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“World Fairtrade Challenge” wins Award for Global M...

The German Council for Sustainable Development recognizes the World Fairtrade Challenge campaign as a "Sustainability Project 2017”

From left to right: Ulla Burchardt, Member of the German Council for Sustainable Development; Daniel Caspari, Elena Vamvakousi and Lisa Herrmann, Team Members of the World Fairtrade Challenge; Peter Knitsch, State Secretary.

21 March 2017

World Fairtrade Challenge, a global awareness raising campaign led by the Fairtrade movement, has been awarded the "Projekt N Award" by the German Council for Sustainable Development. World Fairtrade Challenge is one of 67 projects, out of 240 applicants, which received the award during a ceremony held in Düsseldorf on 17 March.

The "Project N Awards" aim to recognize ideas and initiatives that shape society in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and contribute to sustainable development in Germany and worldwide. The World Fairtrade Challenge campaign impressed the jury with its success in mobilizing more than 1.8 million citizens across the world in favour of better living conditions for coffee farming communities. "We are impressed by the commitment and innovative power that people around the world are striving for a sustainable future. It is the task of the entire society to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals," stated Marlehn Thieme, Chairwoman of the Council for Sustainable Development and a member of the jury.

"We are very honoured to receive this award in recognition of the work Fairtrade does both on improving farmers’ lives, but also, very importantly, on drawing the attention of more than 1.8 million citizens worldwide to the important issue of climate change and its mitigation. The World Fairtrade Challenge was only made possible through the deeply rooted relations that national Fairtrade organizations have with local communities, as well as the support and enthusiasm from citizens and supporters worldwide", said Elena Vamvakousi, International Marketing Manager for the World Fairtrade Challenge.

Successful premiere of the "World Fairtrade Challenge"

The World Fairtrade Challenge took place for the first time in May 2016. Fairtrade coffee-lovers in more than 50 countries held the largest coffee break in the world, drinking more than 5.5 million cups of Fairtrade coffee between them.

The worldwide reach of the campaign was demonstrated particularly by the #fairtradechallenge hashtag. In many countries, thousands of posts, tweets and pictures were shared over social media channels and bundled on a Social Media Wall. Political, economic and civil society actors from across the world were also involved, including Fair Trade Towns, Schools and Universities.

The campaign drew public attention to the difficult conditions faced by coffee farmers due to the effects of climate change. Fairtrade supports coffee farmers by helping them to access technical knowledge and funds which they can use to successfully adapt to, and mitigate against, the worst effects of climate change. There are more than 800,000 Fairtrade coffee farmers in 30 countries worldwide. In 2013–14, they received more than 49 million euros of Fairtrade Premium money, the extra sum of money paid on top of the selling price for farmers to invest in business or community projects of their choice.

World Fairtrade Challenge 2017

On 12-14 May, the World Fairtrade Challenge will take place once more and will further strengthen the awareness of sustainable consumption among citizens across the world. Under the motto "Celebrate Fairtrade", millions of people will host coffee breaks, breakfasts in public places and other events to promote Fairtrade products worldwide.

Find out more about the Awards at www.tatenfuermorgen.de.
Cocoa Life Sustainability Programme Expands to Cover Ca...

Cadbury and Fairtrade announce a new global partnership between Cocoa Life and Fairtrade to support the roll out of Cocoa Life to Cadbury brands, driving greater scale and impact for cocoa farmers and their communities

17 November 2016
© James Robinson

Cadbury and Fairtrade today announced a ground-breaking commitment to help more cocoa farmers, their families and their communities, by extending its farmer-focused Cocoa Life programme to Cadbury products globally. Starting in the UK & Ireland in May 2017, with a phased roll-out, Cocoa Life – an industry leading sustainable cocoa farming programme – will be extended across Cadbury chocolate brands in key markets across the world.

Cocoa Life puts farmers first and aims to empower current and future generations to create thriving farms which boost the entire community. Cocoa Life will benefit 200,000 farmers and 1 million people in communities in Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Indonesia, the Dominican Republic, India and Brazil. To achieve this Mondelēz International will invest $400 million over ten years to 2022.

As the company scales up Cocoa Life, the partnership will bring more benefits to more farmers and communities and importantly continue to deliver measurable, independently verified improvements for cocoa farmers and cocoa-growing communities.

Fairtrade, the world’s largest and most recognised fair trade system, will become a partner for the whole Cocoa Life programme, working together to secure the long-term future of cocoa farming communities. In the UK and Ireland Cadbury brands will begin to transition to Cocoa Life. In Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa, Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate will remain certified throughout 2017. As part of the global roll out of Cocoa Life across Cadbury brands, they will move to carry the Cocoa Life logo on the front of pack during 2018.

Having achieved significant impact to date, Cadbury and Fairtrade will now work together on new innovative programmes to enhance the future for farming communities, such as building resilience to climate change – which cocoa farmers say is already a key threat to their livelihoods. In addition, Fairtrade will work with Cocoa Life to develop farmer organisations and, together, enhance the understanding and reporting of the programme’s impact on cocoa farmers, their families and their communities.

This expansion of Cocoa Life, combined with Fairtrade’s independent involvement, will give consumers the confidence that whenever they buy a Cadbury chocolate bar with the Cocoa Life label, they are helping cocoa farming communities to thrive, making a real difference to people’s lives.

FLOCERT, which also works as Fairtrade’s independent assurance and certification body, will also continue to independently verify the supply chain of Cocoa Life as the programme grows. This involves tracking the quantity of sustainably grown and traded cocoa and loyalty payments made to farmer organisations.

Launched in Ghana in 2008 as the Cadbury Cocoa Partnership, Cocoa Life has already been rolled out across more than 795 cocoa farming communities around the world and independent verification shows that farmers’ in the Cocoa Life programme in Ghana have seen their incomes increase 49% more than farms outside the programme.

Alongside Fairtrade, Cocoa Life is actively supported on the ground by NGO delivery partners including Voluntary Services Overseas (VSO), Save The Children, CARE International, World Vision, Swisscontact and Solidaridad, harnessing their long experience of working with cocoa growing communities to maximise the impact of the programme. Cocoa Life also involves experts from organisations like WWF, the UN Development Programme, and Anti-Slavery International in the design and oversight of the programme.

Read more about the partnership on the Fairtrade Foundation (UK) website

Fairtrade International
Fairtrade International Welcomes New CEO

Fairtrade International has announced the appointment of Darío Soto Abril as its next Chief Executive Officer.

17 November 2016

Darío Soto Abril is currently COO, Deputy Director and Legal Counsel at The Trust for the Americas, the non-profit affiliate of the Organization of American States (OAS) in Washington DC. He will take up his new role as Fairtrade International's Chief Executive Officer in February 2017.

“Fairtrade is one of the world’s best-known organizations and I’m honoured to have been asked to join it,” said Darío. “It’s both an exciting and challenging time, and together, we will maintain Fairtrade's growth path in making a better world for farmers and workers, while inspiring more businesses, governments and consumers to join us in our mission. It’s a massive challenge but one I am very much looking forward to.”

Darío has a strong track record in advocating with governments and businesses for the implementation of programmes and policies leading to economic inclusion of LGBT, at-risk youth, women and minorities. During his time at the Trust/OAS he led the expansion from three to 22 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, building coalitions and public private partnerships around free trade, workers’ rights and human rights. His efforts resulted in greater participation of worker organizations and unions during trade negotiations in Colombia and Central America.

“I am deeply committed to the goal of building a strong global system by encouraging a culture of partnership, transparency and shared accountability,” he said. “To that end, I will work with the Board, producer networks, the national Fairtrade organizations and all members of the team in driving collaboration across all levels.”

“The Fairtrade International Board is delighted to welcome Darío as our new CEO,” said Board Chair Marike de Peña. “Darío has a long history of working with producers, civil society, governments and business to achieve inclusive economic growth and wellbeing. His experience will strengthen our role as a global movement for change and will help us drive the UN Sustainable Development Goals to deliver maximum impact for farmers, workers and producers.”

Darío grew up in Colombia before moving to the United States. He has previously worked for Price Waterhouse Coopers (PwC) and is a licensed attorney both in Colombia and in the State of New York. He holds an LLM degree from Tulane University (New Orleans) and a public administration degree from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. He lives in Washington with his wife and their dog, and says he loves sailing and volunteering in animal shelters in Colombia.

Fairtrade International
Fairtrade’s Value for Money Approach Highlighted in N...

Fairtrade's Value for Money approach is featured in a new report highlighting the need to get maximum bang per buck when it comes to investment in development and humanitarian aid.
20 October 2016

The report results from a learning initiative set up via the Programme Partnership Arrangements (PPAs) between the UK’s Department for International Development and various NGOs. Assessing and Managing Value for Money: Lessons for NGOs presents an overview of a new analytical framework for approaching VFM.

The report, written by Mango with contributions from leading NGOs including Fairtrade International and its member organization Fairtrade Foundation, was recently published by BOND, the UK international NGO network. It examines the tools, leadership, knowledge, skills and behaviour needed to integrate Value for Money (VFM) into working practices.

This approach focusses on achieving maximum impact for each investment made by the development and humanitarian sector. NGOs involved in the PPAs set up a learning group to share best practice in this area. The report presents the experience and learnings gathered by members of the group – serving as a guideline for organizations wanting to replicate the approach in their work.

The report highlights the diverse perceptions of what ‘value’ is and notes that a successful VFM approach must first define this. Before the approach can be adopted, it also needs to be informed by the context in which the organization operates. For the concept of value for money to be embedded across an organization it needs to be structurally and culturally integrated into the organization’s processes and embraced at leadership and operational levels.

Fairtrade is implementing a VFM approach to assess our interventions against a clear cost-benefit framework. In recent years, Fairtrade has invested considerable resources in improving its monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) system including the systematization, dissemination and discussion of learning arising from monitoring and evaluation processes. This allows the organization to truly understand what works, what doesn’t and what changes are needed to improve impact.

Fairtrade has made important progress with the development of a learning platform. The platform organizes findings and recommendations from monitoring and evaluation of the organization’s work against the goals of Fairtrade’s Theory of Change. Content from the platform is designed to guide Fairtrade staff globally by highlighting key challenges and areas for improvement.

Fairtrade has also developed a tool to perform an ‘Options Analysis’ that shows how the assessment of costs, benefits and risks at key decision points in organizational management can help to secure value for money. The tool allows staff to make an objective comparison between different suppliers, when significant expenditure will be incurred, in order to achieve the maximum value for money.

Fairtrade found that the key to building understanding and implementing the VFM approach is to keep everyone informed, providing regular updates and bringing everyone involved along as the process develops. Adopting a VFM approach enables Fairtrade to make better choices in the coordination of resources so that Fairtrade producers benefit from more effective, efficient, economic and inclusive use of our resources.
Fairtrade International
Fairtrade Certifies First Artisanal Small-scale Mining ...

Africa’s first Fairtrade certified gold cooperative offers hope to gold miners living in poverty.

19 October 2016
Syanyonja Artisan Miners' Alliance (SAMA) has become the first artisanal small-scale mining cooperative in Africa to become Fairtrade certified, bringing much needed hope to impoverished communities who risk their lives to mine the rich gold seam that runs around Lake Victoria.

SAMA is one of nine previously informal groups from Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania which has benefitted from a pilot project launched by Fairtrade in 2013. This innovative program aims to extend the benefits of Fairtrade gold to artisanal miners across East Africa.

In that short time, SAMA has undergone training in business and entrepreneurship, as well as safe use of mercury, internal control systems, labour rights and better working conditions, health and safety and more. Previously, daily contact with toxic chemicals used to process gold meant members risked disease, premature births and even death. Fairtrade gold was first launched in 2011, and SAMA now joins Fairtrade certified gold mines MACDESA, AURELSA and SOTRAMI in Peru.

The cooperative produces just 5 kg of gold per year, but nevertheless has the potential to significantly benefit many people in the local community through better conditions through certification. It is expected that Fairtrade and organizations like Cred Jewellery will support the miners, ensuring their gold can be refined and made available to jewellers in the UK and other markets.

Gonzaga Mungai, Gold Manager at Fairtrade Africa said: “This is a truly momentous and historical achievement and the realisation of a dream that is many years in the making. Gold production is an important source of income for people in rural economies. Congratulations to SAMA, it sets a precedent which shows that if groups like this can achieve certification, then it can work for others right across the African continent.”

The Fairtrade Gold Standard encourages better practice and changes to come in line with international regulation around the production and trade of so-called ‘conflict minerals’. Under the Standard, miners are required to:

Uphold a human rights policy preventing war crimes, bribery, money laundering and child labour

Clearly represent where the minerals were mined

Minimise the risks of conflict minerals through robust risk assessments and collaboration across supply chains

Report to buyers and trading partners regarding the risks of conflict minerals

Now in its second phase, the programme will focus on supporting other mining groups in the region to access affordable loans and explore a phased approach to accessing the Fairtrade market, allowing more mining cooperatives across Africa to participate in the programme.

Gonzaga added: “Sourcing African metals from small-scale miners in the Great Lakes Region is the responsible thing to do. For a long time companies have avoided buying gold from this region, with devastating consequences for impoverished communities who were already struggling. It has driven trade deeper underground, as unscrupulous buyers pay lower prices and launder illegal gold into legitimate supply chains. That’s why we have chosen to work with these groups to help them earn more from their gold within a robust compliance system that offers social, environmental, and economic protections.”

The Fairtrade gold programme offers a small but scalable solution to sustainable sourcing of gold from the region in line with Section 1502 of the Dodd-Frank Act in the US, OECD Due Diligence Guidance and recent EU Supply-Chain Due Diligence proposals which could come into effect in 2016. This means that up to 880,000 EU firms that use tin, tungsten, tantalum and gold in manufacturing consumer products could be obliged to provide information on steps they have taken to identify and address risks in their supply chains for so-called ‘conflict minerals’.

Note: Artisanal small-scale mining (ASM) is the second biggest employer in Africa after agriculture and offers a crucial livelihood to some of the most socially and economically vulnerable. Yet despite the alluring promise of a better livelihood, ASM is actually one of the world’s most dangerous industries with miners earning as little as $1 per day. It is rife with exploitation, starting with the miner who often becomes indebted to their dealer. Gold from the Great Lakes region of East Africa is particularly notorious for attracting greed and conflict. The lack of monitoring systems for the production and trade of the minerals leads to transactions via illegal comptoirs and clandestine export to neighbouring countries.

Fairtrade International
Empowering Women in Rural Communities

On 15 October, the UN International Day for Rural Women, Fairtrade coffee farmer María Edy Rivera shares her thoughts on the progress towards empowering rural women.

14 October 2016

María Edy Rivera

María Edy Rivera is a Fairtrade coffee farmer and board member of Coordinadora de El Salvador de Pequeños Productores Organizados de Comercio Justo (CESPPO)
I grew up on a coffee farm in El Salvador and have been surrounded by coffee bushes for almost my entire life. When I was a child, my mother belonged to the La Florida coffee cooperative and when she died in 2007, I took over her role and became an active member of the coop.
I strongly believe that I am an empowered woman, a woman who has tried to set an example; I have fought to belong and represent the rights of rural women in public spaces where decision-making takes place. I am the first woman producer to sit on the Board of Fairtrade’s national organization in El Salvador, and I have achieved this because I discovered how to value myself as a woman.
It's not been easy to make my way in a culture dominated by men. But it’s been worth the struggle, because I know that standing behind me there are many rural women who not only need to be represented, but also to know their rights and reach a deeper understanding of the importance of their role as women. One of my greatest achievements in the past year has been bringing together a group of women with whom I share everything I learned at the Leadership School run by five grass-roots farming, local development and women’s organizations including CLAC, the Fairtrade producer network for Latin America and the Caribbean.
It’s a massive challenge. When the school started in 2014, there were women who would not even raise their eyes when someone spoke to them. But we’re making steady progress - it isn’t easy, but it’s not impossible. The Leadership School is hugely important because it highlights how women have been made invisible over time. It gives women the opportunity to find their voice, to move beyond mere objectification and to become agents of change in the global movement for fairer trade.
The school has taught me the importance of self-esteem, leadership, women's and human rights, economic empowerment of women and the fair division of labour between the sexes. Among other things, I've learned how to advance women's participation in decision making, the principles of cooperative values and legal frameworks, women’s entrepreneurship, popular education and group management techniques.
Encouraged by the success of the first participants, the school programme has been extended and so far nearly 400 women have attended. Some of them have formed a group for savings and credits; another group are diversifying their farming activities such as producing and selling pickles. For me this is the biggest source of satisfaction - seeing us come together, working for the common good, and introducing new ways of working which mean we don’t have to travel so far and leave the kids alone at home.
On this, the UN International Day of Rural Women, it’s encouraging to be able to point to success stories which show that rural women are crucial for achieving the economic, environmental and social changes needed for sustainable development. But many still have to struggle with limited access to credit, technical assistance and education. The majority still do not own land - the source of their livelihood - as the ownership of the land remains in the hands of men, even though in many countries women are the ones who work the land and those responsible for supporting the family.
My challenge, and the challenge of millions of women farmers and workers in developing countries, is how to advance, step by step, towards having an equal say in decision-making, running our businesses and our lives. Only then will we be able to bring about truly democratic and sustainable farmers’ organizations and coops, which in turn will enable us to realise the fundamental values of Fairtrade.

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On 15 October, the UN International Day for Rural Women, Fairtrade coffee farmer María Edy Rivera shares her thoughts on the progress towards empowering rural women.

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