Summit Hails Fair Trade

Student activists went bananas for fair trade foods at the week-long IMPACT summit hosted by the Harvard International Development Organization (HIDO), a group that targets global poverty.

A fair trade expo in Boyslton Hall’s Ticknor Lounge featured demonstrations by artists from the Peruvian Textile Group, who were selling handcrafted scarves, bags, and rugs. An array of fair trade foods, including banana chips, chocolate fondue, and coffee, were offered free to students ripe for a better world.

The summit, which ends tomorrow night, is HIDO’s first campus-wide event to confront issues of international development.

“We wanted to show that the quality of fair trade products is in fact just as wonderful as non-fair trade products,” said Sarah M. LaFleur ’06, co-director of the IMPACT summit. “They’re often slightly more expensive, but only because neither the producers nor the environment are being exploited.”

While one of the summit’s immediate goals was to place fair trade bananas in dining halls seven days a week, the peal appeal is just one element of HIDO’s campaign.

“A lot of us want to be in Africa or India right now, but we’re going to be much more effective if we stay here and get our degrees first,” said HIDO President Janice B. Whang ’08. “That doesn’t mean we need to wait four years to do something.”

Whang, who is also a Crimson photography editor, said her organization plans to use its “comparative advantage” at Harvard by raising awareness and encouraging consumption of fair trade products.

“It’s so worthless just to raise funds and send things to Africa,” said HIDO Vice President Gabriela Pena ’08, who organized the fair. “We have to capitalize on the skills we have and what we can do here.”

The IMPACT planners hope to ride a wave of support from the summit into a highly productive semester for HIDO’s long list of humanitarian programs. Whang said she hoped HIDO could overcome the traditionally competitive nature of international development groups on campus and encourage cooperative work for greater effect.

The IMPACT summit continues this afternoon with a 2:30 panel on human rights in Ticknor Lounge, featuring—among other speakers—the former U.S. ambassador to Austria, Swanee Hunt, who now teaches at the Kennedy School.

It concludes tomorrow night with a fund-raising dance party at the Mt. Auburn Street bar Hoffa’s.

Whether or not students actively participate, the IMPACT organizers said they hope everyone will support their mission—if only by opting for their palatable—and principled—fruits.

The bananas “taste amazing to those that care,” she said. “What could taste better than making a difference?”