Help Sunbula & Artisans Overcome the Corona Crisis in Palestine
This campaign has ended on 31-8-2020
Campaign by: Sunbula
Campaign Summary
Help us keep open Sunbula fair trade shop, the only outlet in Jerusalem for hundreds of artisans from across Palestine to sell their products. Help us protect their income source and provide for families. Support them to continue their heritage work and the communities to stay resilient.
Each amount raised in this campaign will be matched by a generous donor, so your impact will be doubled.
The Problem
Community enterprises, with little reserve to absorb the blow, are acutely impacted by the ongoing economic crisis.
Sunbula, a small nonprofit that runs the only Palestinian fair trade shop in Jerusalem, has already lost a quarter of annual sales from the lockdown between March and May and the sharply fallen market after reopening in June. We have been unable to hold events like farmers’ markets or showcasing emerging local artists in our garden and had to suspend our training programs for women artisans.
As a result, our partner artisan groups from across Palestine, whose products we sell, are struggling to stay afloat as their revenues have dried up. Hundreds of artisans have not earned their income for several months now, and their households are facing economic hardship as never experienced before.
Solution
We need your help to keep open the Sunbula House of Palestinian Crafts, a lifeline for hundreds of artisans.
Our shop is located at the heart of Arab East Jerusalem and is the only Palestinian fair trade shop in the city to market local handicrafts from across the West Bank and Palestinian communities inside the ‘48 areas. We showcase carefully curated handmade treasures, including Palestinian embroidery, Bedouin weaving, ceramic, leather, olive-wood carving, jewelry, hand-printed textile, wool products, basketry, home decor items, and organic olive oil. We work exclusively with artisans from marginalized communities – women, people with disabilities, youth, and small-scale farmers in refugee camps, villages, and Bedouin communities – to provide a source of livelihood where it is most needed. We also operate our eCommerce site from this shop, giving our artisans a platform to market internationally.
This campaign will also provide the much-needed liquidity to our most struggling partners to help them continue their work. We aim to fill the gap in addressing the need of local enterprises; in Palestine, with its vulnerable economy under occupation, there exists no aid for small businesses or economic stimulus packages. Join us to ensure Palestine’s heritage industry will survive and thrive beyond this crisis.
About Sunbula Organization
Sunbula is a Palestinian fair trade organization established in Jerusalem in 1996. It works in partnership with 25 craft producer groups from across Palestine in marketing their products and developing their capacity. Hundreds of women, refugees, people with disabilities, members of minority groups, and small-scale farmers earn a vital income through Sunbula fair trade stores in Jerusalem and online shop, and benefit from its product development training and capacity-building support. A Guaranteed Fair Trade member of WFTO (World Fair Trade Organization), Sunbula upholds fair trade principles and practices.