To see Articles about Strappity-Do-DaŽ using fair trade practices click HERE!
Fairtrade is about better prices, decent working conditions, local sustainability, and fair terms of trade for farmers and workers in the developing world. By requiring companies to pay sustainable prices (which must never fall lower than the market price), Fairtrade addresses the injustices of conventional trade, which traditionally discriminates against the poorest, weakest producers. It enables them to improve their position and have more control over their lives.
(taken from www.fairtrade.org.uk)
World Fair Trade Day
Set aside the second Saturday in May as World Fair Trade Day for a global campaign for the Fair Trade movement connecting producers, businesses, and customers around the world. Join in!
Fair Trade Myths (thanks to the Fair Trade Federation for this info)
As awareness of fair trade grows, so do many misconceptions about fair trade. Below are some popular myths about fair trade and the realities behind them.
Myth: Fair Trade is about paying developed world wages in the developing world. Reality: Fair wages are determined by a number of factors, including the amount of time, skill, and effort involved in production, minimum and living wages in the local context, the purchasing power in a community or area, and other costs of living in the local context. Wages are determined independently from North American wage structures and are designed to provide fair compensation based on the true cost of production.
Myth: Fair Trade siphons off American jobs to other countries. Reality: Fair trade seeks to change the lives of the poorest of the poor who frequently lack alternative sources of income. As North American fair trade organizations grow, they employ more and more individuals in their communities. Most fair trade craft products stem from cultures and traditions which are not represented in North American production. Most fair trade commodities, such as coffee and cocoa, do not have North American-based alternatives.
Myth: Fair Trade is anti-globalization. Reality: International exchange lies at the heart of fair trade. Fair trade organizations seek to maximize the positive elements of globalization that connect people, communities, and cultures through products and ideas. At the same time, they seek to minimize the negative elements that result in lower labor, social, and environmental standards and which hide the true costs of production.
Myth: Fair Trade is a form of charity. Reality: Fair trade promotes positive and long-term change through trade-based relationships which seek to empower producers to meet their own needs. Its success depends on independent, successfully-run organizations and businesses - not on handouts. While many fair trade organizations support charitable projects on top of their work in trade, the exchange of goods remains the key element of their work.
Myth: Fair Trade results in more expensive goods for the consumer. Reality: Most fair trade products are competitively priced in relation to their conventional counterparts. Fair trade organizations work directly with producers, cutting out exploitative middlemen, so they can keep products affordable for consumers and return a greater percentage of the price to the producers.
Myth: Fair trade production results in substandard goods for the consumer as compared to conventional production. Reality: While handmade products naturally include some variation, fair trade organizations continuously work with their producer partners to improve quality and consistency. Through direct and long-term relationships, producers and fair trade organizations dialogue about consumer needs and create high quality products. Fair traders have received awards at the international Cup of Excellence competitions, the New York Home Textile Show, and other venues.
Myth: Fair trade refers only to coffee. Reality: Fair trade encompass a wide variety of agricultural and handcrafted goods, including baskets, clothing, cotton, footballs, furniture, jewelry, rice, toys, and wine. While coffee was the first agricultural product to be certified fair trade in 1988, fair trade handicrafts have been on sale since 1946.
Facts & Figures
2.7 billion - estimated number of people in the world existing on less than $2 / day, according to the World Bank
800,000+ - households (approximately 5 million people) who earned a living from fair trade production, according to the European Fair Trade Association's January 1998 Memento pour l'an 2000.
30% - women in non-agricultural conventional production in developing countries in 2004, according to the United Nation
70% - women engaged in non-agricultural fair trade production in 2004, according to the Fair Trade Federation
284,000 - number of children in the Ivory Coast,Ghana, Nigeria and Cameroon working in hazardous tasks on conventional cocoa farms, according to a 2002 International Institute of Tropical Agriculture study directly involving 4,500+ producers.
15,000 - number of children aged 9 to 12 in theIvory Coast alone who have been sold into forced labor on conventional cotton, coffee, and cocoa plantations, according to a 2000 US State Department report
