EDUCATION 
Additional incomes from Fair Trade, as
well as scholarship programs developed with Fair Trade premiums, enable
girls and women to access education they wouldn’t have been able to
otherwise. In many impoverished, rural communities, families do not have
enough money to send all their children to school. In most cases, boy
children are given priority over girl children to attend school. In
Brazil, Paola Pereira was the first student in her community to attend
and graduate from college thanks to a scholarship fund set up by her
coop, Poco Fundo. Now, Paola is a role model for all the young girls in
her community.
"When I was young, I didn't have the
opportunity to study, and for that reason I give thanks to Fair Trade
because it has enabled me to pay for my studies as an adult. I now have
an undergraduate degree in sustainable agriculture. I am educating my
children as I would have liked to have been educated at their age."
-- Blanca Rosa Molina,
coffee cooperative CECOCAFEN, Nicaragua
At Fair Trade flower farms, women have access
to education scholarships and support from management to imagine a
future where they can be their own boss.
"I study thanks to Fair Trade, because I
receive a scholarship from the Fair Trade premium. My profession,
stylist, is very expensive and the courses cost $800 per year. The
scholarship money covers one half of the cost, and I cover the other. I
now have the opportunity to graduate, I only have one day left. The
other help is that the farm allows me to leave work at 12 noon to study.
This farm does not deny people the opportunity to improve themselves."
-- Mariana Esquinato,
Hoja Verde, Ecuador