By Michael Machosky

Next time you're savoring a chocolate candy, think about where it came from.

Sure, you bought it at the store. But go back a little, to its origins.

One of the cocoa-producing nations is Cote d'Ivoire in West Africa. Cocoa prices right now are near an all-time low.

To make a profit, cocoa producers must produce vast amounts of cocoa, and children often are sold into slavery to do it. As many as 5,000 to 10,000 children have been trafficked to or within Cote d'Ivoire to work on the cocoa plantations, according to a 2004 report by the U.S. Department of State.

In a global economy, the disconnection between Third World producers and First World consumers can be so profound that horrible things can happen without much notice.

That's changing, slowly. And it's not politicians or public-interest watchdogs who are driving it, but churches and entrepreneurs. It's about chocolate -- and especially coffee and traditional handicrafts -- and finding a way to benefit both First World consumers and Third World producers. The movement is known as Fair Trade.

Jim Weber, director of the Beard Center for Leadership in Ethics at Duquesne University, sees Fair Trade and the companies who practice it as the cutting edge of a trend toward more ethical treatment of Third World producers. And it's driven, mainly, by a growing awareness of how the global economy works.

"Part of that is because the Internet is such an incredible source of information. ... It's very easy to find out what's going on," Weber says. "People are (becoming) aware of the plight of workers in Third World countries."

FAITH, GOOD WORKS AND COFFEE

"When you pick up your cup of coffee, you're engaging in fellowship not only with the people in your congregation but with people across the world," says Anna Utec, director of the Interfaith Program for Equal Exchange, based in West Bridgewater, Mass. "A lot of people don't think about their coffee -- who grows it, how much they're paid."

One of the biggest Fair Trade companies is Equal Exchange, which works with democratically elected farmer cooperatives in Africa, Asia and Latin America to make coffee, chocolate, cocoa, tea and sugar for consumption in the First World. They've found a particularly powerful partner in American faith communities.

"Lutherans drink coffee after church. ... That's a pretty important time," Utec says. "The idea was to use coffee as a vehicle to connect them with their global neighbors and think about issues of social and economic justice."

Now, coffee fellowship hour at many churches includes finding out about, say, how a Nicaraguan farmer takes his coffee to market, comparing his lack of control over the prices he gets to the co-ops who trade with Equal Exchange.

"We got involved because the workers are paid fairly," says Pastor Janet Grill, of St. Andrew Lutheran Church in Shadyside. "The steps between growth and sale are much reduced -- there are no 'coyotes'; there are no middlemen. As people who say we're concerned that others get fair wages and are able to support their families, the Fair Trade concept makes a lot of sense."

Equal Exchange gives Third World co-ops the full price for their coffee.

"Most coffee on the conventional market is traded through brokers and exporters and processors, and the farmer gets a fraction of the price that the coffee companies actually pay for the coffee on the market," Utec says.

Equal Exchange, a for-profit company, has products that can be found in a few grocery stores and coffee shops throughout the area, and it's a bit more expensive than conventional coffee. Getting churches on board has been helpful for Equal Exchange.

"The faith-based community in the U.S. is one of our strongest customer bases and allies in promoting Fair Trade," Utec says.

TEN THOUSAND VILLAGES

Trends in coffee, chocolate and other commodities come and go. But buying and selling traditional arts and crafts is trickier -- depending on the whims of the American consumer as much as on the stability of the Third World producers.

Ten Thousand Villages, based in Akron, Pa., has figured it out. The organization began 60 years ago as a program of the Mennonite Central Committee, and now has more than 100 stores in North America. The products it sells include woven baskets from Uganda, chess sets from Cameroon, drums from Kenya and sculpted CD racks from Indonesia.

Behind each hand-crafted item, there's a story. Rosa Periona Antonio is one of the artisans Ten Thousand Villages works with.

"Rosa is a woman that we met in the early 1990s in Peru," says Juanita Fox, spokeswoman for Ten Thousand Villages. "She was affected by the civil unrest in her country. Her husband was kidnapped and 'disappeared.' Without an education, she struggled to support her 11 children."

Looking for work, Fox says, Rosa saw a woman making dolls called "vicunias." She asked if she could learn to make them. But the woman was afraid Rosa would take her share of the market. Eventually, Rosa convinced her that she would go somewhere else to sell them.

Working with Peruvian artisan groups dedicated to Fair Trade, Rosa connected with Ten Thousand Villages and began exporting her dolls to North America. And her life changed.

"She moved from a temporary dwelling to a house with a cement floor and a tin roof," Fox says. "She also has running water and electricity, which is significant."

Ten Thousand Villages works with the artisans to come up with a product that will sell in the States, based on current market trends. Figuring out which traditional crafts will sell is the hard part.

Ten Thousand Villages is a nonprofit organization, and the stores are staffed almost entirely by volunteers. Judy Keljo is a staff volunteer at the Squirrel Hill store.

"We're all encouraged to pick out things we like and know the stories of the artisans who made them," Keljo says. "People are much more apt to buy something if you can give them the background on it."

Some massive multi-national companies are starting to see the value in exhibiting a social conscience.

"I just did a research project with the Gap," says Weber of the Beard Center. "They're not perfect, but in the past few years they've done a very extensive social audit, assessing all the different organizations and suppliers they work with to manufacture their products, holding them to a certain standard. ... It's a standard" -- called the Social Accountability International, SA8000 -- "that some international companies are trying to meet, partly to public pressure, partly because some of these companies have good values and want to be responsible."

Perhaps someday, there won't be a need for Fair Trade.

"Even if (Third World producers) are only exploited a little less, that's a good thing," Weber says. "People are understanding that you can work together with these small villages and put together an economically sound and socially responsible philosophy for a business."