Summary
PEOPLink is a nonprofit organization that trains and
equips grassroots partner organizations to use digital cameras and the Internet to market
their products.
Goal
To empower poor producers to use the Internet to maximize the benefits of world trade.
The Process
PEOPLink provides digital cameras to partner organizations and trains them to e-mail
pictures and detailed descriptions of their products. PEOPLink then places the pictures
and information about them on the PEOPLink web page and promotes the products to retail
and wholesale buyers in industrialized countries. The web page also contains educational
materials about the producers' work and lives.
This process allows the artisans to bypass the complicated chain of middlemen they must
normally go through when selling their products, and as a result they earn a higher return
on their investments. Each partner organization provides marketing and design services to
numerous producer groups.
The Next Step
PEOPLink puts out an electronic catalogue of products and displays artisans' products in a
global gallery on the WWW. The organization makes use of all aspects of the Internet for
promoting this type of commerce, including offering virtual gift certificates.
PEOPLink is building a worldwide network of partner organizations. The better
communication that the individual artisans have with each other and with the rest of the
world not only helps them market their crafts, but it also helps them to improve their
designs. The artisans see what others are producing and what is selling in the wider
market.
Each partner organization is a development organization supporting numerous producers in
their region or country. Often the partner organizations also run other community
development activities, such as health or education programs.
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