Business as a form of empowerment

Something we as International Support Workers must learn to be comfortable with is the exchange of money. Whether it be from a donor to an organization, government funding towards a project or a pay cheque to a support worker; the exchange of money is inevitable in all fields of work, including this one.

Over the course of this program I have become more confident and comfortable with the exchange of money, especially in terms of co-operative business and social business. I have learned in order for things to exist, somewhere down the line there had to of been a minimum exchange of a few dollar bills.

Through speaking with others in the field of international support work, I have learned ‘business’ is not something to fear and when used properly, can be to the benefit of all parties involved.

In this program we have critically analyzed the systems of fair-trade, direct-trade, social business and cooperatives. We have explored examples of where business can be used to empower individuals and support entire communities. As a class, we went to visit a coffee shop co-operate and received a history of coffee plantations within Mexico. We learned of the horrible abuse and mistreatment towards indigenous workers on these plantations in the early 1900s where all coffee plantations were owned by European foreigners and the indigenous were used as slave labourers on the properties. We learned that after the Mexican Revolution in 1910, the people reclaimed these lands and used these plantations in a cooperative effort to support all involved; from the planting of the seed to the selling of the cup.

I am learning that business is a major part of support and development work and it can be crucial to understand the basic elements. I may choose to be oblivious to it, but business will go on around me and I will be unaware of how it is being used and who is benefiting.

In the ISW program, I have learned to become comfortable in a business role and am able to make decisions based on the best use and most productive purposes. If I am choosing this type of work as a living, and want to completely engage myself in the activities, there must eventually, and inevitably be an exchange of money both for my own survival and purpose of any organization I am part of. I do not say this out of ignorance or arrogance, but out of the clarity that business is a natural cycle of survival and I must include my own actions within this cycle in order to keep up with the required demands. By choosing to take part in business aspects of organizations, I am able to contribute to ethical and fair decisions involving the exchange of money.

In the past few months I have learned business is something to fear when you do not understand. To get involved, to ask questions and to take part in, is learning and it can be beneficial and empowering.

Money is part of the cycle of change, and whether we like it or not, it holds power. Through elements such as fair-trade, social business and cooperatives, that power can be put back into the hands of the people and they, and myself, can take part in the economic, independence and stability of our own existences.