Some Ethics Underlying Kotare Krafts
 

The ethics and political effect of dealing with the developing countries are matters that we at Kotare Kraft’s take very seriously.

Although a profit organization and not formally linked with any charity group, we strongly believe in the benefit of trade in village craft, where on average a $100 of sales gives 3 days of work to the maker.
Although the majority of what we sell is from developing countries, we have New Zealand craft and a world perspective.

In general most Kotare stock comes from villages, providing much needed income in areas where there are not many options. Pay is of course appalling by New Zealand standards, but good by local standards. The fact that money can be earned locally has the effect of reducing the flow of people from their traditional living areas into the big cities. This allows them to improve living conditions, educational and health options of their children.
All Kotare goods are made in safe work places that are pleasant places to spend time. Things happen at a gentle pace and come to a complete stop whenever friends, festivals or distractions present themselves. In most contexts artisans earn more than unskilled labourers, a situation that unfortunately is not often the case in New Zealand, where even top craftspeople often earn less than the poverty line.
All traditional societies give children responsibilities and involve children in their creative processes such as dance, music, weaving and artifact production. While not believing that a factory is a suitable place for a child, and not buying this type of work.

We have direct dealings with the artisans in nearly all cases and set up systems involving a local with an office and packing and export experience, to coordinate and pay for supplier's shipments after checking the work against our instructions.
A major ethical issue relates to use of environmental resources. We always source timber from government Plantation and recycled timbers (often from ox carts and old houses) are our preferred material. Preserving existing natural habitats is important for many reasons. We do not want to play a part in their destruction.
All crafts people are paid cash in advance, this enables them to purchase the raw materials to produce the products for us with out tying up any of their own working capital.
Some of the people we buy from have their own charity systems in place where part of every sale goes towards feeding and educating children for example:
Goloka Nagchmapa Agarbathi Incense

Light up an incense stick, and put a smile on the face of a hungry child!

Every packet of Goloka incense you buy, will help spread the fragrance in an under privileged child's life as, part of the sales proceeds go to fund the Akshaya Patra free mid-day meal programme for less fortunate children in India.

As of January 2007, Akshaya Patra is providing 535,557 hygienic and nutritious meals every day through an extremely cost-effective, secular program in different locations across India.

And another company we buy from in India is also helping under privileged kids

OUR COMMITMENT TO SOCIETY:
All our products are hand made and we feel proud that our business is now supporting more than ten thousand families in India. Most of the production is done by family members at their own homes, at their own convenience. We make sure that they are all very well paid.
Our organization has adopted several children from distant villages of India who are very poor and/or lost one or both parents and are financially struggling for education. These children are provided with all necessities including school uniforms, stationary, school fees, transportation, extra tutoring, medical, vision and other necessities to prosper in their individual visions.