Industry News
World Fair Trade Day 2010
Following the success of Fairtrade Fortnight and the ‘Big Swap’ another opportunity to celebrate all that is fair trade is just around the corner. World Fair Trade Day (WFTD) which takes place on Saturday 8th May is organised by the World Fair Trade Organisation and is celebrated by fair trade conscious citizens, organisations, communities and [...]
Panorama: Chocolate – The Bitter Truth
Panorama: Chocolate – The Bitter Truth As Easter approaches and sales of chocolate increase, so does concern about the ongoing problem of child labour in the cocoa industry. Recent programs in Switzerland, Germany and Denmark have taken a closer look at the cocoa industry and where our chocolate comes from. On 24 March, the BBC [...]
Mainstreaming Fairtrade – The Great Debate
Regardless of which side of the debate you may fall, Stephanie’s conclusion summed it up nicely: In the end, perhaps the way forward is for Fairtrade supporters and campaigners to pledge that, no matter what products and companies carry the FAIRTRADE Mark, our role should always be to press for more.
Social Responsibility in Banking: An Oxymoron?
Last night this was the hot question at CABE’s annual Hugh Kay lecture. John Varley of Barclays addressed the question and through this and the following conversation it was concluded that this is not an oxymoron. The lecture began by addressing the concept that circumstances present choices but choices must be made responsibly. I believe [...]
Its time for Fairtrade 2.0
This is taken from a lively fair trade discussion with some of my fair trade Twitter friends: @angryafrican @Kon_Ioannidis @otherdiscovery @gentlemandad @fairtradelu @rhyminsimon Here are some things that I believe. Business will always act in its own self interest – profit driven. Therefore the onus is on the consumer to dictate what is in business’ [...]
Fairtrade Foundation Supporter Conference
There was an excited ‘buzz’ on Saturday at the Fairtrade Foundation’s Supporter Conference. The announcement that DFID have given £12million pounds to the Fairtrade Foundation started the conference off with a bang. This finance, which will be used to support fair trade producers in achieving fair trade status, was announced by Douglas Alexander to a [...]
South-South Trade – A new mission for Fair Trade
One issue within Fair Trade which is becoming increasingly more important is that of South-South Trade. Fair Trade has achieved a great amount over the past few decades in terms of creating a more level playing field for the producers of a variety of goods from coffee to crafts. However, currently that playing field still leaves [...]
Christmas Shopping for Fair Trade way to trade
Support of fair trade is even more important when we want to challenge the financial and market based society which helped us to the current position. If we are looking for a better way to do business and to conduct trade there must be a lot already good in fair trade we can learn from.
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 [...]
Investing in Fair Trade Versus Donor Aid
Wainaina maintains that “the single thing that has changed the lives of millions of Kenyans in the last ten or fifteen years has been the rearrangement of the banking capital to serve the small Kenyan….the micro-lending banks, scaling up the idea that somebody who earns a thousand shillings a month is bankable and someone to invest in and be able to create a model for that person to acquire credit in a reasonable way and grow, that has mattered more than a donor or all of the donor things, because it believes in the idea that the person on the ground has an idea and that idea can be serviced.”