WHAT IS THE CLAC?

"The CLAC is an association of Latin American and Caribbean democratic cooperatives of small producers for their representation, coordination, mutualexchange, collaboration and strengthening in the context of Fair Trade".

CLAC´s Backgrounds

The Latin American and Caribbean Network of Small Fair Trade Producers (CLAC) is a regional organization which has its origins in the Latin American Network of Small Coffee Producers (CLA, or "Coordinadora"), and in the Latin American Network of Small Beekeepers (PAUAL), both of them founded in 1996.

During the Fifth Regional Assembly of the CLA, which took place in August 2004 in Oaxaca, Mexico, CLAC was established as a legal entity, thus incorporating representatives of small Latin American and Caribbean Fair Trade producers of a wide range of products such as coffee, honey, bananas, cacao, juices, fruits, and others.

Nowadays CLAC consists of nearly 300 small producer organizations in twenty countries of the region, organized within international product networks as national multi product networks or "Coordinadoras". The number of families of affiliated small producer exceeds 200,000, thus involving more than a million people.