Resources

Simple Marketing Skills
Produced by ACCU (Asia/Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO)

A simple cartoon booklet which looks at the importance of marketing skills for increasing income. Easy to read and useful for discussion, it can also be used as a role play. Pages 8 to 9 of this issue are based on a summary of this booklet. Available free of charge from ACCU who produce a huge range of useful materials for newly literate readers, including a recently-published flip chart, Giving education to our daughters for a brighter future.

ACCU, 6 Fukuromachi, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 162, Japan.

Empowerment through Enterprise
by Malcolm Harper ISBN 1853393320

This manual provides guidelines for an eleven day training course to enable NGO staff to help groups trying to start their own businesses. It covers marketing, financial management, group enterprises, credit and gender. The manual is available from:

IT Bookshop, 103–105 Southampton Row, London, WC1B 4HH, UK.

Export Marketing for a Small Handicraft Business
by E Millard ISBN 0 85598 174 1

Jointly published by Oxfam and Intermediate Technology, this book contains vital information to help producers export more effectively. It contains information on how to reach and maintain contact with customers, designing goods for overseas markets, packaging, quality control and about all the formalities and documentation involved in exporting.

You can order the book from IT Bookshop (address above).

Improve Your Business Handbook and Workbook
Edited by D E N Dickson International Labour Office ISBN 922 105 3415 (3407 for workbook)

This is a practical, easy-to-use handbook, packed full of useful information. It is aimed at small businesses and contains eight sections: buying and selling, manufacturing, book-keeping, costing, marketing, accounting, office work and planning. It costs £8.45 including postage. There is a workbook which can be used with the handbook called Improve Your Business Workbook full of practical Exercises. They are also available in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese. Order from IT Bookshop (address above).

ILO also provide training courses in many countries. Write for details to…

ENT/MAN, International Labour Office 4 route des Morillons, CH-1211 Geneva 27 Switzerland

Guidelines to Rational Drug Use by Fr von Massow, J K Ndele and R Korte Publishers: Macmillan, TALC, AMREF, GTZ ISBN 0333 69922 X

This manual aims to provide a quick and comprehensive reference for doctors and pharmacists. It lists all varieties of drugs used to treat medical conditions, recommended dosages, drugs to be avoided during pregnancy, possible side effects and also compares the relative cost of each drug. An easy to use, technical manual highly recommended for those prescribing drugs.

The manual is available from TALC: PO Box 49, St Albans Herts, AL1 5TX UK

Guide Pratique

The Centre Songhai have produced a new series of Practical Guides aimed at farmers in the tropics. The guides are well illustrated and describe the various stages involved in fish-breeding, sustainable agriculture and biogas, with plenty of practical advice. Available only in French from:

Hilaire Tokplo, Centre Songhaï, BP 597, Porto-Novo, Benin Republic. Fax +229 22 20 50 E-mail: songhai.benin@intnet.bj

Les Coopératives du Rwanda: Réconciliation et Coexistence Pacifique

The Centre for Cooperative Training and Research in Kigali, Rwanda have produced this booklet following research in 1996 with members of 19 cooperatives, with many thousands of members. The writers stress that they are not providing solutions, but rather thoughts and suggestions which could help challenge readers to think more deeply about this challenging subject. Only available in French.

IWACU (Centre de Formation et de Recherche Coopératives), BP 1313, Kigali. Rwanda Fax: +250 73309

Ethique écologique et reconstruction de l’Afrique

This book is a collection of talks given at a conference in 1997. Titles include ‘Africa's challenges’, ‘God wants to save Africa’, ‘The role of the Church and Christian NGOs in the State in Africa: political and ecological responsibility’ and ‘African religions and ecology’. Each talk is summarised at the beginning, making it easy to read. The introduction talks of a new era of hope and spiritual renewal dawning now for Africa, in which it will be essential to understand clearly Africa's strengths and weaknesses and build up relationships.

CIPCRE, BP 1256, Bafoussam, Cameroon.
E-mail: cipcre@geod.geonet.de

The world is your market - Tearcraft

You know Tearfund, but have you heard about Tearcraft? This is Tearfund’s trading arm, buying from 30 craft producer groups in 15 countries around the world. It is a vital part of their ministry to demonstrate good news to the poor in a practical way. ‘As Tearcraft has grown, so has its concern to buy from producers who provide fair wages, good working conditions and benefits,’ says Stephen Thomas, Trading Manager.

Tearfund helps local producers to adapt traditional regional crafts – such as pottery, weaving or woodwork – for the UK market. ‘We need to develop new products, create new buyers, compete in a commercial way – but always keeping the fair trade philosophy,’ says Elgin Saha, Director of HEED Handicrafts in Bangladesh.

Tearcraft products are eventually sold in the UK and Ireland through a mail order catalogue. Contact Tearcraft (Tearcraft Distribution, P.O. Box 5050, Annesley, Nottingham, NG15 0DL, UNITED KINGDOM).
E-mail: tearcraft@prolog.uk.com

Web: http://www.tearcraft.org/

Ten Thousand Villages

Ten Thousand Villages markets fairly-traded handicrafts in North America, providing fair income to Third World people in over 30 countries. Ten Thousand Villages is a nonprofit programme of Mennonite Central Committee, with over 50 years’ experience in working with groups practising micro-enterprise.

Rakesh is the founder and Director of Archana Handicrafts in India, their largest group in terms of sales. Archana means a thing of truth and beauty in Sanskrit. It is a private business, committed to helping Indians by encouraging, developing and selling their traditional handicrafts. Archana is committed to the welfare of their workers and helps many craftspeople with banking, design, training and management.

Rakesh is a strong believer in learning the local situation and discovering ways to work, developing family workshops rather than using a huge factory approach. According to Rakesh, doing things on a small scale encourages families to stay in their traditional homes, to have flexibility in employment, to meet other family obligations and to meet their main goal of improving their homes. ‘While changes might be slow, they own the results.’ Often Rakesh will tell workers, ‘If you make a good product and learn how to be a good businessperson, people will come to you – you don’t need to go to the big city.’ As new second-generation artisans join the workshops, Rakesh sees the rewards of keeping the production of handicrafts at the village level. ‘See,’ he says, ‘these people have worked in their own homes and now the next generation is still there. They did not run to the city to hunt for employment – something that is usually hopeless.’

Contributed by Larry Guengerich, Media Coordinator for Ten Thousand Villages. Archana Handicrafts, 704 Main St, PO Box 500, Akron PA 17501-0500, USA. Fax: (011) 91-11-301-2845 or E-mail: lrg@mcc.org

HERE ARE SOME OTHER useful contacts for those wishing to sell their goods overseas.

CBC provide information and training and establish trade agreements with ten countries around the world.

The Centre for the Promotion, of Imports from Developing, Countries (CBC), PO Box 30009, 3001 DA Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

Fax: +31 10 4114081

Traidcraft Exchange, Kingsway, Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, NE11 0NE, UK.

Fax: +44 191 4822690