Fairtrade news and views from around the web

Here in Ghana it's common, especially among those who speak Akan, to be called by the day of the week on which you were born. So today I learnt that, as I was born on a Tuesday, my Ghanaian name is Abena. What's yours? Find out the day you were born  here  and then check out your Ghanaian name  here .   So, Abena was how I introduced myself to the small community of Mensakrom, who greeted us in turn with vibrant music and singing, as well as a taste of their local palm wine. Mensakrom is one of the 1400 village societies that make up Ghana's foremost Fairtrade co-operative,  Kuapa Kokoo . Kuapa is well known to many Fairtraders as...

Wow, this vintage and Fairtrade fortnight went by so fast. Here is a tiny post of the outfits I wore...

As Fair Trade fashion pioneers we love anything that makes wearing clothes ethically inspiring. So of cause we love anything vintage!

The new collection is bursting with a great mixture of essential autumn/winter pieces that will have you in whirl!

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The Rebecca dress - a fabulous floral vintage style dress, essential for your Autumn wardrobe!

When I'm travelling, my name Barbara is very apt, because it means stranger or foreigner. On my first day in Ghana, I met another body that is truly living up to its name - the Akoma Cooperative Multipurpose Society. Akoma means heart - and this enterprising group of women have plenty of that. Akoma specialises in the gathering and processing of organic shea nuts into butter - you can find them in Akoma's own raw organic butter and soaps, as well as Visionary Soap Company products and Bulldog moisturiser in the UK. I've never seen a shea tree before - inside a green fruit (looks like a hard plum), there's a smooth shelled nut, and inside that the kernel that produ...

A couple of hours outside Nairobi, we turn off the tarmac road onto a bumpy rough track. A long way further on, lurching around ruts and deep puddles, we pull up outside a small wooden hut where three old farmers have gathered to meet us. These are outgrowers, who grow green beans on their small plots with considerable support from the exporter Homegrown. In the hut, they show us the rough aluminium tray running down one side on which they sort out their beans. While the hut may be simple, the quality control is strict; if a bean bends too much, out it goes. The beans must be straight as a seargeant-major's back - and as unblemished. Once sorted, they are stored in a small lean-to which is a...

Just in the nick of time, the website is finished! http://www.fairtradeafrica.net/ Great timing as the AFN (Fairtrade Africa) were facilitating consultations on the New Standards Framework during the last week of July. I managed to highjack the agenda for 10 minutes to give a quick overview for the producers about their new website. They are particularly excited about the prospect of traders being able to access the new product catalogue and pleased to see that they will be able to edit their own profiles and have a page to directly market their business. Next job is to ensure traders are aware of it.... that sounds like a job to do back here in London!

If Tambuzi flower farm is one of the newest to join Fairtrade, Panda is one of the most established, their Joint Body famous for their proud record of investing their premium. It's no wonder that so many Joint Bodies on other farms go to visit Panda to get ideas and inspiration. They have built a 'Posho Mill', outside which workers are queueing to buy the subsidized maize. On the notice board an official letter has been signed and pinned up: 'Due to the global financial crisis and rising costs, the Joint Body is pleased to announce that we will be subsidizing maize......' In the line we meet Sarah Njaeri, a single mother who works in the green houses and whose boy,  Alan, is now in...

Sometimes, reality disappoints our expectations. Not so Tambuzi flower farm , in Kenya's central Highlands, which is everything a flower farm should be. You are greeted on arrival by a gentle purple swathe of lavender, next to the green patch of mint and with bubbly warmth by the chatty owners, Maggie in a blue flowery dress and her husband Tim, who as we walk is constantly plucking off buds for us to smell the different sweet scents. In among the rows of roses, the supervisor sports a wonderful tall, white bonnet with an extravagant bow - which would win her first prize in the Easter bonnet competition and would look at home in a Caribbean Sunday church outing. She has gathered the worke...

The first ever regional website dedicated to Fairtrade has launched. In a collaboration between more than 20 Fairtrade Town groups and over 600 supportive businesses in the South West, the South West Fairtrade website went live today, proving that the South West is a leading region for Fairtrade in the UK. The site , designed by ethical web designers, Green Hat, and sponsored by the South West Regional Improvement and Efficiency Partnership and the Co-operative membership, provides Fairtrade shopping information, good practise ideas and news and events from across the region. You can also find your closest Fairtrade campaign group and get involved with action and events in your a...

Leaked report says wealthy investors are threatening local resources as they buy up farmland to gain on commodity prices A leaked World Bank report into investors from rich nations buying up African farmland has intensified campaigners' fears that the growing trend is marginalising local producers. After a spate of investments in African land by sovereign wealth funds looking for gains on rising commodity prices and by countries such as China worried about their own food security, the World Bank launched research into the area. Its report is due to be published next month, but a draft copy leaked to the Financial Times painted a picture of largely speculative investment badly lacking...

Ever been shopping in Asda , picked up a bunch of beautiful Fairtrade roses and wondered where they came from? Well there's a good chance that they were grown at Valentine Roses, just an hour or so outside Nairobi, depending on the state of the traffic jams. The Joint Body members who show me around are the most enthusiastic that I have ever met in my long Fairtrade life! The Vice Chair, Florence Onyango, says she loves her job: 'Working with flowers is everything to me'. Everyone agrees that 'Having a job in Kenya is a privilege'. The workers here, she says, were all scared during the volcanic ash week when no flowers could be sold. When we go over to their new tree nursery, the unbelie...

Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, who created their ice cream company with a difference, always say 'If it isn't fun, don't do it'. For the 25,000 people attending this year's Ben & Jerry Sundae on the Common , that's certainly true as it tests just how far you can stretch an insatiable appetite for free ice cream whilst simultaneously challenging you to toe wrestling, carousel rides and sack races. This year, there was a real Fairtrade twist to the whole festival which literally went Nuts about Fairtrade, as a celebration of the company's commitment to go 100% Fairtrade across all 39 flavours and 121 different chunks, swirls and ingredients across Europe by the end...

Smaller fair-trade tea co-operatives in the Western Cape choose wild rooibos to beat climate change and large-scale growers Watch Henrietta Lovell enjoy the slow life on a farmstay in the Cederberg mountains, north of Cape Town When rooibos, South Africa's naturally caffeine-free tea, made the jump from health food store to supermarket staple it provided a lifeline for a small group of indigenous farmers. Then drought and the entry of commercial growers into the market threatened them with ruin. But they are fighting back by planting wild rooibos. George Kotze's great, great, great- grandparents were among the first farmers to grow rooibos tea in South Africa's wild and desolate We...

It really is all over. On Cape Town High Streets, the workmen are taking down the endless football-themed lights; the kids are back to school after a special extra month's holiday to watch the matches and when we go to Fair View vineyard they declare 'Beat the Post-World Cup depression, buy this wine.' But the vineyards are far from depressed. It seems that the World Cup has given a welcome boost to South African wines overseas. Until now, they say, many people in the West had no idea that South Africa was a distinct country from Southern Africa. In fact, they've all been killing themselves over a foreign TV news programme which had the World Cup emblem all over South America! Fair View is ...

Cape Town has to be the coolest city on earth. I am staying at the Daddy Long Legs Hotel which is part of a Fair trade in tourism scheme, so the coffee's good. Each room has been decorated by a local artist. I am staying in 'Open' next to 'Please do not disturb' and 'Phone Booth'. My room is wallpapered with hundreds of photos of African sun-rises and has a round bed on the floor. It makes you feel like a model or a movie star, except that there are also mirrors everywhere on the walls and ceilings offering a painful reminder that I definitely am not and never could be. A short way from the centre of Cape Town is a painful reminder that it's not all 'chilaxing' and trendy art. Khayelits...

o Commodity speculators push cocoa to 33-year high o Bets 'risk the most vulnerable in the world starving' Financial speculators have come under renewed fire from anti-poverty campaigners for their bets on food prices, blamed for raising the costs of goods such as coffee and chocolate and threatening the livelihoods of farmers in developing countries. The World Development Movement (WDM) will issue a damning report today on the growing role of hedge funds and banks in the commodities markets in recent years, during which time cocoa prices have more than doubled, energy prices have soared and coffee has fluctuated dramatically. The charity's demands for the British financial watch...

Today we met up with Mkhululi, the widely respected regional coordinator for Southern Africa. With him we go to visit Fairhills , whose wines you can enjoy in the Coop and who have used the premium to run a creche, among much, much more. On the way Mkhululi tells us that the joke doing the rounds in South Africa is: If only England had won! That way, given the fuss they still make about the last time England won, they would have talked about the World Cup in South Africa for the next 50 years, which would have been good for us... It is shocking and inspiring to talk to the people at Fairhills . Shocking to learn that it was only in 1996 that white South African wine farmers finally sto...

South Africa is slowly waking up from its long football party. There are fewer fans prancing the streets in bright colours, vast television screens are being taken down and the vuvuzela sellers are trying to shift their remaining stock. Mind you, one shopkeeper tells me that he sold 700 yesterday as departing fans snapped up the year's most popular present! Apparently Vuvuzela has been voted the word of the 2010 World Cup by global linguists who said that the tournament will be best remembered for the naem of South Africa's trumpet. Meanwhile, in a post-party reflective mood, the papers are full of articles such as in today's (13.7.10) Times: 'The World Cup has accustomed us to achieving g...

Fairtrade Garstang's Chairperson Ruth Bruce talks about preperations for this weekend's Big Lunch.  On Sunday the 18th July at 1.00pm, the group behind Garstang Fairtrade Town will once again be celebrating the Big Lunch. This year we're hoping for clear skies to go with family fun in Cherestanc Square, just outside Booths in Garstang, Lancashire. As with last year, we'll be celebrating people, food and fun, bringing our community together and celebrating the communities behind our fresh fruit, cola and chocolate by choosing Fairtrade. Come join us and bring your picnic to our picnic! We'll bring the music and plenty of Fairtrade themed fun including al fresco snakes and ladder...

Anxiety over the march of deregulated markets has driven a forceful ethical movement, which must not be sacrificed Currently seen as an inalienable right, abundant, low-cost food in Europe and America required policymakers, food companies, agri-giants and supermarket bosses to sign a pact that has had stark consequences for billions of people and the environment. Once the post-second world war policy objective was met that prioritised security of supply triggering lavish government subsidies to farmers, a new phase began: taking the inflationary sting out of food. It is why governments, particularly in the UK and the US, permitted the proliferation of giant supermarkets. Today in Brit...

Next day, we drive miles to visit groups of tea farmers. On the way Amos, who works for Fairtrade Africa, tells me about the Government's problems getting to grips with malaria. In one area, they gave out free mosquito nets - only to find the farmers used them to protect vegetables in their small garden plots or to create runs for their chickens! At Michimimkuru, which luckily is nicknamed Michi as otherwise my tongue was twisted, we meet Captain Andrew Ethuru, who sits on their Premium Committee and on the Board of the dedicated Fairtrade company, Cafedirect .  Although their tea is sold to a wide range of companies' Fairtrade products from Asda to M&S, he  is effusive in p...

To mark ten years of the Fairtrade Town in the UK Simon Rawles interviewed some of the local campaigners who have helped drive one of the most successful grassroots movements in modern history

Fair trade is growing fast with ever more Fairtrade towns that promote ethical shopping and even twin with their producer communities When a group of residents declared Garstang in Lancashire a Fairtrade town 10 years ago, few imagined it was the start of a grassroots social movement that would sweep throughout the UK and beyond. "Our aim was simply to get people to help make trade fairer for farmers from developing countries," says Garstang campaigner Bruce Crowther. "We never dreamed that we would inspire people around the world to campaign within their communities to make people's shopping habits more ethical." A decade on, the Fairtrade Foundation is set to crown the UK's 500t...

It's been quite a week in Nairobi, Kenya. Watching the pennies, I've been staying at the Seventh Day Adventists guest house where there's no tea or coffee on offer at breakfast - though strangely hot chocolate is, even though it must be a stimulant too. Then I've been spending all day with tea and coffee farmers - which is stimulating enough to keep me going for weeks. We visit a group of coffee smallholders at Machakos, less than two hours from Nairobi. Yet they have no electricity in their area which is very poor - so poor in fact that only two years ago they faced famine. The Chairman of the Kaliluni group explains: 'Two years running there was a drought and so the crops failed. It was ...

The Fairtrade Foundation Executive Director catches up with the Co-operative's chairman to learn more about its work. Amid the muddy red earth of a Kenyan farm, stands a modest wooden meeting room full of the coffee farmers who sit on their cooperative's management Committees. But there is nothing modest about the trophy cabinet on the wall. It is bulging with cups and trophies that the cooperative has won: the second best cooperative in the whole of Kenya; the best managed coop in the District, the best loan recovery record, the highest payment rates to farmers... it's a proud record. I've come to spend time in Africa, to listen to the Fairtrade farmers and workers and to the dy...

 A couple of weeks ago I had the chance to go on a field trip with Amos, the AFN regional co-ordinator for Eastern Africa. Kaliluni is a very small coffee co-operative located just outside of Machakos, a town about 2 hours from Nairobi. We got terribly lost trying to find it, being hidden deep in the hillside, but the view once we found it was well worth the wait. We were lucky enough to arrive just as all the coffee was being delivered. Streams and streams of people carrying red cherries in sacks on their backs kept walking past us. The place was brimming with people sorting, washing and weighing their coffee cherries; an amazing sight. Amos and I had a tour of th...

Rising demand from emerging markets and more biofuel production are not the principal reasons for the increase in food prices ( Report , 16 June), nor are there global shortages. In fact, global demand is stable and aggregate consumption in India and China is down. However, it has been estimated that between 2006 and 2008 food prices went up by 141%. This is a result of speculation on Wall Street following the deregulation of the US commodity futures market in 2000. Financial institutions have made huge gains by gambling on the prices of basic foodstuffs, with catastrophic implications for the world's poor. Despite the obvious need to address the distortions caused by speculation and gre...

After 5 municipalities in Upper Austria the first FAIRTRADE City was awarded with the title "FAIRTRADE Town" on the 23rd of April 2010 by the members of the provincial government Dr. Stockinger and Mr. Anschober on behalf of Federal Land Upper Austria. Due to the support of the Federal Land Upper Austria, Südwind Upper Austria (a [...]

FAIRTRADE Austria and the Federal Land Lower Austria are pleased about the commitment of Amstetten for FAIRTRADE. Amstetten decides to use FAIRTRADE products on a local level.For this reason Michaela Hinterholzer, Member of the Lower Austrian Parliament, on behalf of Provincial Governor Dr. Erwin Pröll, and Traude Novy from FAIRTRADE Austria awarded Amstetten with the title [...]

The shopkeeper of the local coffeehouse "s'Kipferl" in Gablitz, Reinhard Eggner, had a special idea to promote FAIRTRADE: "Test-Weeks for FAIRTRADE-coffee". All customers are invited to taste FAIRTRADE coffee and vote if they would like to enjoy FAIRTRADE coffee in the future. The idea is realised in cooperation with the FAIRTRADE-Town Gablitz. Also the sports club [...]

Growing demand from emerging markets and for biofuel production will send prices soaring, according to the OECD and the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation Food prices are set to rise as much as 40% over the coming decade amid growing demand from emerging markets and for biofuel production, according to a United Nations report today which warns of rising hunger and food insecurity. Farm commodity prices have fallen from their record peaks of two years ago but are set to pick up again and are unlikely to drop back to their average levels of the past decade, according to the annual joint report from Paris-based thinktank the OECD and the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) . Th...

Gordon Roddick and his wife Anita pioneered the concept of fair trade when they started the Body Shop in 1976. He went on to found the Big Issue, which now provides microloans for those on low incomes, and was a driving force behind Fairtrade chocolate Divine. Meet the eco champion who brought a sense of conscience to the British high street... In the early 1970s, when Gordon Roddick was in his thirties, he and his wife Anita ran a restaurant in Littlehampton. Every night when they closed up they would move the blackboard into the window, scrub out the menu and pose a question: why, for instance, was the local council paying so much for the curtains in its new building? "Whatever pissed ...

The founder of People Tree and fairtrade fashion pioneer on elasticated flares, shirts the price of a sandwich, and wearing plastic shoes 1 Fashion was important to me from a young age. I remember the outfit I wore to go to my first disco in Berkshire, where I grew up. I danced like an idiot to "Red Light Spells Danger" wearing elasticated high-waisted flares, a polo neck and a pair of wedges. 2 I worked at the local market in my early teens and really loved charity shops and car-boot sales. At 17, in my first job in London, I'd spend my tiny salary on clothing that other people didn't want - I really developed my eye for fabric and print then. 3 Clothing production plays a huge p...

Join the conference at the Dortmund Westfalenhalle, Germany, on 24th September 2010. The final conference of the Public Affairs project aims at presenting the key outputs of the project's research and successful initiatives by committed local and regional authorities. The conference will also set the state of play of Fair Trade Public Procurement (FTPP) in Europe, [...]

For the first time the Football World Cup takes place in Africa. This occasion arises the opportunity to communicate awareness for football as a global phenomenon, which also plays a decisive role in the development cooperation.    For this reason students of two Lower Austrian schools organised a Fair Football match in front of the federal government [...]

FAIRTRADE Austria and the Federal Land Lower Austria are pleased about the commitment of Rabenstein an der Pielach to FAIRTRADE.Rabenstein an der Pielach decides to use FAITRADE-products in their public procurement. For this reason Dr. Martin Michalitsch, Member of the Lower Austrian Parliament, and Thomas Wackerlig from FAITRADE Austria awarded Rabenstein an der Pielach, on [...]

In 2006 Sweden launched the new concept Fairtrade City, where Malmo and Munkfors were the first to be qualified and received the diploma. Today there are more than thirty Fairtrade Cities in Sweden and several more are following. Every second municipality in Sweden has in one way or another started the process to become a Fairtrade [...]

I thought it about time I gave you all a little update on things with the AFN - it has been a while. The office moved from Moshi, Tanzania to Nairobi, Kenya a few weeks ago. Things have been a little hectic setting up our new work space but we are getting there. The office is a nice shiny new building where we have 2 rooms - one will be a board room, one our workspace. At the moment these only have our desks in it and some new Fairtrade tea towels from London dotted around (like them!), but the design plans look pretty good so I hope it will be finished before I leave. I must say that it is a stark change of pace of life from Moshi to Nairobi. There's no view of Kili out of my windo...

Aurelie Walker is the Trade Policy Advisor at Fairtrade Foundation In his interview with the Today programme on Radio 4 yesterday morning David Cameron's fleeting reference to concluding the Doha Round of trade negotiations in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) as a stimulus to growth in the Eurozone roused little excitement in the interviewer.  However, for those working to cushion developing countries from the negative effects of trade liberalisation, ears pricked up.  Cameron rightly pointed out concluding the Round is a complicated matter. He is clearly well briefed on the intricacies of commercial diplomacy.  The intricacies of international development ma...

Annette Muller is the Video Officer at the Fairtrade Foundation Next week I will be visiting some Fairtrade farmers in Malawi. As you can imagine I'm pretty excited. Yet there's so much to plan so I have to say I'm also a bit tired and slightly stressed making sure as much as possible is in place! But of course, overall I am very excited. This visit will continue research for a new project to increase the opportunity for farmers to tell their own stories to us here in the UK. Earlier this year I, along with workmate Richard, visited Malawi and spent an afternoon at Kasinthula Cane Growers in the Chikwawa region - a hot and humid district coloured by brown dirt and referred to by some as th...

M&S becomes the first UK retailer to stock Fairtrade-certified vegetables with green beans from Kenya first to go on sale Marks & Spencer became the first UK retailer to launch Fairtrade Foundation-certified vegetables , after two years of negotiations with the certifying body. As well as helping consumers ease their consciences, the retailer says the move will create new opportunities to invest in community projects for hundreds of small farmers in Kenya. The first vegetables to go on sale will be green beans, although M&S hopes these will be swiftly followed by other varieties of beans and fresh peas including mangetout, snow peas, sugarsnap and garden peas, all from Kenya. It ...

Leichhardt Council also celebrates Fair Trade Fortnight by becoming a Fair Trade Council. Adelaide City Council has become the country's first Fair Trade Capital City and has joined Fremantle City Council in becoming Australia's first two Fair Trade Cities, the Fair Trade Association of Australia & New Zealand (FTAANZ) has announced. Alongside this exciting development, FTAANZ [...]

The European Parliament issues a clear call to action in today’s report "New developments in public procurement" as it renews pressure on the European Commission (EC) to support Fair Trade Public Procurement. The Fair Trade movement applauds the Parliament’s adoption and waits for results from the Commission. The European Parliament (EP) “Calls on the Commission to [...]

Simon Howlett is a volunteer of Fairtrade Foundation's Supporter Marketing Services It will be a lie to say that the weather was excellent for those three days of the festival. That the weather was fantastic and everyone was in T-shirts complaining about the heat. In actually fact it was cold, windy and the sky looked like it had woken up on the wrong side of bed. However being a happy bunch of Fairtrade staff and volunteers, we didn't let this get us down. We drank coffee from the CaféDirect stall, had Fairtrade mulled wine from the bar (when we had finished our duties of course) and listened to the live music coming from the stage. We were they to promote Fairtrade as well as to cele...

How did other Fairtrade Foundation staff get their chops round the newest Fairtrade product - boston beans from Kenya -last night? Gemma and her husband Dave enjoyed theirs in a stirfry with noodles and Liberation's Fairtrade cashews and peanuts - it was yummy, and Dave said 'it tastes better because it's ethical'. Jenny munched them steamed and added to a curry accompanied by Fairtrade rice, with leftovers for today's lunch. For pudding, Fairtrade icecream. It was Cream o' Galloway if you're interested. 'Er, there are no pictures - I was too hungry.' Meanwhile, John was busy cooking for the family. Here's his run through of proceedings: "Preparing supper started on the 17.54 fr...

Tony Wright's the Digital Marketing Officer at Fairtrade Foundation. With great excitement last night, I rushed home via the supermarket to check out the all new Fairtrade certified boston beans that went on sale. After flicking through a few cook books to see what I could do, I decided I'd stick by my own curry recipe of coconut curry, but this time round, throw the new Fairtrade product category into the mix. An easy and straight forward recipe, this coconut curry's a great way to enjoy a great range of Fairtrade products all at once. From the gentle crunch of Fairtrade cashew nuts suggested by my colleague Emma, to the creamy coconut sauce, it's filled with nutrients and if you can must...

Europe's trade policy has sold the Caribbean banana industry down the river, exacerbating drug trafficking and poverty Today, EU leaders and their counterparts from Colombia and Peru will strike lucrative trade agreements spanning financial services, industry and agriculture - the first between the EU and any Latin American nation since 2003. The EU's attention will then focus on securing similar deals with the mighty Latin American Mercosur bloc that includes Brazil and Argentina. Another example of the power of globalisation to generate wealth? Maybe, but there is a less rosy side to the seemingly inevitable victory march of trade liberalisation. As European business interests rea...

May 6, 2010 At a council meeting this morning, Vancouver City Council passed a motion to endorse an application to become a Fair Trade Town, which has made Vancouver the first major city in Canada to achieve this status. Jeff Geipel, Executive Director of Fair Trade Vancouver, says the Fair Trade Town requirements were mostly completed before [...]

7 May 2010 (Brussels) - As hundreds of thousands of citizens join in World Fair Trade Day celebrations, the Fair Trade movement calls on the European Commission to move from words to action.  The EU institutions have made positive policy statements and communications on Fair Trade in the last year.  Today, the Fair Trade movement calls for concrete results: Fair Trade and Fair Trade principles integrated across EU policies.  "We welcome the EU Institutions' confirmation of Fair Trade's role of in sustainable development and supporting marginalised producers and workers in the South. It is however time to move from words to action - and no better occasion than World Fair T...

On Saturday 24th April the people of Garstang, Lancashire celebrated 10 years as the world's first Fairtrade Town. This small market town with a population of just 5,000 has given rise to a grassroots movement made up of 480 Fairtrade Towns in the UK and a total of over 800 in 19 countries worldwide, including cities such as London, Paris, Rome Copenhagen and San Francisco. Over 100 guests attended what was a truly international celebration with over 50 congratulatory messages from the nearby Fairtrade city of Lancaster to the largest Fairtrade City of London; from Jersey to Japan looking East and Belgium to Brazil looking West. Unfortunately the volcanic ash cloud filling the UK airspace ...

Jewelleries  from Sahayak Blue earrings JE-010 £8.00 Jade & Pearl bracelet JBE-01 £15.00 Marbled beads bracelet JB-07 £7.00 Purple earrings JE-09 £8.00 Shell & Onyx Bracelet set JBE-04 £15.00 Spiral earrings JE-012 £8.00 Turquiose earrings JE-012 £8.00 Turquoise necklace JN-08 £8.00

Signatures (in alphabetic order) Agustín Espinosa (Director of the Iberoamerican General Secretariat, facilitator of the Iberoamerican Summit) Ainhoa Arteta (Opera Singer, Spain) Andalusian Fund of Municipalities for International Solidarity Andrés Ocaña (Major, Cordoba, Spain) Ángel Viveros Gutiérrez (Major, Coslada, Spain) Antonio Gringo (Musician, Brazil) Antonio Sánchez Villaverde (Member of the Spanish Spanish Parliament) Antonio Zurita Contreras (PNUD International Advisor. ART Initiative) Association romande des Magasins du Monde (ASRO), Switzerland Basirat Nahibi Otunba (President/Founder, Women Advancement fo...

Sarah Brown tells of her passion for fair trade and reveals some of the prime minister's kitchen habits The first time I went to Gordon's house in Scotland he said I had four choices for dinner: poached eggs, fried eggs, boiled eggs or omelette. I made a mental note to make friends with the people who run the award-winning fish and chip shop nearby. Since then I've discovered that so much of what brings people back to Fife again and again is the glorious local produce. The monthly farmers' market in Kirkcaldy attracts people from all over and the queue at the Puddledub Farm stall for the apple sausages and smoked back bacon is ridiculous but worth the wait. Thankfully Gordon is a sign...

Having been in a fair trade business for the last few years.People often asked if we have actually made a difference to our producer partners by trading with them.I always like to stress the fact that we can all make a difference by choosing to buy or sell fair trade goods.Sometimes buying a small fair trade item might feel like a small drop in the ocean,But remember its the small drops that can make a mighty ocean.I'll leave you with this poem:   Little drops of water  Little grains of sand Make the mighty ocean  And the beauteous land Little deeds of kindness,  Little words of love,  Make our earth an Eden,  Like the heaven above And the little moments,  Humb...

Candles Handmade in India by Vetri Malar Women Production Group ( Women affected by Tsunami from Cuddalore Tamil Nadu India ) Berry candles C-02 £4.75 Diyas candles C-03 £4.75 Lighten up candles C-04 £4.75 Lighten up tea light candles C-01 £4.75

Fabulous Organic Cotton Bedding Made from SKAL certified organic cotton, Our range of luxurious bedding are made from 200 thread count weave which gives it a smooth and soft finish.  Hand block printed    using non azo dyes. Organic Cotton bedding-Paisley duos OCB-04 £55.00 Organic Cotton bedding-Paisley Pink OCB-02 £55.00 Organic Cotton bedding-Paisley blue Paisley blue £55.00 Organic Cotton bedding-Paisley brown OCB-03 £55.00

Vermont's finest double discuss American pie, greenwash and giving Unilever some sticky moments Ben Cohen, one half of Ben & Jerry's, is recalling the time he got in trouble with the bosses at Unilever, which bought the ice-cream maker in 2000. Coca-Cola had just taken a stake in Innocent drinks, a small British maker of smoothies with a reputation for being a socially responsible business. A British reporter called to get Cohen's opinion. He, after all, had a similar experience. Ben & Jerry's , which had been founded in the liberal US state of Vermont in the 1970s, was the prototype hippy business-with-a-conscience, promoting liberal causes on the lids of its tubs, giving a percentag...

Hand Block Printing India has always been renowned   for its printed and dyed cotton since the 12th century. The unique art of hand block   printing employs skilfully hand carved wooden blocks to print designs or patterns on a fabric by hand. Hand block printing though a simple process requires a lot of skills and expertise. The process is   painstaking and time consuming, but the result is always unique and beautiful. The wooden Block: Blocks used for block printing are made out of wood and hand carved by skilled crafts men. The blocks called 'bunta' come in various designs and sizes. The underside of the block has a design etched on it. Each block has ...

Will a cuppa taste better if it's Fairtrade or Rainforest Alliance? Plus can yeast be frozen, and where can I buy jumbo Medjools? I'm confused by the labelling on tea and coffee. Is it better to buy Fairtrade , where workers get a fair price, or Rainforest Alliance , which I assume means rainforests aren't cut down to grow the product? Does RA mean workers get fair pay, too? Shopping is a nightmare for the ethically minded these days, and it's virtually impossible to square the virtuous circle. For example, so much organic food for sale in the UK is sourced elsewhere; how do we reconcile that with the environmental damage caused by bringing it here? But then, if we don't buy food...

If your business is looking to promote itself, you should consider using Fair Trade items.  Fair Trade is aimed at helping people in developing countries by paying a good price to the producers while removing the profit reducing middlemen.  This results in Fair Trade workers and producers enjoying a better quality of life and fairer treatment.    All items produced under the Fair Trade brand must meet the following minimum criteria:    Workers received a minimum wage for their labour. Workers are provided with adequate housing, where appropriate. Fair Trade producers employed minimum standards for health and safety. Ethical stance on the environment...

WFTO Statement on International Women's Day, 8 March 2010  The WFTO celebrates International Women's Day with all women.  We celebrate because more and more women are taking active roles in improving their conditions and contributing to the overall development agenda.  But this occasion also reminds us that there is still a long struggle ahead.  The global picture of women today is dismal despite achievements in the struggle for gender equity.  Latest data show women continue to be discriminated against in global labour markets, have less access to basic services and that violence against women is still a painful reality.

Artists from around the globe are joining World Fair Trade Day celebration.  We are proud to announce the support of the Brazilian musician Antonio Gringo, Asia's award winning actress and environmental advocate Chin-Chin Gutiérrez, the mythical Spanish pop singer Luz Casal, the world-renown recitalist and Spanish opera singer Ainhoa Arteta and Spanish rock star Joaquin Padilla of the Iguana Tango group. 

WFTO congratulates ASARBOLSEM Director Antonia Rodriguez Medrano who was recently appointed by Bolivian President Evo Morales as the new Minister of Productive Development and Plural Economy (Ministra de Desarrollo Productivo y Economia Plural). 

The Fair Trade movement applauds the European Union's Committee of the Regions (CoR) in its unanimous adopting yesterday evening of an opinion1 in support of Fair Trade and calling for the need to adopt a European Strategy and action plan for Fair Trade for Local and Regional Authorities

The Scots know how to party while making a difference.  Come 27 and 28 of February, Scotland takes Fair Trade experience to a whole new level.  Everyone is invited to witness this big event!  

New Delhi, India - Fair Trade Forum India (FTFI) and Hivos jointly organized alliance building programme called a roundtable discussion on "Inclusive Development Through Fair Trade Approaches" last 4 February at Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India.

Haiti earthquake survivors need your help now!  Please send donations to the following organizations: SERRV International, Save the Children and OXFAM America