Background:

Pakistan is more than twice the size of Germany and borders India, Afghanistan, Iran and China. Half of its surface is covered by an unfruitful highland region in the west as well as deserts and steppes along the Indian border. Only a quarter of the surface - along the Indus and its tributary rivers - serves as farmland. It is there where three quarters of the population and nearly all of the major towns can be found.

The distribution of income is unequal: some 20 per cent of the urban and 30 per cent of the rural population live below the poverty line. The illiteracy rate is appallingly high: 62 per cent of all inhabitants. Medical care is equally poor: there is only one physician for every 2000 persons.

Agriculture is the most important economic sector, but there are limits as geographical conditions make extensions virtually impossible. Therefore, more and more people leave the countryside seeking their fortune in the towns. But they do not find enough work there either - or, at best, ill-paid jobs as in the textile industry.

The Organisation:

The city of Sialkot in the north-east of Pakistan is the center of the sports equipment industry. Between 25,000 and 30,.000 of Sialkot's 500,000 inhabitants work in this branch. Nearly all the world-famous trade-marked sports article brands are produced there by sub-contractors. Due to the low wage level in conventional trade, families are forced to make their children add to the family income and work in order to make ends meet. Since 1998, gepa has been promoting footballs from Talon Sports in Sialkot, which are a real alternative to the balls of all famous brand name producers. While the commercials - due to strong international pressure - committed themselves in the so-called Atlanta Agreement, which prohibits child labourers younger than 14. The approach of Talon Sports goes far beyond this. This young, middle-class enterprise pays wages for fair trade balls which are up to 50 per cent above the average salary level. The higher wages enable families to support themselves without the need of child labour in the long run. Furthermore, Talon Sports also offers women a possibility to contribute to the family income. Before the Atlanta Agreement and the conversion to big stitching centres, quite a few women stitched balls at home as the Islam-based Pakistan does not permit men and women to work in the same localities. Thus, many women lost their jobs. Talon Sports, however, co-operates with 43 stitching centres which are exclusively for women. Thus, 34 per cent of the Talon Sports balls are made by women. This is very important as stitching is one of the few employment opportunities for women.

As far as time allows and whenever possible, Talon Sports preferably passes gepa orders onto to the women stitchers. All stitchers are paid "by ball" and, for the first time, are reimbursed hospital costs - regardless whether they produce fair trade or conventional balls.

Talon Sports committed itself to convert the whole ball production to fair trade criteria, as soon as fair trade would be able to distribute the total output. At present, Talon Sports can only sell small volumes to the fair market, which in turn only provides higher wages for those quantities.

The general renunciation of child labour is controlled at Talon Sports on three levels: by the socially committed enterprise itself, by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), and by an independent monitoring team in Sialkot supervised by Fair Trade e.V. This team checks all agreements made, not only production without child labour. Furthermore, they discuss improvement measures with Talon Sports whenever necessary. As a matter of fact, Talon Sports was one of the first three enterprises to receive the ILO confirmation of production "without child labour".

With the extra price, fair trade also facilitates the small-scale credit programme in Sialkot. Loans on an average of 500 Euro are granted for small shops or water pumps, etc. from this fund. The village development fund is managed by the "Talon Fair Trade Welfare Society".

The average fair trade premium is approx. 1 Euro per ball, so that it was possible in such a short period of time as the end of 1999, to make 400,000 Dollars available for higher wages and the relief fund for the workers.

The producers:

At present, Talon Sports co-operates with 1909 stitchers - 657 of whom, are women. An experienced stitcher can make between 70 and 100 balls (according to ball quality) in a month consisting of 24 working days. If two adults could only make two thirds of their ball output on fair trade conditions, they could cover the needs of their family income needs, which lay by approx. 6000 Rupees per month.

Furthermore, Talon Sports has a welfare fund for emergency benefits (birth, marriage, death, etc.). On urgent request of the parents, the "Talon Fair Trade Welfare Society" also finances exercise books for children.

In the stitching centres, the workers have access to diverse information material in their own language, Urdu: on fair trade conditions, fair trade minimum wages and the monitoring system.

Production and marketing:

The material for the balls is pre-finished in the Talon factory in Sialkot. Four different fabric layers are fixed to a synthetic material using latex. Octagons are punched out of the lengthy material of which thirty-two are needed for the production of one single ball. The octagons, the inner bladder and the threads are passed on to the stitching centres surrounding Sialkot, where the balls are sewn together. The high quality for example, of the gepa footballs correspond to the FIFA (World Football Organisation) standard, a world-wide standard known for professional qualifications. The balls stand out for their long-life latex tire and robust synthetic material.

The balls were launched on the German market in early 1998 for the World Football Championship games. By the end of 1999, more than 400,000 fair trade balls were sold in Europe - over 100,000 in Germany alone.

gepa mbH

Society for the Promotion of Partnership with the Third World Limited, Germany

- 2001 -