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Global Goods Partners (GGP) is a fair-trade nonprofit organization, founded in 2005, which provides support and U.S. market access to women-led cooperatives in the developing world. The organization operates an online store for fair trade crafts, and runs a fair-trade alternative to traditional school fundraising campaigns. Its headquarters are in New York City.

GGP is a member of the Fair Trade Federation, and Green America (formerly Co-op America).

Mission
According to their website, GGP “is a fair-trade, not-for-profit organization dedicated to alleviating poverty and promoting social justice by strengthening women-led development initiatives for marginalized communities in Asia, Africa, and the Americas.” GGP works with community-based organizations (CBOs) that produce eco-conscious goods and funnel their income back into education, healthcare, and human rights promotion in their own communities.

History
GGP was founded in 2005 by Catherine Lieber Shimony and Joan Shifrin, veterans of international development from their work at American Jewish World Service and the Global Fund for Children, respectively. In the course of their work, Shimony and Shifrin came into contact with countless women-led CBOs offering a sustainable livelihood to their members and social benefits to their surrounding communities. They felt that these cooperatives lacked adequate access to U.S. markets, and formed GGP to respond to that need.

At GGP’s founding, the organization worked with only a few more than ten cooperatives. Shimony and Shifrin focused a school-based model, in which the fair-trade products of the CBOs could be used in socially responsible school fundraising drives (in place of more typical chocolate or wrapping paper drives). Since then, however, the organization has moved toward a more independent market through their online store. GGP has also expanded to work with 43 cooperatives in 19 countries.

In 2008, GGP began a partnership with Mercy Corps, which sells GGP products at their Action Center To End World Hunger in downtown Manhattan.

Fair Trade Products
GGP sells a variety of fair trade crafts. The organization classifies each product by its adherence to eight standards of social responsibility— “fair trade,” “eco-conscious,” “handcrafted,” “creating sustainable livelihood,” “building community,” “promoting human rights,” “advancing global health,” and “supporting access to education.”

Cooperatives
GGP currently works with 43 cooperatives in 19 countries.

Press
GGP has been featured on the Today show, CNN (http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/personal/11/10/gifts.that.give.back/index.html), and Oprah Magazine (http://www.oprah.com/slideshow/omagazine/200812_omag_charity_gifts/3).

Links
Global Goods Partners official website (http://www.globalgoodspartners.org)