Issue : 1

It is finally here ! Our views, news and more !!

  Gathering of the Clan  

The Just Change network has been growing by leaps and bounds. And finally, we managed to fulfil our promise of keeping Just Changers all over the world informed of our news and activities!
 

The four member groups of the Just Change India Producer Company (JCIPC) met at Gudalur for the General Body Meeting on 26th June 2007. A quick profile of our member groups for those who don't know :

Adivasi Munetra Sangam (AMS): An organi- sation of 3000 adivasi families in the Nilgiri hills of Gudalur. Many families are producers of tea.

Bhoodan Vikas Mandal (BVM): A federation of 90 women self help groups with a membership of nearly 2000 families who live close to Nilambur in north Kerala.

Paschim Orissa Krishijibi Sango (POKS): This is an association of farmers in Western Orissa who grow rice, dhals, onions, spices and a variety of other crops.

Social Agency for Women and Rural Development (SAWARD): A federation of about 100 women’s self-help groups, with about 2000 members, in the suburbs of Calicut on the coast of Kerala. Members from these groups are involved in making soaps, coconut oil, banana chips and so on.


         
    Hard at work: Ladies from BVM              Proprietors of the coconut unit, Calicut

The GBM began with each group singing in their local language (altogether there were about ten languages being spoken by the hundred odd people in the room). Sajan and Subhash presented the activities of the year, and also the financial reports (for more details, click here). Each group made a short presentation on their JC activities. After lunch, there was a detailed discussion on our modes of retail (more on this follows in ‘Dressed for Success: Just Change Retail expanded’). Towards the end of the day, we talked about our strengths, weaknesses, achievements and problems, and ended with each group sharing their plans for the coming year.
 

Apart from the legalities of the GBM, it was a day of renewing relationships and catching up with friends. The group from Orissa travelled over 40 hours by road and rail to be with us! Sadly we had to bid farewell to Sajan Ganapathy, who has been a moving force behind setting up JCIPC and getting trade started. We wish him well, and are consoled by the fact that he will continue to be a part of the JC family.
 

Even as we sat together in Gudalur, rice procured by JC from Aharam, a producer company in Madurai, Tamilnadu, was travelling across the hills. By the time the Saward group got back home that night, ten tons of rice was waiting to welcome them in their Branch office warehouse!
 

The meeting of the JC family was a reaffirmation of the Just Change idea. In the words of Mr. P.N.Nambiar, BVM, “We are not satisfied with profits alone. We are a company that aims to bring about a social revolution!”

top

   JC Retail expanded  

The Just Change India Producer Company was launched in January 2006. In August, we evolved a retail model which is already beginning to show signs of success.

This retail model for the JCIPC arose out of a critical evaluation that our earlier mode of selling through community leaders was not effective. Initially, we used community leaders to sell a limited number of our own products - soap, tea and coconut oil. However, we learnt it was not practical to sell a few products through the Just Change initiative, and expect community members to go to the local store for everything else they needed. Neither was it cost effective from the perspective of the company to only trade in these products, while leaving all other products to the mainstream market. We needed to set up our own one-stop-shop providing for all the needs of our members. This was the genesis of Just Change retail.

The backbone of Just Change retail is a Central Store and Branch Office, which serves a growing number of village consumer societies (VCS). The central store functions as anchor for the entire retailing system. Here the group’s inventory and storage takes place, as well as the packing and weighing of the products which are then sent out to the Village Consumer Societies. These are societies comprising  50-100 shareholders from a village or group of villages. They are managed by a committee elected from the shareholders and choose their preferred mode of accessing goods from the central store. The two main modes are a village shop or a community marketing organiser (CMO). The VCS decides which method they would prefer, depending on their geographical location, how close their houses are to each other and so on. The village shop can be located at a central point, a member’s house, or community room. The CMO is a member of the group who takes responsibility for collecting orders from the group and supplying them from the central store. She works like a door-to-door saleswoman.
 

Both these modes are operational in SAWARD and BVM, our members in Kerala. Currently, we have two central stores and seven Village Consumer Societies in Calicut and Nilambur.
In the last ten months, we have had a turnover of more than Rs. 24 lakhs (Rs. 2.4 million) ! Of this, we calculate that 15% is Just Change products, while the remaining 85% are commodities procured from wholesale markets. Our strategy is to increase the percentage of products procured directly from producers. This will be done by adding new member groups to the Company, expanding the number of production units in our existing member groups, and by sourcing our products directly from Producer groups even if they are not members of JCIPC. We aim to steadily increase the number of volume of products sourced directly from our producer members.

For example, we have tied up with Aharam Traditional Food Crop Producer Company, Madurai, to source a year’s stock of chilli, tamarind and coriander, worth Rs.5 lakhs (Rs. 0.5 million).

In the Nilgiri hills, the Gudalur Adivasi Producer group participates by supplying tea, coffee and spices to the Company. They are in the process of setting up a community bank before launching into consumer retail.

Our member groups are also involved in producing umbrellas, masalas, soaps, spices, and pappadum. Additionally, we hope to start procuring coconut and cashew nut from our member groups.

Our Orissa member, POKS, is beginning to become much more involved in JCIPC. Currently they consume our tea and coconut oil and have set up a network of cooperative shops called Sahayog.  During the next year we plan to focus on building the retail capacity of these shops. We see a strong potential for them to supply other edible oils and rice to the company.

The face of retail in India is rapidly expanding and changing. While large retailers and big businesses are trying to monopolise the supply chain, we are laying foundations that will help us take more control of our local economies. Our network of over 40,000 families in Kerala, Orissa and Tamilnadu has understood and embraced the principles of Just Change. Together we are building a system of trade based on principles of justice and mutuality.
 

top

  Just Change Tea at Marsh Farm - a Launch to remember ! 
 

After a hectic week of tension and worry about visas and travel arrangements, the adivasi gang of four, Jeya, Ayyappan, Chathi and Bharathan, landed at Heathrow.  They arrived just in time for the launch of Just Change Tea at Marsh Farm. “We came off the plane and rushed into the meeting at Luton without even washing our faces. But our tiredness vanished at the warm welcome we received from everyone,” Jeya remarked later.

The venue for the launch was the weekend market at Marsh Farm. With clear purpose in mind, we set to work with brooms and mops to transform the local covered market café into the JC MF launch pad.  We stuck black mundus (Indian sarongs) with bright orange borders up on the walls, and plastered them with provocative Just Change posters. Then we pulled out bamboo flutes, panichi bead necklaces (worn by women of the Paniya tribe), jewellery, pepper, tea, artefacts, drums and baskets.  Our launch pad was ready.

Stan, Bharathan and Glen made a trip to a local radio station to do a program on our Marsh Farm launch.  This could be the beginning of their new part-time job, as radio jockeys!

The purpose of the launch was to inaugurate the collaboration between the Marsh Farm community in Luton and the Adivasis in Gudalur, India in selling a new brand of tea in the council estate, Just Change Marsh Farm Tea.  Instead of working through the traditional market structure and paying a premium for ethical tea, we are directly linking communities in India and the UK.  Our price is competitive, thus making it accessible even to economically disadvantaged communities in the UK. Thus expanding the scope of the Fair trade movement to those who until now were not able to afford the luxury of being "fair". We are opting for solidarity, not charity.

The gathering at the launch was diverse - teachers and school children, members of the Luton council of faiths, the Borough Council, the adivasi group from Just Change India, friends from Just Change UK and of course our hosts from Marsh Farm Outreach. There were speeches and sharing of thoughts and experiences. Dancing followed, with Chathi playing his bamboo flute. Crowds turned to look, curious about the sight of Adivasis dancing with Marsh Farmers, JC UK volunteers in JC t-shirts and German friends of the Adivasis aged 2 to 40! People were drawn in by the sights, sounds and smells of Adivasi and African drumming, and swaying Afro-Caribbean dreadlocks.  They were then led dancing to the JC exhibition where they were treated to free cups of JC tea.

Besides selling tea and spreading the word, it was the creation of these relationships which marked the real success of the launch. The JC presence was announced in Marsh Farm with a bang ! The trip created memories that will last forever and we look forward to the deepening of this wonderful relationship. Let’s raise a glass, or preferably, cup of tea to our friends at Marsh Farm and JC UK!

top

If you do not want to receive this newsletter, please click here to unsubscribe.