Altromercato Experience
Conscious Journeys relies onand supports the Altromercato Experience project by offering, in their itineraries, visits to cooperatives in the fair trade circuit, Altromercato partners.
The Altromercato Experience is the new Altromercato project, the main fair trade organization in Italy, dedicated to the world of tourism.
Proximity to a fairer world: traveling to discover, get excited and grow.
A way to see with your own eyes #anotherlife by living an extraordinary experience. The Altromercato Experience offers tourists the opportunity to live, during their holiday, a direct and engaging experience, touching the reality of the fair trade producers, who have been partners of Altromercato in Latin America, Asia and Africa for years.
ALTROMERCATO
Altromercato is the main fair trade organization in Italy. It is a consortium of 114 members, with 260 shops throughout Italy and manages relations with 120 producer organizations in over 50 countries, in the south and north of the world.
Thousands of artisans and farmers, whose work is respected and fairly paid, because is based on a transparent and traceable supply chain, that protects producers and guarantees the products quality. Only in this way we can truly defend and spread the culture of responsible living. So when you choose Altromercato products you know that they are not only good for you.
CHOOSE YOUR ALTROMERCATO EXPERIENCE ITINERARY
IL SACRO GANGE
I TESORI DELLO SRI LANKA
FAIR TRADE
The Fair Trade is an economic partnership based on dialogue, transparency and respect, which aims at a fairer balance between the north and the south of the world through international trade. Fair Trade contributes to an overall sustainable development by offering better economic conditions and ensuring the rights for producers’marginalized market and workers, especially in the south of the world.
THE COOPERATIVE “SILENCE” IN INDIA
The most important goal for Silence is to allow people with disabilities (especially deaf people) to obtain technical training in order to work and earn something to live. The story of Silence begins in 1976, when some deaf people formed a small informal group each with different creative skills but all with the dream of obtain the economic and spiritual self-sufficiency. Their dedication as well as a courageous initiative to create hand-painted greeting cards attracted a group of social activists. Together they formed a company that was registreted as an NGO in 1979. For the first few years, Silence was economically dependent on its supporters and foundations for the purchase of a workshop for artisans, the general store (a sales point) as well as tools and equipment. Silence is now able to face costs for production and personnel expenses with its own strength, registering steady growth in sales revenues. Silence has its own training center in collaboration with the University of Jadavpur (Training Istitute), where artistic crafts and commerce are taught so that people can also find jobs in other organizations. Silence shares the profits with the artisans and provides them with a welfare system and health insurance.
THE SELYN COOPERATIVE IN SRI LANKA
Selyn’s goal is that of creating jobs in the rural and marginalized areas, where most of the inhabitants is forced to migrate to other states looking for a job.
Selyn produces cloth toys, hand woven on traditional looms. Toys are made in compliance with the European safety regulations and tested in the laboratory. Through these products, Selyn has revived the long Sinhalese tradition of the hand loom.