Comparte
Comparte (Comercializadora de Productos Artesanales Exportables) is a Fair Trade Organisation whose mission is to improve the standard of living of Chilean handicraft workers, by promoting and exporting high quality hand made products, and running technical and design assistance programs. A self-financed organization, Comparte currently exports over 6,000 products from more than 400 workshops to nearly 30 countries.
Pomaire is a place with a history of making handicrafts. By the end of the eighteenth century, Pomaire women were making ceramic products, while the men were working the land. Over the years the town has seen many changes, among them changes in labour activities. Today, the town's 6,000 inhabitants are employed mainly in ceramics production, and Comparte has been working with many of them over the last 12 years.
The main problems faced by the artisans were the lack of suitable workshops and efficient kilns, and a place to dry their products. The primary materials used to make the ceramics are locally sourced clay and firewood for the kilns. Both are becoming more difficult to obtain, with the artisans increasingly having to go further to source them. With Comparte's help and subsidies obtained from government agencies, a program was developed 5 years ago to change to new gas kilns. The program benefits not only the producers Comparte supports, but also other workshops in the town, and now there are 80 gas kilns in Pomaire.
This has ameliorated the environmental and health problems faced by the potters, improving air quality in the workshops and reducing the exploitation of wood resources. Their living conditions have improved with the orders they received through Comparte - their average income is now US$200 per month, and they have more free time for other shared development programs. Most potters had received formal education until the age of thirteen at most, but their children now get better education, with some even entering University. And Comparte is assisting the potters to design new products to continuously improve their access to export markets.
