The Ideal Partnership for the Benefit of the Children of the World

The Manifest Marketplace was created as an ideal partnership between One World Projects, a leader in Fair Trade product procurement/distribution and the Manifest Foundation, a leading nonprofit organization aimed at improving the lives of children throughout the world.

In the Manifest Marketplace, your purchases improve the lives of children throughout the world by:

1) Supporting a viable, healthy and sustainable economic condition whereby small Third World entrepreneurs, co-operatives, artisans and their families can break the economic cycle of poverty through the sale of their goods and services, and

2) Supporting the great work of the Manifest Foundation, a percentage from each transaction (an average of at least 30 percent) will go into a general fund to assist new entrepreneurs and artisans; helping them break the poverty cycle and supporting other Manifest projects.

Through the Manifest Marketplace, we are creating an outlet in the First World for goods and services created in the Third World. Thus, by opening up new, sustainable, dependable and fair distribution channels for these artisans, their families, their children and their villages benefit by your purchase, and you benefit by having access to truly unique, high-quality handcrafted goods not available via mass distribution. Moreover, you benefit from the knowledge that each and every transaction was done fairly, safely, humanly and eco-consciously and that you helped the family of a child raise their quality of life.

The Manifest Marketplace will not only serve as a conduit for the products of these Third World artisans and their villages by opening up new distribution outlets, it will also serve as a vehicle for assisting families and small trade groups to create small business units to produce new products, with the knowledge that a viable distribution outlet awaits them along with financial support as necessary.

We envision the opportunity (through voluntourism) to visit these artisans and to see firsthand how, where and by whom these products are produced and the benefits that have ensued as a result of our purchases. Furthermore, we envision strengthening the economic viability of these artisans and villages beyond just purchasing products but more so by participating in joint community-based projects that benefit the lives and welfare of children. Ultimately, we could have products in Mantifest Marketplace from every village we conduct voluntours to, and also conduct a voluntour to support each village that produces a product we sell in the Manifest Marketplace.

Your purchase helps artisans earn a respectable living, take pride in their work and not become dependent on charity. Your visit to their community creates a human bond of understanding and mutual respect. Your purchase supports the following Fair Trade initiatives:

• Fair Trade goes well-beyond workers being paid a fair wage. Fair Trade is a catalyst for putting humanity back into business. When you buy Fair Trade products, you are buying goods where the "bottom line" was not the only consideration.
• The treatment of the worker is foremost and is held to the highest standard... seeing people, not as a numbers on the production line, but as women and men who have stories, lives and the right to live to the fullest.
• Fair Trade means that the worker is paid a fair living wage that can provide education, health care, and nutrition for them and their families.
• Fair Trade means that women and men are looked at as equals in the workforce, giving women of the world a voice in their community and in the global economy.
• Fair Trade products preserve the Earth by using sustainable materials and ethical farming techniques.
• Fair Trade has been the missing component in eliminating global poverty.
• Fair Trade means you and I are being aware. The time is now -- let's be the change.