Fairtrade Products Sheffield
Fairtrade Products and Fairtrade Fortnight - Join the Big Swap!
Fairtrade Products and Fairtrade Fortnight - Join the Big Swap! Buy Fairtrade products to replace everyday shopping choices! Ethical and Fairtrade products are everywhere - if you look. Here's a challenging article by Whitney Kakos, Impact and Sustainability Manager of Cafédirect about the importance of Fairtrade and Fairtrade Fortnight which takes place every year in early spring.
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Make the Big Swap' to Fairtrade this FebruaryIt's easy in February to get lost within your own concerns. Days are short, cold and dark, and the visible toll on your bank account - to make no mention of your waistline - is a constant reminder that Christmas has been and gone. Which is why I always think that Fairtrade Fortnight, which straddles the rump of winter and the beginning of spring, is perfectly timed. Taking place between 22nd February and 7th March, Fairtrade Fortnight, for those unfamiliar with the name, is a two-week celebration of fair and ethical trading. It's a chance to remind ourselves that as ethical shoppers, the items we buy, however banal and everyday, can powerfully shape the world as a better, fairer place. Fairtrade is of course nothing new. This year, the Fairtrade Foundation marked its 15th birthday and Cafédirect, the hot drinks Fairtrade pioneer, was set up three years prior to that. But as the UK slowly claws itself towards economic recovery, its message and mission have never been more important. What is Fairtrade?So what is Fairtrade? The idea is to guarantee growers or producers in developing countries a fair and stable price for their crops, which in turn ensures that they can plan ahead and make a decent living. But it's also about decent working conditions, environmental safeguards and reducing some of the disproportionate risks of conventional trade, which traditionally discriminates against the poorest, weakest producers. In a nutshell, it gives farmers and workers more control over their lives.Fairtrade products and certified goodsWhen you buy Fairtrade certified goods, an additional amount (a social premium) goes towards the development of the producers' local communities. Decisions about how to spend the extra money are taken democratically and typical projects include scholarships for children and building schools and health clinics. This gives the people and families that produce your Fairtrade goods the chance to build a future without poverty. Cafédirect go far beyond these requirements by developing long term, direct relationships with all our grower partners and by investing our profits back into their organisations. Each year we plough back more than 50% of our annual profits into smallholder growers' businesses and communities. This enables us to support additional programmes on the ground, focusing on issues as wide-ranging as gender empowerment, quality improvement and climate change. T... |
