What's New in Fair Trade and Trade Issues

Fair Trade Futures: Authenticity and Action

We're very excited about an upcoming conference we are helping to organise. Information below -- and special thanks to RISC (Reading International Solidarity Centre) -- it's through them that we are linking in to Partnership for Change!

Fair Trade Futures: Authenticity and Action

Saturday 7 November 2009

Said Business School, University of Oxford

 

A one-day conference looking at key issues for the future of Fair Trade:

 

• The Economics of Virtue: How can Fair Trade continue to grow in the mainstream without being captured by Big Business?

• Authenticity, Legitimacy and Certification: What makes Fair Trade authentically Fair Trade? How does it establish its legitimacy?

• Accountability and Impact: How can the voice of producers be more influential in the planning of Fair Trade strategy?

• Global Economic Trends and Sustainability: Dealing with the crisis - How the economic downturn is affecting Fair Trade.

• Fair Trade and Trade Agreements: What is the impact of bilateral and multilateral trade negotiations on Fair Trade? A case study: Fair Trade perspectives on Economic Partnership Agreements

 

Bringing together leading experts, including:

 

• Ian Barney, Managing Director of TWIN and TWIN Trading

• Sergi Corbalan, Coordinator of the Fair Trade Advocacy Office (Brussels)

• Timothy Davies, Founder, Practical Participation

• Mike Gidney, Deputy Director of the Fairtrade Foundation

• Louise Herring, Trade and Enterprise Manager of Comic Relief

• Joan Karanja, CEO of Cooperation for Fair Trade in Africa

• Dorothea Klein, Fair Tracing Project

• Safia Minney, Founder and CEO of People Tree

• Alex Nicholls, University Lecturer in Social Entrepreneurship, Skoll Centre, Said Business School, University of Oxford

• Carry Somers, founder and CEO of Pachacuti

• Mags Vaughan, Business Director of Traidcraft, plc

 

And offering participants a chance to take issues further in theoretical and practical “open space” discussions, as well as to share in a networking reception at the end of the day.

 

Saturday 7 November: 9.30 am - 5.00 pm (reception 5.00 to 6.00 pm)

Registration: Pippa.hichens@sbs.ox.ac.uk

Please register early to avoid disappointment as numbers are limited.

Free admission includes Conference attendance, tea and coffee, and drinks and refreshments at the reception. Lunch is not provided.

 

Conference Sponsors: Oxford Fair Trade Coalition; the Skoll Centre, Said Business School, University of Oxford; Christian Concern for One World; Partnership for Change

 

February/March 2009: Fairtrade Fortnight and the Big Brew

 Excuse me, sir, we've had a report that someone has . . . umm . . .gone bananas. . . Over 390,000 people in the UK and elsewhere "went bananas" for Fairtrade by eating a Fairtrade banana during 24 hours at the end of 2009's Fairtrade Fortnight. And Fair Trade campaigners and churches in our area were among them. From Abingdon (to whose Fair Trade group thanks for this picture) to Bicester, where the Fairtrade Town group gave out 1,000 bananas to passers-by doing Saturday shopping, to Kennington, to Milton Keynes to Oxford people drew attention to one of the key Fairtrade products. (Not to worry, by the way, about this picture. The police were enjoying the festivities, and the banana isn't -- if you'll forgive the pun -- rotting in jail. And if you think that pun was bad, check out what happened when the Abingdon town blog asked for captions for this photo!)

 

Abingdon, and others, didn't just go bananas, though. Around the three counties churches, Mothers' Union groups, schools and others held over 130 Big Brews -- promoting Fair Trade and furthering the mission of their particular group. Amazing stuff! The ever-creative Crowthorne Mothers' Union group (see right) held a very well attended showing of the sing-along version of  Mama Mia with Big Brew refreshments. The audience ranged in age from 4 to 89, and much enjoyment was had by all. The event also raised £237 for the Mothers' Union's Overseas Fund, which makes grants towards salary and travel grants for Mothers' Union workers, office equipment, transport conference and training events and projects around the world.  All Saints, Milton Keynes Village, which held a Big Brew and another Fairtrade coffee morning, also raised money for a good cause; they sent £84.40 to Traidcraft Exchange, the charitable arm of Traidcraft that helps Fairtrade producers to enter the market and improve their products.

The Reverend Rosemary and Michael Payne in the parish of Hedsor and Bourne End opened their home for a "Coffee Bean" (pictured left) on the morning of Friday, 27th February. Fairtrade drinks were served to about forty neighbours and parishioners who crowded in on a gloriously sunny day. Literature, a poster display, and a Fair Trade stall were all part of the action!

An event that proved popular given the proximity of Shrove Tuesday was the  pancake Big Brew. In the kitchen at St Michael and All Angels in Amersham Big Brew chefs flipped over 120 pancakes which were filled with savoury or Fairtrade honey, jam, or chocolate spread. The event was great fun, and tremendous outreach, in particular to mothers with young children, who in addition to the refreshments enjoyed making things out of playdough at an activity table. £85 profit went to the Fairtrade Foundation.  St Swithun's, Kennington, also had a successful pancake event, as well as a Fairtrade quiz and a raffle of Fairtrade products.

The parish of St. Mary's, Purley, near Reading, held a morning of festivities entitled "Any Brew Will Do." To enable people to see that "there's more to Fairtrade than coffee" they provided herbal teas, fruit juices, fruit smoothies and milkshakes. There was a very popular "Make your own Fruit 'n' Choc Kebab" table (pictured right) as well as home-made Fairtrade cakes and cookies. The piece de resistance? An appearance by the Purley Puppets (left) who explained how to make banana bread and did standup comedy, a West End hit, and a parody of a famous advert and TV show.

Many thanks to John, Margaret, Joy, Michael, Jan, Brenda and Pam for the information here, and to all who held events around the counties. Congratulations . . .  and onwards to 2010!

January 2009: Preparing for Fairtrade Fortnight and the Big Brew

The Big Brew is the largest Fairtrade Fortnight celebration in the Thames Valley. Sponsored nationally by Traidcraft and locally by number of organisations, including CCOW, Fair Trade in Oxfordshire, the Diocese of Oxford,the Mothers' Union and the Wessex Synod of the United Reformed Church, it consists of a variety of local events organised by churches and other groups that both promote Fair Trade and also allow outreach.

Any event can qualify as a "Big Brew" so long as

(a) Fairtrade beverages are served,
(b) the event is called a "Big Brew" and
(c) it is registered with the Big Brew organisers (download the registration forms below)

This flexibility means that churches can use the Big Brew as works best in their context, both to promote Fair Trade and to further their mission.

In 2008 over 150 churches, Mothers' Union groups, schools etc. in our area took part. One church had a "drop in" party for the village -- others have had pram services, special refreshments on a Sunday, garden parties . . . even a Mad Hatter's Tea Party!

This year, churches are encouraged to try something new and different -- both in terms of Fairtrade refreshments and events. What about Fairtrade cocoa and biscuits after evensong? Or a special party for children, with Fairtrade juice and fruit? A reading of Alexander McCall Smith's "No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency" books, with cups of Fairtrade Rooibos (Red Bush) tea?

To register, simply download the form at the end of this blog (scroll all the way down!) For further information about The Big Brew -- or to share your ideas for new and exciting events -- contact maranda@ccow.org.uk.

October 2008: New Products, New Developments, Fairtrade and the Recession

New Products

• Fair Trade Clergy Shirts -- A long time coming, but finally here. The shirts are not only made of Fairtrade cotton, but are manufactured in East Africa by a reputable Fair Trade manufacturer, ensuring that there is value added within a developing country as well. To see the shirts and find out more, click here.
• The 300th Fairtrade chocolate product was certified in October. To find out more about it, and to learn about escalating Fairtrade cocoa sales, click here.

New Developments

• The Fairtrade Labelling Organisation [FLO] has recently established a new system of regional minimum prices for Fairtrade cotton. The new system both raises the price per kilo by an average of 24% over the old minimum and enables a far wider range of countries to participate. To find out more, click here. Fair Trade in cotton is particularly vital, as US subsidies have rendered it almost impossible for many developing country small cotton producers to receive fair remuneration under the conventional trading system.

• IFAT, the International Fair Trade Association, is creating a new label for certified Fair Trade Organisations (such as, in the UK, Traidcraft, Tearcraft, CafeDirect or Divine Chocolate). This label would enable FTOs to show that products for which there are no FLO standards and which cannot, therefore, display the Fairtrade Mark, are, nonetheless, produced under Fair Trade conditions. The draft standards are available on the IFAT website.
• IFAT -- which is changing from the International Fair Trade Association to the World Fair Trade Organization -- has put together the FT100 . . . a list of organisations that are 100% committed to Fair Trade. Browse the list and click on websites of Fair Trade Organisations here.

Fairtrade and the Recession

• Fairtrade coffee sales are holding steady, according to a recent Reuters article. To find out more, click here.

July 2008 : A Selection of What's New and Interesting

Responding to Fair Trade Controversies

Various people have recently published responses to the February 2008 Adam Smith Institute report "Unfair Trade" and to commonly posed objections to Fair Trade.

• The Fairtrade Foundation has a brief response to "Unfair Trade" . . .
• And also a longer sheet addressing accusations that Fairtrade promotes oversupply . . . and questions about its environmental credentials . . .
• And (not new, but still interesting) a paper by Alex Nicholls arguing that Fairtrade is a market response to hostile market conditions for producers
• A much more detailed response to the Adam Smith Institute work comes from Alastair Smith of the Centre for Business Relationships, Accountability, Sustainability and Society at Cardiff University, who has written "A Response to the Adam Smith Report & a New Way to Think about Measuring the Content of the Fair Trade Cup."
• Mark Hayes, principal founder and managing director of Shared Interest, and now a Senior Research Fellow in economics at Cambridge, has this year written "A comment on the economics of Fair Trade," which offers theoretical responses to the critiques that suggest that Fair Trade is "second-best" to aid, may impose losses on non-Fair Trade producers, and maintains inefficient means of production. His website on "The Economics of Fair Trade" also has a "plain English" guide that covers much of the same area.

The Challenges Facing Fair Trade

As Fair Trade grows and becomes increasingly mainstream, what are some of the challenges it faces?

• Catherine Dolan's article "High Tea," in the Spring '08 Oxford in Business looks at some of the questions surrounding the way the Fairtrade process works in Kenyan tea fields.
• Tim Davies, who works as a freelance consultant on youth participation and thinks a lot about the social power of new technologies, asks "What would Fair Trade 2.0 look like," focusing on how Fair Trade could make better connections between people buying and people producing.
• What happens to Fair Trade in an economic downturn? This article from The Yorkshire Post asks the question . . .

Supply Chains

Traidcraft, which is unique in being both company and charity, has a reputation for serious, well-grounded research into supply chain issues. Their May 2008 report, Taking the Lead: A guide to more responsible procurement practices, was written in conjunction with the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply, and offers a model of how businesses can best think about ethical supply chains. Taking the Lead, together with earlier reports on ethical sourcing can be downloaded here.

The Doha Round

It's creeping under the radar slightly, but there is a critical period of negotiation going on -- a "mini-ministerial" in an attempt to cobble together an agreement on the Doha Round.

As ever, the best material on this is to be found on the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) website; they're doing a daily update that replaces their normal weekly bulletin. Alan Beattie, of the Financial Times, is also always worth reading in this area; click here for his article on 24 July. One of the areas hindering an agreement centres on the perennially vexed topic of bananas; read this article from Reuters to get an overview of the dispute, and this article from the Jamaica Gleaner to get one Caribbean perspective.