The organization started by selling tea from Sri Lanka. After that, coffee from Tanzania, juices and jams from Guinee-Bissau and wine from Algeria followed. While the foundation was aware of the unfair structure of world trade, they still wanted to promote trade as they saw no better alternative. Next to financially supporting the leftist movements in developing countries, the trade in the products from these countries could inform the Dutch and West-German consumers about the conditions in these countries.
The foundation not only imported products but also exported personal possessions of people migrating to those countries and school materials. They also strived for improved living- and working conditions for the producers with whom they worked and profiled themselves as a partner for development organizations active in the countries from which they imported.
Sources
NICC Archive:
Peter van Dam, Wereldverbeteraars. Een geschiedenis van Fair Trade (Amsterdam, 2018).