INTERVIEW GOODWEAVE
sectors. GoodWeave’s model is the gold standard of product certification and companies in other product categories have sought GoodWeave’s guidance.
Do you work to educate adults as well to end child labour and exploitation?
Besides rescuing and educating children, GoodWeave also invests in prevention strategies and family services such as daycare for weavers’ children, workers’ health and safety awareness initiatives, and weaving vocational training for women at-risk of trafficking in Nepal or who are sole breadwinners/widowed in Afghanistan.
In 2014 alone over 400 weavers were trained in our dye training programme in Nepal and adult weaving training programmes. Over 2000 adult workers were reached through educational awareness initiatives in 2014.
You currently have a relief fund for the Nepal earthquake victims, can you tell me about that.
© U. Roberto Romano.
GoodWeave certified rug, Kathmandu, Nepal
We are very grateful to all who have donated to the Nepal Earthquake Relief Fund. The GoodWeave staff in Nepal have sustained a round-the-clock pace. They are addressing the immediate needs of those we serve after the two earthquakes, including former victims of trafficking and child labour, weaving families, and those in the carpet industry. Through the Fund, GoodWeave has been able to distribute tents, mattresses, food, water, and launch a mobile health care programme.
We have mapped out our work in three phases: immediate needs, infrastructure, and economic stabilisation. Right now our focus is on the 15,000+ workers and their families who are part of the GoodWeave network, and the 40 children for whom we are direct guardians. We are lucky to have a network of amazing staff members and global partners.
are transparent to all; the proper quality control systems are in place and; all producers are treated equally.
Do you only do checks on factories, which are affiliated to the GoodWeave scheme?
Our teams only audit supply chains of licensed facilities. What makes GoodWeave’s inspections particularly unique is that they expand deep into the supply chain. Suppliers are required to make transparent all sub-contractors and they are also inspected, including down to home workers.
How do you hope to further develop the foundation?
We have recently approved and finalised our new expanded standard, which GoodWeave will be working to implement over the next year. This standard will address issues of child labour, forced and bonded labour, and working conditions for adult workers. We are also pursuing opportunities to expand GoodWeave’s innovating model to other product
30 | Summer 2015 Tomorrow’s Retail Floors
Interestingly enough, it is estimated that 30% of adult weavers have gone back to their villages. This opens up a concern that children could be trafficked to fill empty looms and/or exporters move their production away from Nepal. We are about to launch a long-term programme to support poverty-stricken weavers and their children that involves provision of housing, school fees and psychological counselling. This will help weavers get back to work and start generating an income without going into debt. The work we are doing to ensure transparent and ethical production is extremely important, now more than ever.
Is there anything else that you’d like to highlight to our readers?
It’s easy to support the work that GoodWeave does by purchasing labelled rugs. Certified GoodWeave rugs are available at almost any price point and the cost of certification to the consumer is negligible.
www.goodweave.org.uk www.goodweave.org
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