The celebrations for One World Week continue, and on Friday we join Shared Interest in Manchester, to learn more about the work they do to change the world for communities around the world. In today’s guest blog we invite you to celebrate with Shared Interest too:
“This year marks Shared Interest’s 25th anniversary. For quarter of a century, we have been providing bespoke financial services and a vital means of support to some of the most disadvantaged communities across the globe.
Shared Interest team with the anniversary flag.
To commemorate the achievements and contributions of our international supporters, we created a Shared Interest anniversary flag. The flag travelled to over 50 destinations worldwide before arriving back in time for our 25th AGM and members’ day held at Gateshead’s iconic Sage music centre in March.
During its journey, the flag gathered handwritten messages from our members, customers, volunteers, partners, supporters and staff. Bringing all of these sentiments together symbolised the global nature of our work and how it thrives on positive relationships.
Our 25th year has seen a number of firsts, including producers of new and exciting commodities, this year making our first loans for Fairtrade gold, coconuts, walnuts, oranges, palm hearts and school uniforms!
Gilbert Drabo breaks open a freshly-harvested coconut
Fairtrade coconut producer COCOPACK, in Ivory Coast, started out as a family enterprise and is now a major employer in the region. The mission of the organisation is to respond to food security and environmental concerns, as well as providing a quality product to sell.
COCOPACK’s Renaud Goirand said: “The loan from Shared Interest will enable us to solve a number of challenges, allowing us to purchase a tractor and helping us to upgrade our fruit processing plan and improve personal protective equipment.”
These aspirations, and those of so many other fair trade producers, can be achieved with the support of our UK investors. Reaching this milestone of 25 years, we continue to look to the future. It is amazing to think of the impact made as we celebrate our gold (Fairtrade, of course!) anniversary. With further investment, we can continue to help organisations like COCOPACK to grow. Could you be inspired to invest in a fairer world?
If you would like to find out more about Shared Interest, please come along to one of our upcoming events. We will be in Manchester on the 23rd October 2015 followed by a series of events in Edinburgh, London, Oxford and York in May and June of 2016. Check out our events pages at www.shared-interest.com for more details and how to register, or contact us on 0191 233 9103.”
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