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FairMail nominated for PwC’s “Transparency Prize”

Wednesday, September 16th, 2015

We were happily surprised upon hearing that FairMail was nominated for “Transparency Prize” organized by Price Waterhouse & Coopers.

After selecting 57 social enterprises, PwC researched which website had the most transparent communication about the social impact of the company. This way narrowing it down to 3 finalists. Besides FairMail the other two finalist are Dopper and Taxi Electric. You can read more about the prize here.

Transparency according to FairMail

Transparency has always been at the core of FairMail, both internally and externally. But what does that mean in practice?

Pro-active communication about the money

We are thankful for the trust our customers have that FairMail “walks its talk” and actually delivers what we promise. That starts with communicating clearly to the outside world about the money that the FairMail teenagers earn from the sale of their cards. This is stated per teenager on their personal profile page. Not only can you see how much each teenager earned but also the impact this money has had on their lives through the teenager’s personal stories and blogposts. To make sure this information is correct our customers can easily connect with the teenagers via email and Facebook on the profile pages and via the email address stated on each card.

FairMail Fair Trade guaranteed by the WFTO

External audits

Visitors to the FairMail website can also download our general year report giving an insight into the most important developments and numbers of the company and its social impact. FairMail’s social impact is also communicated every year in our blog and news letters. To be sure that all this information is correct, FairMail is externally audited by the auditors appointed by the World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO) both in the Netherlands and in our production countries. You can read more about the last audits here.

Checking yourself as customer

Thirdly we offer people the opportunity to experience FairMail at first hand. Either by working as volunteer or by travelling with the FairMail teenagers during our photography trips. This way experiencing exactly how FairMail works with all the ins and outs.

For those who don’t have the possibility to go to Peru or India we have made a very extensive list of “Frequently Asked Questions”. This FAQ gives the answer to just about every aspect of FairMail, the way things work, the teenagers, its environmental policy etc.

Internal Transparency

Transparency the FairMail way is not only about being transparent to the outside world. Equally important is being very transparent internally, assuring the teenage photographers that they are receiving their fair share of the profit from the sale of their cards. Therefore every three months we share the quarterly profit-loss statement with them. You can download an example here.

To facilitate internal transparency, the teenager’s personal earnings in their FairMail education-, housing-, clothing- and medical funds are always accessible in the teenagers’ personal folders we have in the office. This way the teenagers can always see how much money they have left in their funds and when they made withdrawals.

Apart from that we regularly invite teenagers to visit Europe to see first-hand how their greeting card market works, meet FairMail’s customers and understand the value chain.

Thanks to:

We are very happy with this result. We couldn’t have made it so far without people helping us: we want to give a big THANK YOU to UNITid for making the interaction design of the FairMail website, TOOK Webdevelopment for actually programming the site and the Social Capital Foundation for providing the loan to invest in our new, and transparent, website.

Tags: award, results, social impact, website
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Juan Gabriel is top of the class

Wednesday, July 15th, 2015

FairMail Peru photographer Juan Gabriel

The high school graduation wave in Peru still isn’t over. After 3 teenagers graduating in December, it was Juan Gabriel’s turn last month. He didn’t just graduate, he actually got the highest marks of all of his class mates!

Because Juan Gabriel spent a period of his youth wondering on the streets singing for money he got behind in school. The staff of the street children project he moved into thought it would be best for little Juan to get a more practical education and job experience. In order for him to get a high school degree he assisted a special weekend school which allows its students to work during the week. And with great success!

Juan Gabriel’s certificate

It turns out that Juan Gabriel has quiet some academic potential though. He even wants to pursue further studies at the university. The coming months he will prepare himself for the admission exam at a private institute, with the money he earned from the sale of his cards. This way he hopes to get in uni to study communication sciences. He will need a high score in his admission exam to get in, so brushing up his knowledge will be necessary.

Juan Gabriel’s mother in front of their home.

On top of that he is also studying English at another institute and got a scholarship to study photography outside of FairMail. All in all Juan Gabriel is doing a great job in developing his potential and be able to help his family in the future. Because, despite the problems they had when he was young, he hopes to be able to build a real house on the piece of land his family squatted on the edge of the city. And that way providing him with a bed that doesn’t get wet when it rains.

Click here to congratulate Juan Gabriel.

Tags: education, juan_gabriel, Peru, results, social impact, teenagers
Posted in FairMail, Peru | No Comments »

Results of European tour

Wednesday, July 15th, 2015

Anidela and Angeles, the stars of the European tour

In July two of FairMail’s teenage photographers toured Europe to tell the unique story behind their cards to as many people as possible. And to learn more about their card market. The tour was a big adventure for Anidela and Angeles who had never been in an airplane before. They were welcomed like stars in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands.

Tour d’Europe

During the 17 day tour they drove more than 3.000 kilometers. Amongst which 25 kilometers by bicycle. Something that left a lasting impression on them. Not only because they felt quite tired in the end, but also because they noticed how it helps clear and relax your mind. They were also impressed by how creative people in Europe decorate their houses and how well things are organised over here. And that there are many, many card spinners in the shops which their cards have to compete with.

Meeting their customers for the first time

In order to do so they made a PowerPoint presentation for their colleagues in Peru with the most important findings of their market research and suggestions to improve the offering for their customers.

Click here to see the pictures of their trip

Visiting Greetz headquarters

The most important results of the trip were:

4 articles in the media

7 visits to FairMail’s business partners

8 visits to shops selling FairMail cards

6 presentations about FairMail to a wide audience

2 photography exhibits

1 unforgettable experience for Anidela and Angeles.

Tags: anidela, Belgium, Germany, maria, Maria de los Angeles, Netherlands, promotion, results
Posted in FairMail, Germany | No Comments »

Indian teenagers invest over 100.000 rupees in their housing

Friday, May 1st, 2015

Kaushal’s house with a new top floor

Despite the very sad news about FairMail India closing its doors in October 2014, we are happy that the sale of the Indian FairMail cards is still having a positive impact on the teenagers and their families. In the last few months of 2014 five of the teenagers invested more than 100.000 rupees (>1.500 euro) in the construction of their family homes.

For example 17 year old Aradhana started the construction of her families own house in the outskirts of Varanasi which means they will no longer have to pay rent from her father’s small wage as cart puller. Kaushal managed to provide his family with an improved second story of their home. Meanwhile Sandhya invested in fully replacing the tiny room she lived in with her entire family for a new 2 story house. Anil Kumar and Anil Rao also managed to make significant improvements to their homes and to provide due maintenance. In the case of Anil Rao allowing his family to earn more money renting out part of their home to other people.

Sandhya’s new home under construction

We are very happy with this tiny bit of good news after the difficult decision to close down FairMail India. Unfortunately our decision still seems like the least bad decision to take as tension between some of the former teenager’s families still persists. Also our former team member is still being held in jail since July 2014 on accusations which still haven’t been investigated properly. A very sad situation which seems increasingly difficult to influence despite our intents.

Tags: anil kumar, anil rao, aradhana, housing fund, impact, India, kaushal, Photographers, results, sandhya, social impact, teenagers
Posted in FairMail, India | No Comments »

FairMail’s social impact in 2014

Friday, January 30th, 2015

Yomira when still at high school

After FairMail’s first social impact measurement last year we are happy to present the new figures of FairMail’s social impact over 2014.

When FairMail was set up in 2006, besides bringing photos with an original perspective into the market, our – more important – goal was to accomplish our social mission:

“to give at-risk teenagers the opportunity to create a better future for themselves.”

But how much impact did we create in our eight years of operation and in 2014 specifically? And what did the teenagers accomplish with their earnings?

“Earning while learning”

In 2014 the 52 teenage photographers earned 32.080 euro (20.530 euro in 2013) to invest in their own education, their families’ housing and medical care.

This way, for the first time in FairMail’s 8 year history passing the 150.000 euro mark in total direct earnings by the 52 FairMail teenagers.

The top earners in Peru and India were Elmer and Sandhya with 2.025 and 3.564 euro respectively. In second place came Yomira and Dhiraj with 1.349 and 2.132 euro each.

FairMail dropout rate is much lower than national average

These earnings are crucial for the teenagers to be able to fulfill their dreamed future plans. But money alone is no guarantee as success also depends on their perseverance, family situation and motivation for FairMail.

Due to a mix of these reasons, 21% (20% in 2013) of the teenagers who started FairMail did not make it to the retirement age of 19 years old. These 11 teenagers either lost motivation along the way, were drawn back into problems by “old friends” or faced such big personal problems that they could not continue with FairMail.

85% (86% in 2013) of all the kids that started FairMail either finished or are still in secondary school. Not bad considering the background of the teenagers FairMail works with. Also if you compare the percentage to the national average of 52% of all Indian teenagers that makes it to tenth grade (or 65% of all children in Peru finishing high school).

95% of FairMail teenagers continue learning after finishing high school

Of those FairMail teenagers who finished high school during their time with FairMail 52% (40% in 2013) has continued on to (pre-) university. 43% (47% in 2013) of them have continued with some sort of vocational training. Only 5% (13% in 2013) decided not to continue studying at all after finishing high school, because they could get a job which didn’t require vocational training.

83% of “retired” FairMail teenagers have broken the chain of poverty

At this moment 65% (68% in 2013) of the FairMail teenagers are still studying something. Of those not studying anymore 77% (55% in 2013) has a decent job (varying from administration to construction to sales). 29% (23% in 2013) has his or her own business or is self-employed (varying from a bakery to producing soccer balls and from photography to mechanic). This way they have broken the chain of poverty and can start building a family that will provide much better opportunities for their children than the families where they grew up in. (8% of the ex-FairMail teenagers already have kids of their own!)

Not all is success though. Still 17% (22% in 2013) of the retired teenagers are either unemployed or have a marginalized or an unstable job (varying from doing household chores to being in jail). 2 out of 3 teenagers who are in this situation happen to be teenagers that didn’t finish the FairMail program until the age of 19. This only shows the importance of FairMail’s long term approach and guidance.

Tags: education, results, social impact, teenagers
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Four Peruvian teenagers graduate from high school

Friday, January 30th, 2015

Diana, Jorge and Angeles with their high school certificates

As you can read in FairMail’s second yearly social impact report, 2014 was a great year for most of our Peruvian FairMail (ex-) participants: half of the team graduated from high school! A big congratulations to Anidela (16), Angeles (17), Diana (16) and Jorge (18) for persevering in their high school years.

Angeles already graduated in the beginning of the year. Since then she is studying extremely hard at the private Kepler academy, preparing for the exam to enter the national university of Trujillo on the 15th of March. This is the hardest university to get into and her public high school level isn’t high enough so that is why she invests in this expensive academy. Her grades during the trial exams are very promising but as she says herself she shouldn’t become overconfident and relaxed. To be continued…

Jorge with his certificate

Jorge finished high school in June as he attended a weekend school aimed at people who need to combine their high school with work. Since then, besides attending FairMail, he has been working and orienting on his further education. This month he is enrolling to study as chef and as driver/mechanic of heavy vehicles. He hopes to combine working as a cook on the short term with finishing the heavy vehicles course on the long term. This would allow him to get a well-paid job in a construction company in one of the many new mines in Peru.

Diana with her certificate

Diana just finished high school in December, in the same school as Angeles. Instead of taking well deserved summer holiday’s she went straight on taking summer courses. In March she will start a 5 year communication sciences study at the Cesar Vallejo private university in Trujillo.

Anidela also finished in December, in second place of her high school class. She is also skipping summer holidays to attend the preparatory academy for the Leonardo de Vinci private university in Trujillo. In March she will start to fulfill her long cherished dream of studying business administration at the university with the scholarship she earned.

Tags: angeles, anidela, Diana, education, Jorge, Peru, results, social impact
Posted in FairMail, Peru | No Comments »

FairMail featured on Belgian television

Friday, December 5th, 2014

Photoshooting with TV presenter Arne

In October FairMail was featured in five episodes of the Belgian children’s television program “Eerlijk Waar”. The four week series on the commercial VTM channel told the story behind 8 different fair trade products ranging from cacao to bananas and from oranges to flowers. Of course FairMail’s fair trade greeting cards couldn’t be left out!

The main star in the episodes about FairMail is 17 year old Yomira. Belgian TV presenter Arne runs into Yomira while looking for the beach chairs featured in the FairMail card he bought in Belgium. After explaining him about FairMail Yomira teaches Arne some lessons on photography and takes him on photography shoots in the area. Afterwards Arne wants to visit Yomira’s house and the garbage belt where she worked with her grandmother before she entered FairMail. This desolate places leaves a big impression on the presenter and only makes him more impressed about what Yomira has achieved so far.

Below you can view some of the episodes featuring FairMail in combination with a visit to a fair trade orange farm in Southern Africa.

Tags: Belgium, garbage dump, Peru, results, television, yomira
Posted in FairMail, Peru | No Comments »

Mariaflor wins prize for best student

Wednesday, October 29th, 2014

Mariaflor (r) after the ceremony with her friend Cinthia

We are very proud of the fact that FairMail Peru photographer Mariaflor was awarded with the prize for being the best student of her faculty over the past semester. As special as this news sounds, it is actually already the third time that Mariaflor, who is 23 years old by now, managed to achieve this!

With her hard work when she was still taking pictures for FairMail she already earned 7.379 euro. Money which she is investing to study communication sciences at the Cesar Vallejo private university in Trujillo. With her first prize she won a scholarship which means she has to pay only 45 euro per month instead of 110 euro. A discount that is more than welcome to allow Mariaflor to have enough funds to finish her career at the expensive private university. Her mother was present during the award ceremony at the university. According to Mariaflor, her mother says she is proud to have a daughter like Mariaflor. And we are very proud to have a FairMail teenager like her!

It comes as no surprise that Mariaflor works very hard to achieve this incredible result. She understand and fully makes use of this chance to get ahead in life. Therefor she spends an average of more than 50 hours per week on her study.

Can you believe she even manages to combine all that hard work with her part-time job as co-manager of FairMail Peru? She doesn’t make a big deal of this herself. She just points out the unique opportunity she is grasping to be able to practice what she learns at university, while getting paid job experience at the same time.

Her next goal is to specialize her career abroad as this increases opportunities for finding a job afterwards. If anybody has an idea for an organisation where Mariaflor can do her practical period abroad, please let us know. They won’t regret working with a smart and ambitious girl like Mariaflor!

We have a lot of faith that Mariaflor will achieve this and are very grateful to have such a lighting example for the new generation of FairMail teenagers in our Peruvian team!

If you want you can send Mariaflor an email here.

Tags: education, impact, maria_flor, Peru, results, social impact, teenagers
Posted in FairMail, Peru | No Comments »

FairMail closes its doors in India

Wednesday, October 8th, 2014

Unfortunately FairMail founders Peter and Janneke had to take the very difficult decision to close FairMail India.

What happened?

Due to an old family feud between two families of different FairMail teenagers, an unprecedented amount of mutual anger and envy was unleashed in the hearts of these families when two teenagers had a serious complaint about one of our team members. The combination of wrong behaviour of the team member, accusations without proof and strong reactions to these accusations led to an actual police intervention.

Dangerous situation

We were shocked by the speed of the developments and how late we were informed by the other team members. When the police case started false rumours were spread about FairMail’s activities and the tension between the team members rose quickly. It has resulted in an unworkable and even dangerous situation for the team members and volunteer photography trainers of FairMail India and for us personally. This is evident due to the fact that the team member is currently in prison for over 10 weeks on accusations that are not properly investigated. We are doing the best we can to help him get a fair trial.

A great loss

The above forced us to the decision to stop all operations of FairMail in India as of the first of October 2014. This means that no new photos will be provided by the Indian teenagers. This is a great loss. Luckily we were able to come up with a solution in order to keep selling their cards and allowing the teenagers to keep investing in their education through the sale of their photographs. FairMail has signed a cooperation agreement with Asha Deep, a local school providing education to underprivileged children in Varanasi. Over the past years FairMail has cooperated with Asha Deep to recruit new FairMail teenagers and cooperate with them in guiding the teenagers. Currently 9 of the 10 FairMail teenagers are studying or have studied at Asha Deep school.

The least-worst solution

As of October 2014 Asha Deep will be responsible for providing the teenagers with their part of the FairMail earnings to invest in their education and providing the guidance in how they spend it. They will also collect the bills to justify these expenses so FairMail can keep guaranteeing that the teenagers’ money is spent on their education. Our former manager can keep his work and salary to support his family as he will help Asha Deep in the administration of the teenager’s funds. As he will also keep FairMail updated about the progress of the ex-FairMail teenagers we can keep you updated on how they are doing and investing their money.

What does this mean for the teenagers?

Despite the horrible past weeks we hope to be able to focus again on the goal we had in mind when FairMail started in India: give these teenagers the opportunity to follow their dreams and study what they really want. The numbers prove that most of the teenagers are on their way in achieving that. Since the beginning of FairMail India in 2009, 16 teenagers have earned over 45.000 euro to invest in their education. 56% of the teenagers are still in secondary school, 19% finished and kept on studying after that. Of the 4 teenagers who didn’t finish high school 2 teenagers used their FairMail earnings to start their own business. Of the 9 current FairMail teenagers (the other 7 already retired), 6 are preparing for their advanced education. Our estimate is that they will have enough funds to finish their higher education through their current savings, in combination with future earnings from their old photos which will still be sold. The 3 newer FairMail students might not earn enough money with their photos to finance a whole career as they do not have that many cards yet. But Asha Deep has offered to try to fulfil their educational needs through donations from their regular donors.

All in all a very sad chapter in the history of FairMail. We will of course evaluate on the lessons learnt and incorporate these in our strategy on how and where we can increase FairMail’s impact in the future.

Tags: India, results
Posted in FairMail, India | No Comments »

The photo that changed a life

Tuesday, April 29th, 2014

Yomira’s life changing photograph

FairMail’s goal is to impact teenager’s lives through the art of photography. Never before though did just one photograph have such a big impact on the life of a teenager as with this photo taken by FairMail Peru photographer Yomira (17). In November her photo was selected by a big Dutch college for their corporate Christmas cards. Five months later the full impact on Yomira’s life becomes clear. She is now on her way to be the first in her family to go to university.

Problems at home

Until November Yomira’s perspectives weren’t very bright. Although she had managed to finish her high school with the help of her FairMail earnings she was running short to be able to finance her dream of studying business administration. Also she had serious problems at home and with her boyfriend. We were quite worried about Yomira’s situation and if she would be strong enough to stay on the right path.

Record earnings

Yomira in front of her pre-university institute

Things changed when FairMail’s profit results for the 4^th quarter were announced. She had earned the record amount of 4.500 soles (1.200 euro), mainly due to the sale of her picture on ROC Aventus College’s corporate Christmas card. Suddenly she had enough money to prepare herself for the university admission exam at one of the best private training institutes. Preparing for university admission in a private institute is essential in Peru as the level of public high school education is not sufficient. Plus the entry exams are very competitive with only 5% of the applicants being admitted for some courses.

From dream to reality

Yomira seems to be quite happy studying at the institute. It is a totally different world than Peru’s public schools as the teachers use better teaching methods, are more patient and are able to explain more about the subjects, according to Yomira. But it is also quite exciting as now, after talking and dreaming about it for years, she is at the point of taking action to make her dream turn into reality. But what a great opportunity it is to become the first in her family to continue studying after finishing high school. Not many teenagers in her surrounding have that opportunity!

Still it is a big challenge for Yomira. She was a bit scared about how difficult and competitive it would be. She is expected to study 45 hours per week at the institute and has about 4 hours of homework per day! It is also difficult for her that she doesn’t know anybody as none of her high school friends were able to go with her. She says she still doesn’t have much new friends but she enjoys learning new things and achieve her goals this way.

A chance of 1 in 13

Yomira studying at her new institute

Preparing herself for the university admission exam costs about 2.000 soles (about 550 euro). In September she hopes to be ready for the entry exam for the UNT (National University of Trujillo) to study accountancy. The battle will be tough though with about 400 candidates for only 30 seats. Even if she doesn’t make it in the first go she is determined to keep trying and give it a second shot if necessary.

Yomira wishes to thank all the people who bought her pictures and cards. And adds that if anyone has any tips or suggestions about the kind of photos they would like to see on FairMail cards,to please let her know.

The picture that changed her life is also available on a normal FairMail card and a best seller in Germany. Want to stock up on your Christmas cards early this year, then order here?

You can contact Yomira here

In this short video Yomira presents herself:

Tags: B2B, corporate cards, results, social impact, teenagers, yomira
Posted in FairMail, Peru | No Comments »

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