Doing business in Vanuatu is a struggle at the best of times. But a group of illiterate women basket-weavers on one of its remote islands, with no market, no business skills and no money, have been showing that fair trade can offer previously unheard-of opportunities.
Since 2006 the group has been selling string baskets to fair trade exponent Sandrine Wallez – promoting rural women’s economic development in a country where women represent roughly a third of the 14.7 per cent who are formally employed.
