Author Archive
It just doesn’t seem fair
Perhaps one way of solving this dilemma is to continue raising the profile of fairtrade so that farmers can increase the amount of produce to be sold into the fairtrade market. But how long will that take? And what should be done about it in the meantime?
Shared Interest member receives MBE
Shared Interest member Joe Human of Kewsick, has been awarded an MBE for his services to Oxfam and Fairtrade.
For many years Joe has been committed to raising the profile of Fairtrade in his region, both in his role as Co-ordinator of the Cumbria Fairtrade Network and advisor to the Hadrian’s Wall Fairtrade Steering Group.
From all [...]
The Secluded South East of Costa Rica
Our first producer visit in Costa Rica was to APPTA, a group of remotely based communities growing cocoa and bananas. We made the day-long journey to the Talamanca region of Costa Rica with our colleague Hugo, stopping in Limon to sample the Caribbean twist on the country’s favourite dish Gallo Pinto. With two hours to [...]
Our time in and around Achuapa
The next leg of our Nicaraguan trip took us to Achuapa, a small town to the West of Esteli. The co-operatives in this area produce organic and fair trade sesame seed oil, and export to commercial buyers, such as The Body Shop for use in cosmetics.
We had the opportunity to sit in on ‘La Asemblea’ [...]
Our first meeting in Nicaragua – UCA Miraflor, Esteli
After a long day in the car, Andrea and I arrived in Esteli in the North of Nicaragua. We were travelling with Julian, the Country Director for Raleigh International, a British organisation working in the region.
Our first producer meeting of the trip was UCA Miraflor (Union de Cooperativas Agropecurias de Miraflor) a Union of agricultural [...]
Wear Fair
People and Planet, the UK’s largest student network, are urging more education institutions to deal ethically with producers. Their campaign ‘Wear Fair’ calls for students to encourage their schools, colleges and univerisites to source fairtrade cotton uniforms. Also as part of their campaign, they will be targeting a major supermarket retailer to increase the pressure [...]
Fairtrade in Amsterdam
I’ve just returned to work after an interrailing holiday round Europe. One of my stops was Holland, home to Max Havelaar, a Dutch fairtrade company. Max Havelaar was the first initiative, under the development agency Solidaridad, to launch a fairtrade label back in 1988. For more information see http://www.maxhavelaar.ch/en
Anyone planning a visit to Amsterdam could follow in [...]
Twit or Tweet?
It was only last Friday I was expressing my disdain for social networking. Bored of Facebook, and the idea of being ‘Facebook stalked’ by people who don’t know me, I wasn’t keen on the idea of signing myself up to anything else. But after our team’s New Media briefing I became enthused about Twitter and registered [...]
North East update by Ruth Taylor
I hope many of you enjoyed Fairtrade Fortnight, especially our ambassador challenges!
For the Shared Interest team the fortnight was just as hectic as we expected, but great fun. It was a good opportunity for me to meet many of you for the first time. Thanks to Margaret Dobson, Patsy Howe and Pat Wallace who ran [...]
Going Bananas in Bolton
On Monday 2nd March the Shared Interest team visited the Bolton Reebok Stadium, home of Bolton Wanderers FC for a day of fair trade activities.
At the daytime event, more than 1500 school children from the region came along to learn more about fair trade. Shared Interest’s Rachel Ngondo and Geoff Atkinson delivered a talk on [...]