Our project will share short films on the truth about the humanitarian harms in the extended supply chain of regular household items
The truth about where your household items come from
The purpose of our project is to explore the origin of the raw materials used in every day household items such tea, chocolate, seafood and fashion, largely produced in third world countries, and to share that information to raise awareness for consumers. We are going to go there for ourselves, to take footage, meet people who are making our basic consumables, and then share it back at home.
How much do you know about the origin of the materials that go into your everyday household items? We know our local supermarket sells our packaged goods, and though we know they don’t grow the ingredients, process them and package it themselves, we rarely ask questions about who did.
As demand for low prices, fast fashion and seasonal produce availability all year round grows, so too does the complex global supply chain to support it. Our manufacturers and retailers reach far and wide for raw materials to meet demand and cut costs but with that we lose visibility of all the contributing suppliers in terms of safety, sustainability and ethical standards. We aim to work with companies to build supply chain transparency, and with consumers to give them the knowledge to buy ethically produced products.
Risks and challenges
Potential Risks
Safety is a key risk in the work we are doing and it is something we are keenly aware of. In order to ensure we stay safe we are traveling to locations where we can be hosted and supported by organisations on the ground. For this we have strong support from charities Stop the Traffik and Fairtrade.
Key Challenges
The obvious challenge if we are successful in the funding we need to create the website is then to gather a following and exposure so that it reaches as many people as possible. For this we are in talks with a prominent PR organisation, as well as having access to the full networks of our charity support organisations.
About Project Creator:
Kathryn Nicholl
The Ministry Consultants blog is Kate’s brain child. She has had a career in helping companies find better ways to buy goods and services, and is passionate about building strategies to use the huge purchasing power of large corporations to have a positive effect on the community.
The purpose of this page and the articles is to raise general consumer awareness on how a long supply chain works and how all sorts of humanitarian, environmental, and safety issues hide in the basic things we buy including the food we put in our mouths, clothes we put on our bodies and the regular household items in our homes.
Kate will use this platform as a forum to share her experience travelling around India and Bangladesh in early 2016, working with those rescued from forced labour and human trafficking. Stay tuned for updates on this exciting adventure!!
Link to the Project:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1626825940/the-ethical-warrior
