ding the markets with refuse from the United States can contribute to depressing local cotton industries. Cotton and sugar are two of Africa’s biggest exports According to Dambisa Moyo, author of “Dead Aid: Why Aid is Not Working and How there Is a Better Way for Africa”, she states that African farmers, especially in West and Central Africa, cannot compete with the influx of excess Western imports, many of which have been heavily subsidized or Western companies looking to dump excess stock. Roughly 10 million people, or 6 million households depend on revenues from cotton in places like Nigeria, Togo, Benin, Mali and Zimbabwe. Trade ministers lodged a formal complaint to the World Trade Organization, claiming that unfair trade policies cost their countries $1 billion a year. Just two days ago, the BBC reported that for the past five years cotton production in Africa has been on the decline.
- For the purposes of this blog, that being female economic empowerment, women are affected by depressions on cotton production. According to AFD (Agence Française du Développement) 40% of organic cotton producers in West Africa are women. Potential threats to their sources of income does not tide well for their development. (On a tangentially related note, please stop the madness when it comes to Western organizations donating floods of pre-loved USED UNDERWEAR to women in Africa. Its demeaning and slightly creepy. Plus, I I doubt the claim in the website that women in Zimbabwe are empowered by “sexy, scintillating, designer maternity lingerie” and that wearing such lingerie will “elevate the status of women,” thus decrease the high level of rape and sexual abuse of women and girls there. Correct me if I’m wrong.)
I’m not trying to say that this One Million T-Shirts project has the capacity to bankrupt millions of people around Africa. I’m sure this project was well-intentioned. I’m sure these guys meant to “lint” a hand and don’t wish their good intentions to be ‘stained’. But let me join the chorus of those in the aid community in urging these guys to perhaps stretch their minds and come with a better mode of attack. I also hope that those in the aid community be willing to work with them as well and offer solutions instead of just criticism. Maybe a solution that helps to empower those in the cotton industry to produce locally made shirts. Or what if they contributed to clean drinking water or green coffee in Africa? I also know there is a need for books to be donated to libraries and to schools. What if they found a way to send money to send women and girls in West Africa to sewing school, so that they can produce locally made apparel and support themselves and their families with income, as well as supporting local industries?
I would love to hear your feedback, comments, and critiques. If you are on Twitter, follow @mjamme, @meowtree, @katrinskaya and @texasinafrica–these are all individuals who are concerned with the 1MillionShirts project.