Hunger, poverty and poor educational opportunities – these three conflicts prevent social justice. The World Day of social justice 2021 is approaching – find out more about it here!
Social justice forms the foundation for a permanent peaceful coexistence of all states and cultures. Unfortunately, however, this is still an aspirational ideal that is far from becoming a reality in many parts of the world. On the one hand, in recent years many jobs were generated thanks to technological and economic progress, but on the other hand, the income raised by this progress is distributed unequally.
In the following blog post, we will define social justice and you will find some key information about the World Day of Social Justice, which takes place on February 20th every year. Moreover, we have a look on the differences between the Global North and the Global South and what social justice means for fairafric.
What does Social Justice mean?
Social justice is achieved when hunger and poverty are extinguished and financial resources are distributed equally. This balance needs to be established between the Global North and the Global South as well as within societies. Therefore, people need to be treated equally regardless of their gender, age, religion and ethnic group. The fair distribution of economic success is particularly close to our hearts at fairafric. This also includes high quality school education and job training.
But when are people considered “poor”? Poverty means one person lives on less than 1,90 US dollar a day, and that is still more than 760 million people worldwide! Due to their low income, they are not socially protected in many countries, access to education and the healthcare system is still strongly related to high financial resources. In order to meet these challenges, fair wages and strong worker rights are needed.
According to the UN, one worker in five still lives in extreme poverty. You see, there still is a long way to go, until we accomplish a truly fair trade system, in which every participant can benefit from economic development equally. This is exactly where fairafric wants to bring about change: With the new local production site in the rural region of Ghana, we have already employed 52 co-workers only in the first year and we have created about 1000 indirect jobs! Similarly, the cocoa farmers of the partner initiative Yayra Glover Ltd. generate a significant higher income by establishing organic farming and the cultivation of coconut-palm trees. Did you know that fairafric generates an income increase of over 400% compared to conventional cocoa farming?
The World Day of Social Justice
In 2009, the United Nations established the World Day of Social Justice, and this year it will once again be celebrated with the motto “A Call for Social Justice in the Digital Economy“. Thereby attention is drawn to national and global injustice. The United Nations explained, especially geographical conditions impede the accessibility of job opportunities, the gender gap is still strongly pronounced and people still do not benefit equally from economic growth. Thus, the divide between rich and poor is getting bigger! The UN pursues the target to raise awareness to the topic of social justice and is promoting activisms in order to prevent poverty and social exclusion.
What about Social Justice in Germany?
The German constitution states that Germany is a welfare state that strives for social security of its citizens. That includes establishing social justice between different social groups. This should not only be the goal within German society, but should consider international relationships. In recent years, a constant increase of global economic prosperity was observed. But it is important to note that the difference between the Global North and the Global South remained unchanged. This gap needs to be closed in order to reach globally established social justice. Germany as a country of the Global North has the responsibility to solve the problem of economic injustice for geographical reasons. One possible way of economic participation is to transfer the value creation to the raw material originating country instead of just exporting the raw materials to the Global North.
Social Justice in Ghana
For fairafric, the mentioned production in the country of cocoa origin is located in Ghana. Here, social injustice exists especially between urban and rural regions. fairafric wants to support positive social change with the new factory in Amanase. Ghana is one of Germany’s most important trading partners located in sub-Saharan Africa due to its stable democracy and growing economy. Apart from crude oil and natural gas, the most important export goods in Ghana are mostly agricultural products like cocoa. But in most instances, the majority of the value creation still happens in the Global North. Instead of only exporting goods, value creation should be taken back to the originating country to ensure the fair distribution of wealth. In recent years, Ghana showed much progress in development and reduced poverty. Compared to other African states, the country is therefore in a good position on the 142th place of 189 examined countries worldwide. In order to improve that position, jobs for young professionals is one of the top priorities for fairafric. Also women produce about 80% of all agricultural products in Africa, but still there’s especially injustice between genders and generations that has to be prevented.
Conclusion
Social justice is one essential pillar on which democratic countries are based on. Furthermore, it has a great impact on global peace. It’s clear that social justice is a major challenge, but how can we achieve this goal? For instance, you can pay attention to socially and fair produced products and campaign for good working conditions. We at fairafric create skilled jobs in rural Ghana and provide training. We can guarantee worker protection by ensuring free healthcare, company pension and the fair payment of our workers and suppliers among other things.
Many people are aware of injustices but there still is a lack of consistent implementation. That’s why the only way to solve these pressing problems is education, strong allies and individuals who are making a difference.
