Coordinadora Latinoamericana y del Caribe de Pequeños Productores y Trabajadores de Comercio Justo

About Business Network

The  Latin American and Caribbean Coordinator of Small Fair Trade Producers and Workers (CLAC) is the Latin American network of producers that co-owns the Fairtrade International system . CLAC is the network that represents all “Fairtrade” certified organizations in Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as other Fair Trade organizations. CLAC’s mission is to represent and promote the interests, empowerment and development of its members and their communities.

CLAC was created in 2004, with legal status since 2005. The roots are found in the Latin American Coordinator (CLA), which brought together small Fair Trade coffee growers, and PAUAL (Small United Beekeepers of Latin America), two continental networks of small producers, both created in 1996, a year before the creation of FLO.

Currently, CLAC has around 1,000 member organizations in 24 countries on the continent. It is articulated through National Coordinators, which bring together producers from the same country, but of different products; Product Networks, which bring together producers of the same product but from different countries on the continent; and a Network of Workers.

CLAC works with the following strategic advisors:

• SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT. At CLAC we believe in the balance between the economic, the social and the environmental. Therefore, we adhere to the definition of the United Nations Brundtland Commission, recognizing the importance of meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs.
• INCLUSION AND EQUITY. At CLAC we believe that everyone deserves access to the same opportunities, which is why we leave no one behind. We promote participation and inclusion. We respect diversity and generate growth opportunities for everyone.
• EMPOWERMENT. At CLAC we seek for all of us to be active actors in our own development, to transform our realities and improve the quality of life.
• INNOVATION. At CLAC we promote the incorporation of improvements to practices, processes, approaches and/or methodologies, which provide producers with appropriate tools for their local context and for their production and marketing dynamics. This approach includes the generation of a culture within the organization, characterized by a new combination of ideas, capabilities, resources, knowledge and technology.