How Your Gift Could Change a Child’s Life
UNICEF Market was imagined as an easy-to-access store for people looking for unusual and beautifully handcrafted items that benefit artisans as well as helping improve a family’s quality of life and changing the lives of children around the world.
To make this a reality, UNICEF Canada has partnered with NOVICA, who have been working directly with artisans in Asia, Africa and Latin America since 1999. Together we are committed to working only with socially responsible and ethical producers.
NOVICA enables purchases to go from the country of origin directly to the consumer, while paying artisans the price they have set for themselves.
The new virtual Market features a selection of gifts from around the globe, from hand-crafted jewelry to home accents and accessories. Each fair trade item purchased will support UNICEF’s programs that provide life-saving nutrition, medicine, education, clean water, emergency relief and more to children in 190 countries.
By shopping with UNICEF Market, you are not just helping to keep children safe - you are supporting small artisan producers and helping to bring economic growth to communities in many of the same places where UNICEF is working.
“This fingerprint is for the buyer to know they are helping to improve the life of a Guatemalan girl”
The story of Jalapa Girl Jewelsmiths begins with its founder, Clare Johnston Kunkel, who was touched by the story of Casa Hogar, a home for women, in Guatemala. Casa Hogar is currently home to about 110 girls between the ages of 2 and 21 who have left troubled homes – including those facing abuse, extreme poverty and the loss of older family members, including parents.
In February 2007, Clare decided to travel from the U.S. to work at Casa Hogar. Her motivation was to volunteer and teach the older girls how to sew. It quickly became clear how teaching the girls basic sewing techniques could help to change their lives. However, while knowing how to sew improved the girls' chances of being employed, their growth was limited. Since they only had the ability to sew, it wasn't enough to start their own business and be successful.
Recognizing the limitations of the initial plan, Clare began to develop an entrepreneurship training program. Today, 20 girls – who all live at Casa Hogar – work on the project. The goal with the training program is to help the girls during their formative years so they can develop their abilities, and become self-sufficient and sure of themselves.
Everyone involved with the project is proud to say everything is done by hand. Jalapa Girl Jewelsmiths don't use molds or stamps, with the exception of a few letters and numbers. In each design, the girl who creates it adds her fingerprint. This fingerprint is for the buyer to know they are buying an item that is helping to improve the life of a Guatemalan girl.
Send a Gift Where It’s Needed Most
For another way to make gift-giving easy and extra meaningful, consider UNICEF Canada’s Survival Gifts®.
Survival Gifts are real gifts that are guaranteed to reach children in the world’s toughest places, when they need them most.
When you give Survival Gifts, you help provide vulnerable children with healthcare, clean water, nutrition, education, protection and emergency relief.
You may also give Survival Gifts in the name of a close friend or family member, with the option of sending them a free card.
[© UNICEF/UN0227231/Sang Mooh]
Because Survival Gifts are not thematic – they are real life-saving items – their impact is a tangible way to understand the value of your purchase. Each product is chosen based on need and could be sent to any part of the world. New gift items this year include emergency blankets and winter clothing for children who have been forced to leave everything behind during a crisis.
Last year, these unique gifts helped children in 96 countries survive and thrive.
Here are 3 important reasons why your gift is needed:
- More than 800 children die every day from preventable diseases linked to unsafe water and a lack of basic sanitation.
- 63 million primary school-aged children are not attending school.
- Nearly half of all deaths of children under age 5 are related to poor nutrition.
Your purchase of Survival Gifts will provide hope, along with real gifts with a real impact for a more stable future to the most vulnerable children in the world.
