On my summer trip to Accra, Ghana, I visited a collective known as Global Mamas. The Global Mamas community works together to create a life of prosperity for African women and their families. They achieve prosperity by creating and selling handmade products of the highest quality.  I believe travel should relax yet relate, entertain yet inform. Raising Nomads Travel Co. actively supports local businesses, especially those to help women and children. I purchased several items from the Global Mamas store and, during this holiday season, you can too. Find out more about this great organization by visiting Global Mamas at http://www.globalmamas.com and reading my interview below! Learn how to throw a Prosperity Party-just in time for the holidays.

Raising Nomads: How are the women chosen to participate with Global Mamas?

Global Mamas: To achieve maximum impact, we work with individuals and then make a community from these individuals. These communities are made up of women from several towns that are nearby the production locations, who participate in an application process to become part of the Global Mamas team. We are never short of applicants and usually get them through word of mouth.
RN: Is there a time limit to how long the women can stay in the program/collective?
GM: We pride ourselves on our long-term, deep-sourcing relationships, and they remain at the center of all that we do. Because the goal is for women to achieve sustainable livelihoods they are welcome to stay as long as they would like. 
RN: How do you work to ensure your products are fair trade?
GM: Ensuring our products are fair trade is easy! The Mamas and staff of Global Mamas all earn sustainable, living wages. We maintain a long-term commitment to each other and operate with transparency in all we do. We engage in regular training to ensure the Mamas develop their skills as business women and craftswomen. Working conditions are safe and ensure that no child labor is ever used in production.We are proudly Guaranteed Fair Trade by the World Fair Trade Organization and verified as a fair trade organization by the US based Fair Trade Federation.
RN: Are there any particular products you’d like to be able to sell in the future?
GM: We have a design team that is constantly working to develop new jewelry, batiks patterns, and styles, so our product line is always evolving. We are getting really excited to launch our new organic cotton line early next year. Future plans include an expansion of our skin care program and the introduction of jersey knit products.
RN: Your website lists different ways to get involved with Global Mamas. Tell us more about prosperity parties. Can they be hosted outside of Ghana?
GM: Prosperity Parties are a great way to get involved with Global Mamas and make a direct impact on the lives of Ghanaian women, even from a distance (per those who have hosted they parties they are a lot of fun as well). Due to expensive duties involved in shipping product to other countries, we can only support Prosperity Parties in countries where we hold inventory – Ghana and the US. Our headquarters distribution office in the US is in Minneapolis but we can ship the products for parties to anywhere in the U.S. or Ghana.

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