COSART, the Fair Trade and the Solidary Economy

In their 25 year of work, COSART has always had interest in being part of the alternative organizations. In the 90's the collaborators of COSART took knowledge of the existence and of their contribution to the call "Trade Fair", their theories and their movement.

At the end of the 90's the team COSART was observing from the interior of the country (with point of view and provincial look) how it had being gestating and elaborating the orientation and the theory of the solidary economy, fundamentally from Lima and in the exterior. COSART relates this theory with the inspiring experiences that were already given for many years before isolated way some of others.

The social-Andean inspiration of COSART welcomed with approval the theoretical structuring of the Solidary Economy and the Fair Trade to find in these component alternative principles to the neoliberalismo.

Therefore collaborators of COSART were some of the main motivational ones for the constitution of the GRESP (Group Net of Solidary Economy of the Peru) in 1998 and they participate exactly from a more and more active way to the trade movement, forming leaves for example Exactly of the National Directive Table of Trade. In the mark of this participation COSART facilitated the presence of the producers in national and international events (Latin American Table of Trade Exactly, in Cochabamba, Bolivia in the 2005), what allows a bigger knowledge and commitment in the diffusion of this movement on the part of the same producers.

Since then COSART allows to enrich its experience sharing it with other actors building proposals, and ending up considering common projects joining rich but isolated experiences, and that they could have more incidence.

At local level, parallelly, COSART is part of the regional Group GIES of Cusco (Group of Initiatives of Solidary Economy). So it is integrated also to reflections and activities linked to the Solidary Economy at local level.