In an engaging session they described as an ‘Un’ session Paul Clarke (@paul_clarke) and Mark O’Neill (@marxculture) looked at the issues of putting informal and formal processes together to create new services.  As one participant said “It was a cross between Socratic and Stand-up”.  Here’s the liveblog:

The opening session grabbed attention for me with the strong call from James Munro about the need for ‘Rethinking’ how we deal with public services.  Denise Stephens of enabledbydesign.org was inspiring in her call for much greater involvement by users in the design of services.  “Equipment provision feels like it’s a bit stuck in the Dark Ages a little bit” she said and she thinks there is scope for lots of innovation but it needs a much more open approach.  Tom Loosemore of 4ip called for a radical approach to hold ‘those in power to account’ and that this was a key role of the 4th Estate (the media) and the 5th Estate (us!).

We heard lots of impassioned conversations going on around the room and would love you to continue to share your thoughts and opinions with the community. Please do tag any content you create on your own blogs etc with the event hashtag: #1pound40 so we can aggregate and share everyone’s opinions and keep the conversation flowing.

Remember you can see more from the day over on Reuters blog http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate-uk/2009/11/11/live-blog-1pound40-conference/

Thank you again for making this event possible, we hope see you for the next installment soon.

How do you measure the impact of supporting fair trade producers? It’s a qualitative & quantitative process but how do we get everyone’s views?

We could build relationships with producers directly but you need to fully understand the relationships within that and how they work together.

Rather than just using the data Comic Relief collects themselves they will try and share it with chains (e.g. Sainsbury’s) so they fully understand it.

Comic Relief’s Fair Trade Focus on Africa, committed £5m over 5 years to support fair trade producers in Africa to building the capacity and accountability of the African fair trade network.

What are the key factors for ensuring that women workers and producers benefit equitably from trade?

What change has been made? (how can we prove the impact)

HOW has that change been made? (improving the impact).

How can all the key players share that data?

Joan Karanja, from COFTA, speaks about the role of producers; the importance of including them in standards development

COFTA is a network of fair trade producer organisations in Africa, working to eliminate poverty, by strengthening African membership in fair trade. COFTA is a grassroots network working with all levels of fair trade. It is a forum for collaboration and networking with over 100 members in 24 African countries touching 250,000+ beneficiaries. Currently there is no data / stats – this is something they are trying to measure.

Joan explains some of the issues encountered by producer organisations in Africa. Some cannot pay the fee to be accredited fair trade when they may well be practicing fair trade (the fee is $2000 – seems high).

Common producer challenges:

Collaboration and cooperation; business planning and production efficiency; product quality and product innovation; market understanding – e.g. there are no seasons in Africa so if selling to the West it’s important to know the seasonal market; gaining direct market access; access to finance is difficult as it is seen as an informal sector (so banks don’t lend); local infrastructure – important to understand all the nuances; and communication is essential.

COFTA programs focus on:

• Network development
• Membership development
• Advocacy and lobbying
• Market access (improving south to south trade not just access to Northern markets).

‘The overall idea of fair trade is to change the market’ (Joan Karanja), for example scaling up production through clustering (Swaziland, SWIFT) and Common Coordination (COFTA networks).

Fair trade is against child labour: the question is raised, ‘what is the solution when the head of a household is 17 and needs to earn a living?’

Joan suggests the solution is spending morning at school and the afternoon at work; we must remember the idea is to protect the young.

In providing direct market access for exporting in to Europe, COFTA provides linkages but currently is unable to supervise this any further.

80% trade is non food handicrafts. Issues surrounding coffee production and food are very different to craft – is it often forgotten? Do we need a fair trade mark for craft? Standardisation?

If we think producers should be involved in defining ‘fair trade standards’ – how to organise local producers (by broadcasting? Use of Technology?). A discussion for the open space session…

TWIN only works with small holder farms, building democratic systems. They believe in a better equitable distribution of risks and rewards; a different kind of relationship (networks of alternative trades). Part of their role is being an intermediary between buyer and seller, strengthening governance of farming organisations; enabling basic business management with a focus on quality. TWIN works to influence trade, with practical support on how to do this.

The development of brands such as Cafe Direct, Divine chocolate, Agrofair, Liberation, has helped change UK attitudes to food sourcing policies and to underpin the Fairtrade market in the UK.

Case studies presented by Ian:

Divine & Kuapa Kokoo: Participation in Divine has improved confidence in farmers after their trading suffered; it is now recognised as one of the best coffees.

Ian spoke about their partnership with Southern African Nuts. Integrated supply chains were developed; 2005 saw the first sales through the fair-trade market (the co-op), and supermarket partnerships in 2006; liberations established in 2007 (42% farmer owned); aflatoxin testing was brought in (2008), and mechanised processing in 2008/9.

Established fair trade supply chains have since been used to feed in to nutritional supplements (tested in Darfour, with significant improvement measured).

The fair trade premium is not hugely different to mainstream.

There have been various studies to show that fair trade in the region has captured more than just monetary value.

Ian talks about the international nut producer cooperative.

‘Liberation’ works by bringing the producers together to explore issues with the whole value chain. By understanding the complex distribution chain producers can be empowered to contribute to decision making about the strategic direction of their businesses.

By promoting democratic structures at community levels, greater governance issues can be brought down to the grassroots. As shareholders, famers have a direct link to the West; and a more democratic process has helped the farmers get involved in all aspects.

At the AGM for the international nut producer cooperative (where 5 candidates are elected to represent farmers) debates are held with farmers from Brazil, Bolivia, Malawi, Mozambique. All are engaged and addressing problems, brainstorming, everybody contributing together. Fairly. This is ‘democracy in action’. It is solidarity; people coming together from different environments as equals.

Sales yield premiums which is important but there are other benefits, such as the importance of social empowerment. Increasing the self esteem of farmers can impact many other areas.

Trade is not enough; Ian talks about the other aspects TWIN gets involved in. The quality of the product must be good enough; businesses must be run effectively; risks must be managed. Enhancing income, access to expertise and ability to influence all need to be considered.

To create long term sustainable impact, long term real commitment is required. This involves investment in capacity, collective action/network, transparency and trust, participation in decision making, connecting further up the chain (ownership) results in sustainability, increased confidence /accountability, enhanced capacity and influence.

The TWIN model is a bottom up approach, using farmer organisation partnerships. But are they really taking control themselves?

How can producers have more of a voice in fair trade?

We discussed the concept of ‘fairness’ in fair. Who decides what is fair? Farmers need to be involved in the strategy of determining what is fair. Imposing democracy v fair trade.

What is the real impact of co-operatives? (needs more research).

What about the mainstream? In terms of Twin’s work with Africa and South America, competing in a global market will have a significant impact particularly with competition from China. Ian believes the time to invest is now – though he acknowledges the risks.

Trade negotiations may seem dull but when it comes to rich countries ripping off poorer countries the fair trade movement can understand this and empathise with this so should be a part of that process. (Mike Gidney).

How far do we see campaigning for long term sustainable change going? Buying fair trade does help of course; but for the long term we need to be campaigning in a more robust and coherent way.

The EU is trying to downgrade the political component and look at the technical negotiations. These do not make headlines though; as you need to fully understand these technical aspects in order to report as a journalist (also it is not very exciting!). EPAs campaign has done a good job of raising the profile but still the ACPs are in a weak negation situation. There is a race between the EU and the US for a market share in China.

‘Engagement v boycott’

This was later summed up in the closing session: ‘from the producers’ perspective, networks are not succeeding as much as they could as they have been sidelined somewhat in political activism; dissipated somewhat as fair trade has gone mainstream. This is a travesty for the 76 countries from the ACP; we must bring this to light. It is treated as a technical issue but it’s not – it will kill people’.

For the full liveblog, check out the constantly updated stream.

Amplified were invited to join Tuttle in Barcelona on the 18 September 09 and Podcamp on the 19 September. Steve Lawson and Lucy Windmill went on a little SoMeWe adventure…

I arrived in Barcelona on Thursday and spent the day walking around the city, down la Ramblas, to the port, across to the beach… It was a little too breezy for the beach but a number of determined Brits were there, spread-eagled across their towels (“I will get a tan”). Next I walked to ‘Gotica’ (the old Gothic area) which is gorgeous, all winding cobbled streets and little art shops and boutiques, coffee shops and bars set up in hidden court yards. In the evening I had a beer and a little BCN tweetathon as @solobasssteve Lawson had missed his flight and was due to be speaking at Barcelona Tuttle on Friday morning (I’m not much of a public speaker myself!). He managed to get an early flight out on Friday with easyjet (via Twitter – impressed) and I met up with 2 other Barcelona SoMeWe weekenders from out of town – @StefaanLesage from Belgium and @moof for tapas e vino and lots of talking…

Friday it was off to @citilab in the West of the city (Cornella) for Barcelona Tuttle organised by @cataspanglish (Chris Pinchen, who invited us to Barcelona when he came to the Amp09 Midlands event). We met a bunch of amazing people from all different sectors with the common interest of pioneering social media – in education, government, the health service – quite a few PhDs in there! We also met the couple behind @catavino – their mission is to get the vineyard world online (and they organise Twitter wine tasting – very cool). We have a few videos and pics to post up soon.

Tuttle was held at the Citilab – what a fantastic place! I was in venue heaven imaging what we could do with the space. It’s huge!! It’s modern, it’s spacious, it’s flexible and it’s got wi-fi… we need this in London! It’s also doing some great projects of course; Citilab-Cornellà is a workspace dedicated to training and research on new technologies and social innovation, an entrepreneurial hub. And we like it.

Later in the afternoon we did some sightseeing with @moof and @stefaanlesage. We saw the Sagrada Família, a massive, privately-funded Catholic church that has been under construction since 1882 and will not be finished until at least 2026 – but you can walk around inside with the construction going on. (We had a little giggle about the Doozers). It really is spectacular… a Gaudi piece – so intricate and inspired, almost too much to take in from the ground.

We then headed off to the centre to meet @cataspanglish and @anafmora for an evening of more food, wine and laughter (language based! Not sure I will reveal that here – Steve can!).

Up early for Podcamp BCN on Saturday 19th; meeting place confusion and bus driver mistaking 9am with 9pm aside, we arrived in el Masnou. The simultaneous translation was excellent (and necessary!).

Steve did a 45 min slot on Amplified – our boy did good! (more invitations please!). It seemed to go down really well – and he certainly kept the translator on her toes (in fact did they have to change over at half time?!).

I wrote a few blogs on what I saw at Podcamp – some written after the port tasting before lunch and the wine tasting courtesy of @catavino – what a treat. Coming to an Amplified event near you soon – we hope!

Dolors (@dreig) is brilliant – a psychology teacher by trade, she is in to communities, e-learning, web 2.0, web 3.0 – and she is a pioneer for open education and this is what she has come to talk to us about at Podcamp BCN.

First up – a little recommended reading; she talks about ‘Free – the future of a radical price’ and ‘The Cathedral and the Bazaar’ (Eric Raymond).

Like many others Dolors believes that our education system is not working; there’s a lot of talk in the media about this but what I like about Dolors is that she actually has some ‘solutions’ to change and she’s positive about it. She isn’t standing here ranting about what’s wrong without putting it right. Refreshing.

She says in order to learn, self-motivation is key, along with attention and relevance. In the world of business it’s all about rights and ownership whereas in the education sector we are geared towards learning: so why don’t we have a more open style of learning? When you realise how much you can learn on the basis of other’s recommendations… information is power!

Dolors talks a little about the ‘university of the people’ (UoPeople) which is ‘the world’s first tuition-free, online academic institution dedicated to the global advancement and democratization of higher education’. The educational model embraces the internet and reduces technology costs to bring university level studies within reach of people across the world. It has the support of respected academics, humanitarians and other visionaries. Obama says it’s a good alternative for those who are not ready for university. Low cost education for all. “By 2020 these universities will be abundant”.

Dolors talks about 2 models for the future:

The MOOC model (a mixed education model: Massive Open Online Course). It’s a free and open ‘Connectivism and Connective Knowledge’ course.

Then followed CCK09 – Connectivism and Connective Knowledge by George Siemens. Content and conversations are open so participants can take the course in any direction that they find useful.

Dolors tells us about an open education conference in Barcelona next year, a meeting point of HE professionals. They all work with the internet and believe that an open social learning is very important. (Good start! Back to Barcelona again then…).

As was brought up in Stefaan’s discussion: it is no longer about software or hardware now – it’s about crossing the chasm. We need a change of mindset.

E learning is not just digitising the existing resources and getting them onto pdf with no interaction – that is not e-learning at its best.

So… does Google make us stupid? Quite the opposite, she says. The abundance of content makes knowing the right content to choose the most important. (The difficulty I suppose is teaching young people how to check the quality of their sources?).

Education should be open: no more ‘sign up’ communities. I suppose much of the hesitancy in teachers and academics is concern over making mistakes so publicly – but @dreig believes this is the key to learning. Making mistakes is OK.

So – what can we do to make small changes now? How can we make the most of what we have? Dolors suggests using blogs on which to publish learners’ work, using PLNs (personal learning networks ). These could also be used as professional networks. Everyone should be teachers and learners: we can comment on each other’s work, build knowledge collaboratively. Social skills and learning as a community is so important, as is trust and transparency, and authenticity. “Transparency is the new objectivity”! We don’t need to be total experts as long as we’re not claiming to be… (phew!). It may sound Utopian but it is the main goal she has in her quest to open up education. Get free of copyright based models – open course web; start freeing up content, publishing it on the web, working in class with a wiki – it all makes a difference.

Other things that educators can consider in improving education in the here are now, is simply to remember that customised, personalised, contextualised education will help people excel.

Centralising tools of dissemination, collective distribution throughout communities can help and there are already a number of tools available such as real time web (Twitter etc).

http://www.dreig.eu/caparazon/