SERRV Sells Crafts to Help Filipinos Help Themselves
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Kerry Evans (middle) with the Capiz artisans
In its Philippines 2024/2028 Sustainable Development Cooperative Framework, the United Nations reported, “The pandemic led to economic contraction and increased poverty (to 18.1 percent in 2021) and unemployment, and exacerbated inequalities. The Philippines also slipped three places in the Human Development Index from 113 to 116 between 2020 to 2021.”
The World Bank Annual Report 2023 lists the Philippines as fifth among the five nations that borrow most from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Last year, the IBRD loaned the Philippines $2,336,000,000, just below the $3,133,000,000 that went to war-torn Ukraine, which was the fourth highest borrower.
While statistics don’t tug at the heartstrings the way individual testimonials do, compiled data summarize the collective grief of the masses. The Philippines was on a 30-year streak of decreasing poverty when the Covid pandemic stunned the economy with unremitting stagnation. In 2021, the World Bank saw the number of people in the Philippines who plunged into poverty rise by 2.3 million. A recovery will depend on the kindness of friends and strangers.
A Non-Parochial Kind of Kindness
The New Testament commands Christians to show compassion for disadvantaged people with whom we may not have any connection. Matthew 46 to 47 states, “For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? Do not tax collectors do the same. And if you greet your brothers only, what is unusual about that? Do not pagans do the same?”
Matthew was unsparing in recording Jesus’ critique since the Gospel writer was himself a tax collector. People today can still relate to their spiritual ancestors. The salvation of some and the survival of many still depend on reciprocal relations between benefactors and beneficiaries. Lucky folks who are blessed with opportunity and abundance are also gifted with the ability to free individuals and families who are trapped in abject poverty.
Traditional philanthropy asks donors to give without material reward. Nonprofit SERRV International (Sustainable Employment, Resources, Rights, and a Vision of hope) offers an alternative model that compensates artisans and farmers in 25 Third World countries, including the Philippines. As with all jobholders, skilled artisans earn a living by selling their wares to customers who value them. SERRV allows online shoppers to purchase desired goods and in doing so, have a life-sustaining effect on the products’ makers that mirrors charitable giving. The giver receives grace, karma, and a nice trivet for their generosity.
Adela Masongsong of Masongsong Handicrafts
Based in Madison, Wisconsin, SERRV is celebrating 75 years of providing livelihoods through alternative trade or more commonly referred to today as fair trade. SERRV is a member of the World Free Trade Organization and is subject to its 10 Principles of Fair Trade. (The WFTO is not to be confused with the World Trade Organization.)
Fair-trade Handicrafts from the Philippines Online or the Corner Shop
SERRV doesn’t station staff overseas. In the case of the Philippines, SERRV sells items on its website made by producers who are represented by the nongovernmental cooperatives of Community Crafts Association of the Philippines, Inc. (CCAP) located in Quezon City and Saffy Inc. in Manila. Under fair trade principles, the artisans and farmers set the prices for sale of their products before SERRV finalizes the calculations with addition of program fees.
“The arrangement,” says Kerry Evans, SERRV Artisan Development Coordinator, “allows marginalized communities to practice their art, preserve their culture, use raw materials that are locally sourced, and take care of their families as they make something useful and beautiful.”
Online consumer purchases account for a majority of SERRV’s sales, while a third of the revenue comes from its wholesale business. Customers might unknowingly buy SERRV decorations, home furnishings and apparel at a local fair-trade store. Evans urges consumers to ask store employees whether any of their merchandise comes from SERRV.
Handicrafts available at SERRV.org
Sophisticated Supply Chains of Fair Trade
Evans knows that fair-trade programs can be as multidimensional as they are multinational. Before coming to work full-time for SERRV in 2001, she ran a fair-trade project in Colombia founded in 1992 that rescued workers from cocaine production by employing them in the silk industry.
“We taught the women how to process cocoons and weave,” she recalls. “We then brought the silk to Milwaukee where members of the Hmong community and formerly incarcerated individuals were taught to weave scarves.”
Evans has visited the Philippines and sympathizes with Filipinos who suffered through the pandemic without a break from the national disasters that relentlessly pound the archipelago nation.
“In an average year, eighteen to twenty typhoons destroy raw materials in the Philippines.” And yet, she also sees sparks of optimism. “I’ve been working with CCAP and Saffy for over a generation,” she reminds us. “During that time, I have seen manufacturing techniques, and the quality of products improve a lot.”
She cites a discouraging a trend, particularly in India. “Artisans take pride in what they do, but the next generation doesn’t want to make handicrafts” as higher income opportunities can come from vocational training and higher education. “I can’t fault them. It will take SERRV customers to continue to create demand for traditional products to keep craftspeople employed and to secure work for relatives who wish to continue the family business.”
In the Philippines, CCAP and Saffy have over 3,000 and nearly 800 artisans and farmers, respectively, under their umbrella. At the SERRV website, customers can also make direct donations without purchases.
“The donations go into the artisan fund to build schools for girls, and for scholarships, climate control initiatives, eyecare clinics, requests from partners, health projects, and indigenous nursery management within ancestral domains so producers have control over raw materials.” She adds, “Product sales also support the artisan fund.”
Better World Audits
Every two years, Evans conducts the Better World Audit for SERRV. “We’re interested in making conditions better by WFTO standards through causes such as greater transparency, no child labor, opportunities for the marginalized, and fair wages,” she describes her priorities.
“Based in Madison, Wisconsin, SERRV is celebrating 75 years of providing livelihoods through alternative trade or more commonly referred to today as fair trade.”
“Our trade partners answer a list of questions to see how they’re doing. We ask them about their progress in sustainable employment, worker rights, resources, organizational vision.”
The audits go both ways. She says, “We also ask them how SERRV is doing in helping them, as examples, improve healthcare in their communities, increase the number of girls we’re sending to school. They have a voice in determining their target goals and can inform us of any grievances.”
Audit scores factor into a country’s conditions. “We give extra points for hardship related to political climate, logistics, and how difficult it is to collect handicrafts from artisans in isolated areas.” She says in last year’s audit, CCAP earned 70 points and Saffy earned 72 points out of 100. Partners usually have scores between 60 and 75. The next audit will be completed this summer.
“The 2024 Better World Audit will be interesting as we come out of the pandemic.” She remembers, “The pandemic was horrible. We lost some artisans to Covid especially in India. Social programs were disrupted. Orders fell.”
As for Philippines’ wares, Evans says the Capiz Christmas ornaments are a traditional sensation, but a Peace Wreath made of vines has been the perennial bestseller.
SERRV’s website: https://www.serrv.org/
Staff Correspondent Anthony Maddela covers a variety of topics and profiles prominent Fil-Ams for Positively Filipino. He’s based in Los Angeles.
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