International guest highlights real impact of Fair Trade for Bangladeshi women

International guest speaker Kohinoor Yeasmin, CEO of Bangladeshi women's business and development organisation, Tarango, has taken the message of fair trade to hundreds of Aussie supporters.

Speaking at Fair Trade Fortnight 2010 events in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth,
Kohinoor’s stories from the field clearly showed how making The Big Swap to fair trade empowers artisans, farmers and workers to improve their lives, establish successful businesses and develop their communities.

Kohinoor’s organisation, Tarango, works with some of the most marginalised women in Bangladesh and assists them with entrepreneurship development, marketing facilitation, business advisory services, gender rights training as well as personal and family health services. Tarango is a World Fair Trade Organisation member.

Kohinoor is particularly proud of enabling these women to have confidence to challenge gender discrimination and achieve their goals. When asked about her biggest lesson in life, Kohinoor said, “Women need the opportunity to be economically empowered. Without this, they are effectively unable to raise their voices and have no independence.”

When asked about the difficulties of working in a male-dominated society, Kohinoor said, “In every step I face challenges. All women heading NGOs [non-government organisations] face the same difficulties. The men often underestimate us [the women], so we created our own forum where we share experiences, discuss our challenges and support one another.”

Kohinoor’s visit to Australia was proudly sponsored by the National Australia Bank, Australia’s largest Fair Trade Workplace. To find out more about NAB’s partnership with Fairtrade visit www.nabgroup.com/corporateresponsibility. To find out more about NAB’s microfinance initiatives visit www.nab.com.au/community.