What Can FAIR TRADE Do For the World?

http://www.worldfairtradeday10.org/

Fair Trade is an organized social movement and market-based approach that aims to help producers in developing countries and promote sustainability. The movement advocates the payment of a higher price to producers as well as social and environmental standards. It focuses in particular on exports from developing countries to developed countries, most notably handicrafts, coffee, cocoa, sugar, tea, bananas, honey, cotton, wine, fresh fruit, chocolate and flowers.

Fair Trade's strategic intent is to work with marginalized producers and workers in order to help them move towards economic self-sufficiency and stability. It also aims to allow them to become greater stakeholders in their own organizations, as well as play a wider role in international trade. Fair Trade proponents include a number of international development aid, social, religious and environmental organizations such as Christian Aid, SERRV International, Oxfam, Amnesty International, Catholic Relief Services, and Caritas International.

In 2008, Fair Trade certified sales amounted to approximately US $4.08 billion (€2.9 billion) worldwide, a 22% year-to-year increase.[1][dead link] While this represents a tiny fraction of world trade in physical merchandise,[2] fair trade products generally account for 1-20% of all sales in their product categories in Europe and North America.[1][dead link] In June 2008, it was estimated that over 7.5 million producers and their families were benefiting from fair trade funded infrastructure, technical assistance and community development projects.[3]

The response to fair trade has been mixed. With 10% of the fair trade premiums end up in the hands of producers some[who?] view it as little more than a marketing ploy. Others consider that this is sufficient to make a big difference in millions of peoples lives.[4]- WIKIPEDIA


Buy fair trade
You have probably heard of Fair Trade. Fair Trade is when people who grow and produce food (for example coffee and chocolate) and other products (e.g. clothing) are paid a fair price for their work. This helps make sure they have enough money to look after themselves and their families, and also makes sure that they work in safe conditions.



Choose fair trade products if you see them on sale. Look out for the ‘fairtrade mark.’


Fair trade advocates typically espouse a number of guidelines. The movement intends to provide market access to otherwise marginalized producers, connecting them to customers and allowing access with fewer middlemen. It aims to provide higher wages than typically paid to producers as well as helping producers develop knowledge, skills and resources to improve their lives. Fair trade advocates also seek to raise awareness of the movement's philosophies among consumers in developed nations.[6] Fair trade products are traded and marketed either by an "MEDC supply chain" whereby products are imported and/or distributed by fair trade organizations (commonly referred to as alternative trading organizations) or by "product certification" whereby products complying with fair trade specifications are certified indicating that they have been produced, traded, processed and packaged in accordance with the standards.

GOODBYE ¨DESIGNER LABELS¨ --HELLO, FAIR TRADE!

Choose to shop fair trade. Armies of pyschologists, scientists and marketeers have been trying to get you to believe you are not thin enough, not hot enough and not good enough without pricy BRAND NAME LABELS and products. Every time you fork over your money to a seemingly great company, they are keeping millions of third world country people, many of them children and women, enslaved and working for hours for ridiculous pay to stitch your new Hollister or Nike T-shirt. You have to buy local. Things made in the U.S.A, or Canada or Europe. You have to pick fair trade. Fair trade coffee, clothes, products. This is the only way to end the madness. Just because we do not live in third world countries does not mean we have to allow others to live in pain and suffering while providing our clothes and luxuries. Look for fair trade stores near you. Why would you want to pay so much money for a name or logo stitched onto your shirt!!!! (I asked myself that yesterday at the mall!) And you know what, you will feel GOOD knowing you are helping make the world a better place, instead of contributing to the evils of the corporate, capitalist society we live in. There is a way to fix it, and it is called change.

http://transfair.ca/

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What is Fair Trade?
Fair Trade is really about making changes to conventional trade, which frequently fails to deliver on promises of sustainable livelihoods and opportunities for people in the poorest countries in the world.

Poverty and hardship limit people’s choices while market forces tend to further marginalise and exclude them. This makes them vulnerable to exploitation, whether as farmers and artisans, or as hired workers within larger businesses.

That two billion of our fellow citizens survive on less than $2 per day, despite working extremely hard, suggests that there is indeed a problem.

Fair Trade seeks to change the terms of trade for the products we buy - to ensure the farmers and artisans behind those products get a better deal. Most often this is understood to mean ensuring better prices for producers, but it often also includes longer-term and more meaningful trading relationships.

One Size Fits All?
How this is done varies widely - how people practice Fair Trade is largely determined by how they understand the problems it's meant to address.

For instance, TransFair Canada manages the Canadian side of an international system that sets standards defining what Fair Trade products are, and provides Canadians with a way to know whether those standards have been met. The intent is to both bring clarity about Fair Trade and instill confidence in the public that it is not about empty promises.

However, neither TransFair Canada nor the international system it represents invented Fair Trade, nor are its standards the only way it should be understood. Even companies who meet our standards and whose products carry our certification mark often approach Fair Trade differently, and it's up to you as an individual to decide which approach makes the most sense to you.

Ultimately, Fair Trade appeals to our sense of fairness and common decency, and applies those values to the marketplace. It allows us to make a positive difference in the world just by the products we choose to buy.


You’re off to the shops, you’ve got your list, a tight budget and twenty minutes to spare. The last thing on your mind is helping people across the world.

But doing your bit doesn’t have to take lots of time, effort and money. By choosing to put a few Fairtrade items in your basket, you are helping people across the world to help themselves.

Fairtrade products are high quality products and the people who grew or produced the goods are paid a fairer price for their work. Being able to rely on a market for their goods, they can plan for their future and that of their children. They can build schools and clinics, put in a clean water supply, and expand their business so it employs more local people.