ethical junction

Ethical and Environmental Policy

Sunlover workshop, Dalung, Bali, Indonesia.

Sunlover started trading with a number of small workshops in 1997, buying a small range of handicrafts and decorative lighting. It was immediately apparent that the smaller workshops were often at the mercy of larger companies that controlled the quality and availability of raw materials, artificially forcing up prices - many of the workshops were only able to buy second quality materials. During the latter half of 1997, we started to buy materials in bulk, and to distribute it to smaller workshops at cost. This way we were able to avoid the middleman, and to provide the smaller workshops an uninterrupted supply of good quality materials at good prices. Our initial foray into selling Fairly Traded decorative lighting in the UK proved successful, and early in 1998 we set up our first lighting workshop in Dalung, Bali, Indonesia.

The aims behind the workshop were simple:

-To provide alternative employment for individuals caught in the poverty trap - often working in so-called �craft factories� for minimal pay � and to pay wages at a rate above that of similar sized workshops in the locality.

-To provide a clean and light environment in which we could ensure that all aspects of Health & Safety were observed.

-To offer training, and provide advice and feedback on all aspects of product design and development.

-To ensure all work is carried out within strict limits on working hours, and to respect fully all the varied cultural ceremonies and religious holidays.

Sunlover workshops currently have fifteen full time employees, and six new trainees.

We have someone based permanently in Indonesia, who co-ordinates all aspects of production and welfare at our own workshops (approx. 45% of our sourcing) and is responsible for liaison with all of our other suppliers � placing orders, payment, welfare etc. We visit all our suppliers regularly � most of those on the island of Bali are visited two or three times a year or more, whilst those on other islands, including Java, are visited once or twice a year.


We help our producers to develop their businesses in two main ways:

a) Financial � we able to help our suppliers have financial control over, and to invest in their businesses, by paying a fair price for all items we buy, by guaranteeing new suppliers a minimum period of three years of regular purchases at an agreed level, by paying a minimum of 50% deposit at the time of ordering, and on occasion offering interest free loans, or small donations for one off needs, such as new tools etc. All of these aspects of our trading relationships enable our suppliers to have a greater degree of financial security and continuity, vital in allowing them to invest in the future of their business.
b) Advice and Feedback � we are able to offer advice and feedback on all aspects of the products concerned, from health and safety issues, to design input for the Western market. We try and involve our suppliers in all aspects of product development, and encourage our suppliers to submit new ideas, which we can then evaluate and develop together.

In addition, we have been able to support smaller workshops in other ways � for example, buying materials in bulk and supplying on to various workshops at cost, thereby providing the workshops access to better quality materials at a cheaper price, by removing the �middle men� who often control the availability, and consequently the price, of raw materials.

Since Sunlover began trading with producers in Indonesia in 1997, we have been able to contribute to the wider communities in a number of ways:

- During our first few years of trading we were able to contribute to the funding of the construction of a football field, and to provide three teams with strips.
- We have been able to contribute financially to the renovation of an old Hindu temple at Kintamani, Bali.
- In 2005 we worked with a teacher from Boston to bring computers and books to a school in Ubud. We were able to organise and pay for the shipping from the US to Indonesia, carry out all the necessary paperwork, customs clearance etc.
- We have been in a position to donate money, use facilities and transport in the aftermath of the Tsunami (collecting and transporting food, clothes etc to Aceh) and the Java earthquake (collecting and transporting food, clothes etc to Joyakarta).

2007 sees the tenth anniversary of the formation of Sunlover as a trading body. As part of our anniversary celebrations we are in the process of setting up The Sunlover Foundation � a financial resource with the aim of further supporting the wider community in the areas we buy from. With initial funding coming directly from Sunlover trading, we aim to be in a position to make financial support available for selected local projects � in the form of small interest free loans, or donations. We hope to be able to make regular contributions in two parallel areas:

1) To support, by interest free loan or donation, selected local social initiatives, projects or organisations, that we feel perform a positive and direct role in increasing the social development of the wider communities within which we work.

2) To make donations to local environmental conservation initiatives � particularly those that campaign to preserve the local environment through education, lobbying and the highlighting of the economic realities that invariably lead to the destruction of natural ecosystems.

Whilst financial restraints on our trading company here in the UK are restrictive, we hope that over the coming years we will be able to assist in more areas, and that the Sunlover Foundation will become an integral part of our trading arm, linking products to projects local to the area of production.