Evidence of meeting #16 for Foreign Affairs and International Development in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was haiti.
A recording is available from Parliament.
President and Co-Founder, Brandaid Project
We weren't rejected. They said that they liked it very much, that they'd like to keep the proposal open.
NDP
President and Co-Founder, Brandaid Project
Here's what happened. We work with TFO, which you might know. The trade facilitation office is a kind of intermediary between CIDA and organizations and companies that have never done business with CIDA before. TFO exists to create export opportunities for producers in emerging economies to export their products into Canada. TFO wanted very much to work with Brandaid on this proposal. They kept in touch with CIDA and acted, I think, as a kind of steward of this. I don't know. All I can tell you is that when the Macy's deal hit the media, the ministry, DFAIT, saw it and contacted Brandaid and said that since the earthquake things had changed a bit. The Canadian focus prior to that was--
President and Co-Founder, Brandaid Project
Gee, I don't know. It was just someone.
NDP
Jinny Sims NDP Newton—North Delta, BC
It just seems a bit out of the ordinary for our processes and the way that the CIDA funding works. I just wanted to get clarity for myself.
President and Co-Founder, Brandaid Project
I think it was out of the ordinary. That's true. But the proposal was in the channel, and I think the earthquake changed everybody's perception of what the needs were in Haiti.
NDP
Jinny Sims NDP Newton—North Delta, BC
Okay.
Chair, I would like to take the rest of my time so that Jean-François could answer the question that was asked of him earlier.
NDP
Sadia Groguhé NDP Saint-Lambert, QC
The purpose of my question was to determine the importance of the public sector in investment—as guarantors of the private sector, in a way. As for development, I also wanted to know how, in practice, the population comes to own this development so that it becomes sustainable and perennial.
My question is for both of you.
Executive Director, Results Canada
That is a very difficult question. How can you appropriate development when each inhabitant is living on less than a dollar a day? It's quite difficult.
To begin with, there has to be a local tax system, or at least, those who live on more than a dollar a day there must pay their taxes, which would provide local institutions with a local source of funds.
The other thing is to foster the participation of citizens in these countries, so that people may set their own development priorities.
And finally, local participation is equally important in the development of institutions that are not only public, but also community institutions, and sometimes private ones—for instance, microcredit institutions. Ideally the point would be to have, as our colleague here mentioned, borrowers who own their own bank, as in the case of the Grameen Bank. This is the same thing as cooperatives, etc.
NDP
Sadia Groguhé NDP Saint-Lambert, QC
To further the development of these microbusinesses, that basically involve artisans, what measures should be taken in your opinion to make these projects sustainable and stable?
December 8th, 2011 / 10:15 a.m.
President and Co-Founder, Brandaid Project
It's about creating a brand identity and brand assets, so that the producer owns something other than simply the skill and the means to fill an order for somebody who then has a long-lasting and sustainable business. It's about market share. Sustainability for our businesses is based on our knowing that I'm in the market this year, I'm going to be in the market next year, and the year after, and that I can build this. But you can't do that unless you have a brand identity and a way to enforce it.
Sustainability, in our view, with artisans and small producers is based around that.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Dean Allison
Thank you very much. That's all.
Did you have a quick comment, Katy?
Katy Wright Director of Campaigns, Results Canada
I just had one really quick comment to add about the microfinance model, in particular, Grameen Bank in Bangladesh.
What you see happens over time. This doesn't happen right away, but over time the original borrowers in a particular town or village, or something like that, would be reinvesting their savings within their own town, within their own small bank that's owned by the people who have received loans. Then they become the people who are the bankers in their own community through their own savings they have generated, and then they expand that circle of borrowers. They decide who else in the community gets to borrow small loans.
A microfinance model can have a very important aspect of local sustainability, because it builds a very local, very small capacity to access credit for the larger community.
Conservative
Conservative
Lois Brown Conservative Newmarket—Aurora, ON
I'll go back and finish my question to Mr. Brohman if I may.
Mr. Brohman, I'm really interested to know what the percentage is of the women involved in your artisans groups, and how is their development of wealth changing their lifestyle and that of their families?
President and Co-Founder, Brandaid Project
It's 50-50, of course, according to CIDA and our protocols.
How is it changing their families? Artisan activity is very much a family business and, of course, it involves children working after school and learning the trade of their family business.
In many respects, any artisan business involves men and women, but in terms of the four communities that we're working with, two are dominated by men and two by women. Two of the communities are textile based, so they're embroideries, quilting, and sewers. Those are the female communities. The benefits those women are deriving from this work is, I would say, night and day. All women work in Haiti, for sure, but to see women who have a skill increase their income because the products they're producing are now more marketable because they're better designed and better produced and they have some marketing and a route to market.... To see the impact on their lives is....
As I said, we've just done the baseline study at the start of this project, and we're going to measure it again at the end, after purchase orders have been filled. I could tell you better then, but I know that their incomes are probably going to triple at least.
Conservative
Lois Brown Conservative Newmarket—Aurora, ON
Do you see any of this success starting to help build the country's capacity? I think particularly of the regulations that need to be built around this. Obviously Haiti has a long way to go to reconstruct even some of the institutions it had in the past. One of the issues that we deal with is property—and here I mean real property in the sense of places to build. There is a lack of a registry system.
Are you seeing any impact, or is it too early to tell at this point whether or not this is going to have any impact on the greater good for Haiti?
President and Co-Founder, Brandaid Project
I believe it will, and we are seeing some indications of that. Immediately after the new president, President Martelly, was elected, Brandaid was invited to present to the new economic team. What we presented was an expanded version of the CIDA program, based in the artisan home furnishing sector.
What we said was that Haiti did not need no logos, but more logos. We needed more brands from Haiti. So we proposed a mango brand, a national coffee brand, and chocolate, cacao, and vetiver brands, the essential oil that is the fixative in all perfumes. Haiti, in fact, is the world leader in vetiver production, and the world can't produce enough vetiver. So these are branding opportunities. We were met with absolute optimism about this and are now working closely with the new government and some other players, including Digicel, which also has something called Haiti brands. They also think that Haiti needs to rebranded.
To answer your question, what we see happening is a pushback from the bottom up, from small producers, in Haitian society. The artisan sector is very important in Haiti. At one time it was the third biggest industrial sector; the handmade economy was the third biggest economic component. Everybody in Haiti wants to return to that great day.
Haiti is tremendously creative and has the capability to export products, as China does now.