medical care.

The Federation defines fair trade as having 'concern for the social, economic and environmental well-being of marginalized producers in developing countries'. It adds: 'This means equitable commercial terms, fair wages and fair prices. Unfair trade structures, mechanisms, practices and attitudes will be identified and avoided.'

RealMedia Clip: Producer & Product

TTV Canada begins a particular product line by working with a chosen group that is in need. Many are women, often single women with children or parents to support. 'Women in many cultures have a hard life and seem to carry the concerns for their children and families,' says Hiebert. 'Many live in rural areas and do not have access to other industries or markets. Some barely have one meal a day or are unable to send their children to school. The benefit of TTV that I hear over and over again is: 'I can now send my children to school.'

TTV tries to fit whatever is traditionally made in the region into the North American market. If this is not possible, it may help to modify a product. 'Consumer tastes can be confusing to producers,' says Doug Dirks, director of TTV Canada. 'There are producers that will make whatever North Americans want to buy. In some cases we teach people who don't have a traditional craft to do something new. For instance, hand-made paper is an easily created product that is currently produced by single mothers in Thailand and Bangladesh who may have been beggars on the streets and had no traditional crafts to offer.'

Hiebert believes TTV manages to tread a careful line between maintaining indigenous crafts as they are and encouraging new product development. 'We have to be sensitive to North American needs, but only to a point,' says Dirks. 'For instance, baskets from the Philippines had to be modified to fit Canadian casserole dishes, and we've sometimes had to encourage our producers to use different colour combinations.'

In rare cases, TTV has had to avoid certain products due to poor quality standards or insufficient demand. 'We used to buy products from Afghan refugees in Pakistan,' recalls Hiebert. 'They were producing a product that was of poor quality and was something we just couldn't sell. It doesn't help them if we buy products that can't be sold. Cases like this make us think more about ensuring that producers can produce quality, sellable products.

Nevertheless, TTV is often able to accept products that may not sell as well, by making up the loss with other, more profitable items.

TTV pays 50% of its fee to producers before the product is made - another divergence from traditional business practice. The other half is paid when the product leaves the country.

TTV opens up markets for producers and their products that would otherwise not be available to them. 'Our hope is that producers move beyond TTV,' explains Hiebert. 'In fact there are several cases where a product has become so good and the producers sophisticated enough to do their own exporting.'

TTV is careful to take into account cultural norms of a region when developing a relationship with producers. 'We have been involved in a number of situations where the amount of new money earned has had a great effect on the local economy, with some serious consequences,' says Dirks. 'In one case, women from Bangladesh making wheat-straw cards began earning more than almost anybody else in the community, in a culture where women normally did not work at all for wages. As a result, there was growing resentment within the community, especially when women began making more money than their fathers and husbands.'

TTV now tries to work with producers, local staff and a other organisations to determine fair prices as well as to mitigate any negative consequences. One solution has been to provide health care and education services that can benefit the whole community.

RealMedia Clip: A TTV Client

RealMedia Clip: Another TTV Client

TTV currently has around 180 stores in North America. 'We are tapping into large urban centres and communities that are concerned about where they buy their products,' says Dirks. ;The percentage of non-Mennonite customers has increased tremendously.'

However, TTV is not planning to expand beyond North America. 'The European market is already saturated for this kind of thing,' explains Dirks.

Hiebert makes no apology for promoting consumerism as part of TTV's goal of sustainable development. 'We live in a consumerist society. How much better, if you are going to buy something, to buy something that will help another human being, rather than just buying from any department store.'

She believes in creating a link between producers in developing nations and consumers in industrialised nations. 'We try to educate our customers by providing them with a few facts about the producers. We do not want to sell on sympathetic grounds, but I think it's important for people to know that not only are they getting a beautiful gift, they are also helping people who desperately need assistance.'