FAIR TRADE FUTURES
Follow this site for live amplification of the Fair Trade Futures event at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford as it happens…
Audio, video, photo and text content can be found below. If you are using social media tools to report on the day remember the hashtag is #ftf09
This event was organised by the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship, The Oxford Fair Trade Coalition and Christian Concern for One World and sponsored by the organisers and Partnership for Change
Meanwhile, In Twitter Land…
November 8th, 2009
I took some time out during yesterday afternoon’s unconference sessions to check in with some of my Twitter followers and get their take on what Fairtrade has come to mean to them and why.
I asked “What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the term Fair Trade?” and here are the responses I got:
- workers/producers wages and conditions
- coffee, chocolate & bananas
- Fair Trade Coffee
- not a great flavour with the stuff I have tried so far but love the cause regardless
- Coffee! I know it’s so much bigger and more diverse than that, but it’s the first thing that popped into my head
- Fair Trade = hope for an alternative way of living and engaging with the world
I continued the interview onwards with a couple of people with interesting results. Click on the image to view full size, read from the bottom in each case and feel free to continue the conversation in the comments:
[collated using Tweet Convo]
Nuggets from the open space sessions
November 7th, 2009This is a summary of some of the open space sessions at the fair trade futures event.
The ‘producer led organization’ open space session: the values of fair trade are the most important thing you have to offer to the world. There is a need to upgrade skills (primarily producers so they can represent themselves). Consumers need to be hit in the face by what fair trade producers are doing.
Faire trade 2.0: technology as data. Big discussion about how is that data used? Changing the supply chain. Also how consumers can collaborate online by amplifying the fair trade message. A woman in the audience thinks that young people are trying to reinvent the wheel by putting debates that have gone before them online (hmm – even if they are simply ‘putting someone else’s ideas online’ surely that’s a good thing if people who would not ordinarily have seen them might come across them online?). Personal relationships that can be built online could have a positive impact in 20 years or so.
Who defines fair trade? Producers should define fair trade and consumers have the power to boycott or not. The WFTO is perhaps already there, and we hope FLO will get there in due course.
Equitable sharing of the labour: producers could work to build the structures of fair trade movement within their own continents. Meanwhile northern fair trade organsations could be lobbying, negotiating to get the fair trade movement forward in governance. The ‘one voice’ (with all working to their strengths, collaborating, communicating).
“Government should…” session. Should it be the government that is responsible? There is a sense of burn out amongst activists; they’re not sure where they’re going next. With issues such as corruption, they have lost a bit of faith. It is not just shopping; ‘don’t just buy, do’.
Sustainability and climate change in fair trade
November 7th, 2009Should the fair trade movement include policies to ensure that fair trade is environmentally sustainable; so that climate change becomes a part of that movement?
(This is an open space session so I will try and draw out the main themes of discussion as it flows).
Studio Allaya is a craft based organization that supports producers so that they can take charge of their own enterprises themselves. Climate change is a part of this.
Café Direct is at the end of a 3 year project: chaotic weather conditions had impacted sales however the producers did not see this as a result of climate change. There is a need for education of climate change alongside fair trade. It would make sense for fair trade organsations to partner up with organisations that specialise on climate change.
75% of the environmental issues of coffee trade is the kettle boiling over here, not where it’s made.
Sustainability is seen as an add on – it must be a part of fair trade.
Children and young people are ‘where it’s at’ with climate change – it sits well with this age group, they are open to learning and can carry it forward. They’re the future (and not corrupt!). Children of the 80s and 90s are ‘brand obsessed’ and move from one project to the next (we talked about children of the 60s/70s growing up worrying about the costs of electricity so cutting back on expenditure; and children of the 80s/90s not having money worries or long term concerns about energy resources and the climate – yes it was a generalisation; however children of today are the ones who will be living with what we do – or don’t do – now).
There is a short window of time to change as by 2050 we will see the impact of climate change and fair trade has to play a part of this now.
‘Our land is barren; not because we can’t grow on it but because we can’t sell from it’
Environment education is needed at both ends of the chain; producers and consumers.
‘Live simply’ : do we really need to buy flowers in winter? but if we stop now – we have already instigated the supply-demand… ‘To trade or not to trade: let it be fair trade’.
We need to address adaptation requirements of producers; what are the climate change implications for them? Should it be funded by the big organisations as they are getting so much benefit from fair trade?
The fair trade movement will need to move from an ‘enable-centric’ market to an ‘equal-centric’ market.
We need to adopt a more cautious approach to consumption: FLO (fair trade labeling) is one part and the other is the fair trade market run by WFTO-type organization.
Could social media could help change this?
Two perspectives of accountability and impact of fair trade: grant makers and producers
November 7th, 2009Louise Herring talking about Comic Relief and its role as grant maker and fundraiser, a charity and a business.
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…
Accountability and Impact (Ian Barney, Twin Trading)
November 7th, 2009TWIN is a membership organisation that has been running for 25 years. Focused on Latin America and Africa, TWIN’s work started around bartering; e.g. swapping cigars from Cuba for coffee in Africa.
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.
Open space: Fair Trade 2.0
November 7th, 2009
Fair Trade 2.0 conversation starts with a focus on RFID tagging and data:
- On the consumer end you run the risk that through electronic tagging consumption habits ever more closely monitored
- people talk about the internet of things - the moment something is produced it is RFID tagged. The question is whose data is it? When the product is no longer just physical – but physical product + data – should commercial data be public? knowing behaviour impacting your world is critical
- Data asked for by companies is out of touch with current lives – In USA in order to buy online you often have to put in your landline number – I have 4 children and none of them have ever had a landline
great comment about data control – ‘if you want marketing data from me YOU can pay ME’
Q – how much do data chips cost and how would a producer get them??
A 3-5pence each – if wallmart wants to do deals with you they will provide you with chips and feed the cost into their agreement with you
- Now that its possible to have digital data on things – and in things – there must be a legal aspect (data protection) – tracking products could be great for being aware of the whole life cycle – but do you want someone to impinge that much on your life? Issues around privacy – the transparent consumer
- If this technology is spreading – is there any way this could be subverted for the balance of power between corporations and consumers -so it’s not the corp gaining the information but actually the consumers gaining more information about those corporations and how we can change the terms of that relationship
- My assumption is that in Fair Trade 2.0 the corporation doesn’t exist -you should be able to buy your products direct from the producers -ie- buying your olive oil direct from Gaililee
- It would be great if I could use the technology to subvert the supply chain and enable a disintermediated transaction - I haven’t found any Fair Trade producers on Twitter yet but it would be great if there were – I could tweet an idea for a product up, someone could reply and offer to make it for their chosen price and I could do the transaction directly through social media.
Q – but would you put your unique idea on Twitter? (fear of copyright / intellectual property)
A – the key is about disintermediation so on the issue of would I share this – yes- I’ve got many of ideas that i can’t / don’t want to exploit – creating mini-marketplaces for ideas – looking at the examples of Etsy and Folksy – handcraft sold online – which is a marketplace with very little intermediation – lots of producers can sell whatever handcrafted goods they want. Many of them are Fair Trade.
(my comment – issues of standardization being raised – is the issue about more Fair Trade certification or better products?)
Robin: I am working with a new org called Serk(sp?) in US which is taking the concept of an online workshop where artisans collaborate with designers to create new products – because fair trade is fundamentally about participation. Conscious consumers are investors, they are people who know where they want their money to go - so the idea of investing time, values and money to create a more sustainable economy is where we’re heading.
Tim: looking at networked invidualism - it follows the same thing as mentioned earlier about how we’re moving from stories about groups of producers to stories about individual producers - how do we help people engage in that story?
Robin: Marketing is driven by one word – aspiration, that is now being replaced by inspiration. These are fundamental shifts we’re seeing. the I is absolutely critical – if you haven’t got the balls to go online and talk about yourself you won’t engage with the WE or the US – the world won’t change without that
Laura: social media isn’t all about ME it’s about sharing – it’s social history, sharing information, forging relationships online
- Individuality and uniqueness is important needs to be celebrated for consumers- especially in fashion – story is important – more individuals are trend setting now than ever before
- We need to do more knowledge and skill sharing without worrying too much about somebody nicking our idea
Q – What is the next step in capturing the market - what should people who are active in the FT community be looking for?
Tim: there are two things that FT organisations need to do – one is take FT as a concept into people’s online lives – it’s about content – is there a way I can easily display my affiliation with your brand / cause on my social media? Using content more people can take their FT identity into their online lives (looking at Amplified as an example!) - the other thing is looking at the Long Tail – the reach outside of the mainstream
Q – how do u move from a consciousness of duty to a consciousness of fun – and difference? And how can you use people’s sense of play and competitiveness in this direction?
- Actually there’s lots of fun in FT it’s just not in the newspapers or in the advertising – it’s not in commercial spaces so the problem is the connection
Tim: young people ask what’s in it for me? how can you make this fun and there be something in it for me as well to take to my community. The challenge is how can we take this idea of competition and imagine an online scenario where you are competing with other people to get a share of the profit from marketing FT to your community - the key with online is we can try these things, be playful and scale up of they work rather than the economics of traditional advertising
- concept of value – we need to turn concept of value on it’s head – the only way that can happen is through social media, networks, and community initiatives
with social media it’s the way of communicating that’s changing, not the ideas themselves
Open space: EPAs (economic partnership agreement)
November 7th, 2009The fundamental principle for EPAs is a free market. This may work for European countries as they are at the same level of development, economical infrastructure is in place. However it does not work for the ACP (Africa, Caribbean, Pacific) countries. It is not an even playing ground; odds are heavily stacked against ACPs not least because of the negotiation process required to trade in the EU (for example intellectual property rights – some countries may not be able to negotiate this). Bilateral trade agreements have a major drawback: they take no account of development needs.
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’.
Conversations – a video
November 7th, 2009
Fair Trade Futures: conversations from Ben Walker on Vimeo.
We’ve seen dozens of conversations happening this afternoon in the Open Spaces at FTF09. This video just captures a few moments.
For many it’s the first time they’ve taken part in such an unstructured conversation format at a conference, and it has given people a freedom to bring their ideas to groups of like-minded people.
Some sessions veer wildly off topic, but the topics are intentionally informal. Some people would prefer to have an uninterrupted platform from which to speak, but that’s not always what the audience wants…
Open space: What are the major issues for international practice in fair trade?
November 7th, 2009
above – the key notes generated during the discussion by the discussion leader
Q – do we think that an international organization should be more comprehensive?
- already have WFTO (World Fair Trade Organization) – and FLO (Fair Trade Labelling Organisztion – set up as a labelling org for sales) – they have shared charter of fair trade principles (with EFTA – the European FT association) – issue is that these two organizations are preeminent in Fair Trade but they work in very different ways – divergent understanding of fairness that underpins WFTO and FLO – but they are doing diff things with a different focus – if FT globally is to succeed we have to find ways of the FT movement working together. The shared charter has fantastic initiatives but nothing has been produced since
The idea of a producer managed organization for FT? what about groups of producer organizations? Within the WFTO you have regional networks, country networks and producer networks -but below the NFTO the producer organizations aren’t actually the producers – there’s an assumption that these people are producers but they aren’t really
We need to push the values not the principles of FT into the world – honesty, transparency, reciprocity - the way to move FT on is to unlock these pockets of interest and open these values out to the world, ie the banking system
The people on the board are the leaders of their organizations – in principle people can work their way up from producers to the board
- Producers value the role of the mediating organizations – so they don’t have to deal with the consumers – felt the distance is a good thing
- Disagree – A woman I met who wasn’t educated beyond the age of 12 is now the treasurer of million pound generating coffee cooperative – some women and men don’t want to – but she said that it was TWIN working in those communities, talking with the women and helping the understand that they could speak out and get their voice heard make them feel they could be assertive and claim their place
Moving into a networked world- but we are not good at working as networks yet – openness of communication channels are there but we have trickles only right now – we don’t need to centralise or turn into hierarchies – we need to invest in the skills and the capacity to exist as networks. Networks rely on the skills of their nodes. Culture of collaboration – sharing skills through the network. Values of FT can be shared very fast through networks – people not part of FT cos they can’t afford it – the values are what count – the way people think and behave – need to get out of silos
FT links producers and consumer – what’s missing is a clear, simple message that this movement gives as a whole – It is important for the Fair Trade movement to speak to the world with one voice
“You are the future of Fair Trade”
November 7th, 2009Safia Minney from PeopleTree gives a passionate keynote speech.
Keynote: Safia Minney, CEO People Tree
November 7th, 2009
People Tree is the first fair trade organic supply chain for fashion focused particularly in Asia.
One example of some of the people People Tree works with: Swallows- 200 women in Bangladesh who lost their menfolk in the War of Independence in 1971 – started working in handweaving and tailoring (was a typically male occupation) but had no expertise in pattern cutting or management – People Tree gave work and technical assistance. The social impact of this – the women are able to afford electricity, better living conditions, and to send their children to school till the age of 17 (rather than local average of 12)- PT pay twice the amount of average factory worker. (PT also run a Swallows school for 200 children form the local area)
Challenges to Fair Trade movement:
- unfair competition
- economies of scale and barriers to access
- lower standards
People Tree products are fairtrade cotton, organic cotton, and fair trade manufacture – many mainstream producers may meet one of these (often FT cotton but not produced to FT standards). Mainstream companies are using FT as their CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) but it doesn’t have much content
looking at the 10 Standards of Fair Trade in relation to the fashion industry:
- Creating opportunities for economically disadvantages producers: FT is a strategy for poverty alleviation and sustainable development. Its core purpose is to create opportunities for producers who have been economically disadvantages or marginalized by the conventional trading system
- Transparency and Accountability: FT involves transparent management and commercial relations to deal fairly and respectfully with trading partners
- Capacity Building: FT is a means to develop producers’ independence. FT relationships provide continuity, during which producers and their marketing organizations can improve their management skills and their access to new markets
- Promoting Fair Trade: FT organizations raise awareness of FT and the possibility of greater justice in world trade. They provide their customers with information about the organization, the products, and in what conditions they are made. They use honest advertising and marketing techniques and aim for the highest standards in product quality and packing
- Payment of a Fair Price: A fair price in the regional or local context is one that has been agreed through dialogue and participation. It covers not only the cost of production but enables production which is socially just and environmentally sound. It provides fair pay to the producers and takes into account the principle of equal pay for equal work by women and men. Fair Traders ensure prompt payment to their partners and, whenever possible, help producers with access to pre-harvest or pre-production financing
- Gender Equity: FT means that women’s work is properly valued and rewarded. Women are always paid for their contribution to the production process and are empowered in their organizations
- Working conditions: FT means a safe and healthy working environment for producers. The participation of children (if any) does not adversely affect their well-being, security, educational requirements and need for play and conforms to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child as well as the law and norms in the local context
- Child Labour: FT organizations respect the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, as well as local laws and social norms in order to ensure that the participation of children in production processes of fairly traded articles (if any) does not adversely affect their well-being, security, educational requirements and need pr play. Organizations working directly with informally organised producers disclose the involvement of children in production
- Trading Practices: The organization trades with concern for the social, economic and environmental well-being of marginalized small producers and does not maximize profit at their expense.
- Environment: Organizations which produce FT products maximize the use of raw materials from sustainably managed sources in their ranges, buying locally when possible. They use production technologies that seek to reduce energy consumption and where possible use renewable energy technologies that minimize greenhouse gas emissions.
We’ve all agreed what fairtrade is but in terms of execution and accessibility of processes is the issue. Second largest employment group – handweavers – could use grant funding to help them scale to creating product themselves
Fashion industry has extremely little strategy coming from high st retailers- will use a supplier but cut them the next year when trying to cut costs. Prices have come down by more than 4% in high st retailers – inflation in developing countries increasing by 10% year on year - retailers are squeezing suppliers – underpricing by large retailers means they then have to cut back on orders which impacts sustainability for the FT producers
Nothing going into textiles for capacity building – People Tree has to help skill people in pattern cutting etc – I would like to see Givenchy going into a handweaving village and committing to giving them work for the next 15 seasons – need to develop the demand side
Trade relations – we need to hold accountable companies who don’t show how much they are increasing their investment in FT over the years
People Tree work with over 90% women – FT is working in rural areas to create an alternative to help women stay in their rural areas without having to go into vulnerable / dangerous areas
People Tree are strategic about partners they work with. Having their own stores means they can work right the way through production chain. Fair trade and organic supply chain = field -> fabric and dyeing – > screenprinting – > tailoring for 50% of our product, the rest is handmade – trying to encourage mainstream to take longer term investment in the process
Brand partnerships and synergies are important – PT have worked with high profile designers (Thakoon, Richard Nicholl) to create completely fair trade, hand made collection to show the high quality that can be achieved, also working with Topshop to create fair trade clothing right through supply chain. Now have collection going into John Lewis – also collaboration with Emma Watson (Harry Potter star) to create People Tree Youth collection.
Challenge for finance – access to fair finance for FT clothing companies – access to working capital with 9 month lead times, 50% advance payments etc – public share issues for FT fashion?
Q – how is a workshop different from a factory? and the difference between employment and producers- the difference in relationship between artisan vs employee
A – we employ homebase knitters – they work through a subgroup. Swallows group – started with a room of handlooms – over the 10 yrs we have managed to rebuild it, build a handicraft centre and daycare cenre – has evolved into a hand-skill centre
Q – traditional standards vs fair trade standards – whose responsibility is it for ensuring environmental standards are maintained and people producing them are genuinely fair traded?
A- the producing organisation and the purchasing organisation.
People Tree is listening to the consumer and the producer. We are trying to get people to share FT practices and ethical ideas
The Fair Trade Potential of New Media
November 7th, 2009Session chaired by Tim Davies
Example in action: Dr Ian Brown and Dr Dorothea Kleine – The Fair Tracing Project
The Fair Tracing project is a research project from Royal Holloway Uni on using technology to open up the supply chain and involve consumers within the process:
The Fair Tracing project, funded by the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) grant number EP/E009018/1, aims to help bridge the digital divide between Northern consumers and Southern producers by using tracing technology to enhance the Fair Trade model of trade. Digital tracing technology enables each individual product to be both given a unique identity and tracked throughout the value chain from producer to consumer. The Fair Tracing project believes that attaching tracing technology to Fair Trade products sourced in developing countries will enhance the value of such goods to consumers in the developed world seeking to make ethical purchasing choices
Ethical consumption is giving consumers the choice – creating a regulation, giving choice, offering information to the consumers – this project is about how to get the information to the consumers. Mapping a chain of a product – valuable to both producers and consumers, but also how can we give businesses an opportunity to use the tool to show they are doing things better?
The project is looking at two different Fair Trade products – Chilean Fair Trade wine and Indian shade-grown coffee – and creating an online tool that took into account producers and consumers. Looking at production process as well as social and environmental aspects that producers might be interested in. Looked at where the money from Fair Trade went in communities. Mapped the entire value chain
As part of the research they talked to consumers about their decision making. They found consumers made their decisions differently based on different products – varied in the two diff products they were looking at – coffee and wine. Consumers cared about fair trade, food miles, carbon footprint, child labour. what they wanted was third party info – where can I see where my money goes? high degree of distrust for UK supermarkets and scepticism of ethical claims made by supermarkets. Aura of trust in brand changing trust in belief of fair trade- I trust Waitrose so I trust their FT claims.
Looking at how you use technology to make people feel connected with the producers and to feel the same affinity as they do with local farmers. On site could collect video, audio and text all the way along the chain and play it back to consumers. Food miles came up again and again – especially when using mapping data. Also working with Nokia – using barcode readers,
Started project at the end of 2006 – now are in touch with 13 other similar projects in UK, USA and Finland – trying to find points of agreement to create open source effort to bring all ideas together – held Ethics 2.0 summit in Oct 2008 to try to put together ethical consumer information system – no decided system yet – the buzz is there but no concrete answers yet
learning experiences:
- True participation is crucial to building the system but is resource and time intensive
- Language barriers caused problems for international fair trade
- Key difficulty with using such open info – what happens to the trust? Who should have editorial rights? Should info be crowdsourced and if so how do you build trust?
- Time pressure issues – too much info is overload for consumers
- Important to understand when academia should hand over to social enterprise
- process is deeply replicable but product is evolving
Social Media speaker 1- Steve Bridger – Online Community builder and Digital Engagement adviser to charities
Steve talked about his past with Oxfam. Progresso Coffee was before its time
He first saw the power of individuals in making change in 2007 when he watched the Water Buffalo Movie – technology helping us to connect people directly to issues (the YouTube video has been watched 56,282 times)
Other great examples: Akvo – non-profit organisation with a knowledge, funds/projects matchmaking and monitoring/reporting web platform for water and sanitation projects – set themselves up as a platform for small NGOs to share knowledge and tell their stories – often through video (which now is pretty easy and cheap to do)
mobileactive.org – A global network of people using mobile technology for social impact - the power of mobile now is being able to tell personal stories. Also huge potential of gaming and apps to bring people closer together
Social Media Speaker 2 - Pete Cranston, New Media and ICT Specialist - “I’m a convergent geek!”
We’re in phase 2 of using social media – now I can see who’s talking to who and can move laterally – I can see what’s going on and have multiple separate conversations – exponentially connecting people
Using social networks – Oxfam is on many of the social platforms (facebook, MySpace, twitter,) Greenpeace US as over 100,00 followers on MySpace (actually 122,019 as of today!) - value of network is in engaging people in the wider issues around the product
Issues in Masai Mara being discussed through social media – Western Kenya reserve talking to the rest of the world through twitter facebook, etc
Not just about outside conversations – La Campagne – group of Haitian vets set up a buy-a-cow-for-a-farmer project that you can track – you loan a cow to a farmer and are kept informed of its progress – after it has had 4 calves you get one back
Kiva - direct microloan organisation – loaning money directly to individual entrepreneurs. Kiva is a tiny organisation so very small overheads – huge power of re-intermediation. However - Social Edge (part of the Skoll Foundation) did a critical review of Kiva and the transactional impact on small producer- you have to show how you spent the money (blogging, video etc) rather than just writing it – asking people who are farmers to produce and edit compelling video as they are now competing on a global market
Safe assumption that pretty much everyone can use a mobile phone – and as soon as people can connect they go social - Mixit: a basic mobile only social network enabling you to communicate to your whole network by SMS is hugely popular in S.Africa with over 6 million users
convergence and digital divides – mobile is the technology for Africa – no longer just a phone it’s effectively a computer you can talk to people on
questions / points raised:
- risk of making it harder for smaller, poorer producers – how much does it cost?
- tracability is absorbing – will create high transaction cost on consumers
using RFID technology to trace value chain – story telling element and electronic systems being implemented – combining these is powerful – links to how we can create models of trust based on factual reality of social constructivist ideas from people’s own stories – think about trust (WFTO running a sfms – barcode traceability through system)
- How does the producer feel about collaborating and talking to the consumer?
Robin Smith talking about World Fair Day website – most is artisan-produced content – producers want to be involved in the conversation
- Issue of older people not online – people don’t always want to go to a website- what else can we do? Reflection from audience – at her fair trade shop they write the name of the producer on the price tag of each product sold – Tim Davis - Is the till receipt where we tell the story?
Dorothea Kleine – generational gap – there’s a space for intermediation between twitter and the newspaper – how can we open those different channels for different people with different usage profiles to get the plethora?
- consumer end of the chain is too politicised – we don’t talk enough about the producer end
Anne MacCaig (Café Direct) and Mick Blowfield (Oxford) take questions
November 7th, 2009This whole session was dynamic and interesting, and it came to a head with some great questions for the two speakers, largely focussed on Mick Blowfield’s talk: “The role of constructive criticism in Fair Trade”.
I recorded the 15 minute question session. The level isn’t wonderful, but you can hear what’s going on. I’ll get closer next time… (photos below for the visually-minded)
Anne MacCaig and Mick Blowfield take questions at Fair Trade Futures [16:18m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
Mick Blowfield taking questions
Anne (Café Direct) taking questions on "Navigating the Mainstream"
Sergi Corbalan – Fair Trade Advocacy Office
November 7th, 2009Rhodes Trust Lecture Theatre
Advocacy can be interpreted in many ways. One main aspect is to make sure the Fairtrade concept is respected. Second is getting more market access for Fairtrade producers, and third is making international trade fair.
Protecting the Fairtrade system
The more you grow as a system, the more aware people are of you, the more jealous people are. It’s important to make sure consumers are not misled. While fully respecting other initiatives in the ethical area that emphasise their added value, the legal frameworks have to allow consumers to know what they’re buying and prevent consuimers from being misled in to buying products that are not Fairtrade.
How do we make sure that the Fairtrade system is protected? It’s probably wiser to keep the definition of the Fairtrade movement in the hands of the Fairtrade movement.
The problem with the organic movement was that there was no agreement on what the term organic meant, it fell to governments to classify it. That’s why the Fairtrade movement are not keen on allowing governments to classify what Fairtrade means.
Market Access
This means the capacity to do business without too many barriers. Not business at the expense of everything else, but business with values. How to increase market access? Market mechanisms are linked to companies and consumers, so you need initiatives to turn companies towards ethical and Fairtrade schemes. For consumer/citizen it’s about awareness of what ethical and Fairtrade means. Consumer awareness of Fairtrade in the UK is high, which is a great achievement If the consumers are not aware of the added value of Fairtrade it is useless. And if there are no producers ready to supply that’s a problem to be addressed as well.
There is a big difference between the talk and the policy of Fairtrade especially in America and the EU. The agricultural policy of the EU is an example of policies that are ill designed, that are often bad for small producers in Europe and at the same time are a big barrier to market access for producers from the south. These sorts of rules cause obstacles for Fairtrade to realise its potential.
Fairtrade has three pillars. One is the alternative trading partnership – partnership with values and empowering consumers. The consumer awareness pillar of Fairtrade is key and so is the political and campaigning side. Having partnerships with multinational companies like Starbucks makes consumers ask questions about the legitimacy of Fairtrade, and it’s up to the Fairtrade organisations to show they have not become puppets for these companies. Alex Nicholls‘ forthcoming article on the subject is greatly recommended.
Making International Trade Fair
How do we make a difference with the Fairtrade movement? How do we choose the priorities in advocacy, where we can add value? We are in the process of doing this thinking, which is very interesting. It is clear that if you pick an example like Palestine, there is a lot of good work from the political point of view highlighting the situation around Fairtrade olive oil from Palestine. It’s not just coming from the theoretical point of view of what makes the world more fair, it’s saying we want to highlight these specific issues because we can make a difference there.
People are showing every day that they choose Fairtrade. It’s very important, we have the privilege to make the link between the consumers, the producers and the policies to make trade fair across the world.
Carry Somers – Pachacuti
November 7th, 2009Rhodes Trust Lecture Theatre
Pachacuti don’t have any raw materials that can be certified as Fairtrade but they consider ourselves to be and describe themselves that way.
Founded in 1992, using traditional skills from the Andes, supporting 1200 people – knitters, hatters etc.
Principal raw materials locally and ethically sourced but not certified Fairtrade. This has caused problems, Next wanted to stock their Panama hats but insisted on the Fairtrade mark – told the company they couldn’t stock the hats until they had it.
This spurred them to become a part of the Sustainable Fairtrade Management System (SFTMS) – an alternative to the standard Fairtrade certification which certifies the organisation rather than just the specific product. Focuses on the management of the certified organisation e.g. labour issues, relationships with stakeholders and staff, production systems, purchases, sales, verification of all processes and procedures. Checking they’re doing what they say they’re doing in terms of their producers.
Pachacuti find none of their products are eligible for the Fairtrade mark due to where they’re made, even though they’re ethically and locally sourced in Ecuador. They think the Panama hat is the ideal first product to bear the label as it once epitomised colonial rule but a Fairtrade Panama will symbolise the power returned to the hands of the producer groups themselves.
The price of a garment is not determined by the raw material alone but by the added value from design, embellishment, etc. so Pachacuti believes it is important to have a label which recognises the Fairtrade production process, all the added value there on top of just the raw materials.
Action Plan Examples include:
- changing to 100% renewable electricity
- staff training courses at London College of Fashion
- new glasses for embroiderers, with eye tests and glasses to be provided for the weavers next
“SFTMS has provided a really valuable structured framework for improving our business relationship with our producer groups, strengthened our organisation system throughout its management system and relationship with staff and stakeholders and brought about immediate improvements to our quality control. Holding short talks with producers on posture when knitting, for example, cost us nothing but made a massive difference as they weren’t aware of the importance of sitting properly and taking breaks.”
Pachacuti’s Fairtrade Report 2008-9 is available here.
Fairtrade Futures – Photos
November 7th, 2009More photos here, updated throughout the day.
Fair Trade: Towards a New Economics of Virtue? (Alex Nicholls)
November 7th, 2009
Alex Nicholls taking questions at #ftf09
Never underestimate the power of a good story.
Alex starts by showing this video from Canal+. Fair Trade is a good story.
The numbers: £2.6 billion global certified Fair Trade sales in 2008 (up 22%), £713 million in the UK (up 47%).
The story: Slum situations in Bangladesh. Most workers are in garment factories, foreign investors, no real health and safety regulations. Long hours, 6/7 days a week, £12/month. Often their rent is the same as their wage, so they are stuck in a cycle of poverty.
The People Tree project aims to allow rural economies to be sustainable so that people don’t have to migrate to the cities. Long term employment for 250 women. Creche, school, skills training, legal support. People Tree pay 70% of their income. There are more details and photos on Safi’s blog.
People often hear the story and suspect that it’s just marketing, that it’s all commercial. But Fair Trade really works. We’ll be talking today about how to make the story .
Everyone wants a part of a good story. Is Fair Trade just supplying the story for others to take advantage of?
Bigger questions
Can Fair Trade work for wider societal change? Can it be a political force?
The economy has been depressing. Retail sales and reduction in global trade flows directly affect Fair Trade.
But it’s not all bad: Research saw Sainsbury’s customers buying Fair Trade products and economising on other products.
Economics of virtue
Marx talked about “commodity fetishism”: he reckoned that people didn’t care where their products came from, they just fetishised the object itself. That’s where modern capitalism has gone now. But Adam Smith wrote Theory of Modern Sentiments way back in 1759. The idea of embedding capitalism back into society, of basing our economic models around doing good, community and virtue is not new.
The three Ls of Fair Trade: loyalty, lifestyle, legitimacy
What’s going to happen to Fair Trade?
1. Business as usual: Fair Trade becomes mainstream and people who just supply Fair Trade become irrelevant.
2. Fair Trade remains a niche. Large retailers buy into it when it suits them.
3. Economy of virtue: Fair Trade enters the mainstream and transforms it. Ethical consumption becomes the norm. Producers own their own development. This is “the prize”.
Supporting and Networking Fair Trade: Governments, Companies, Citizens
November 7th, 2009Speaker: Deborah McGurk, Policy Lead on Fair and Ethical Trade for the Joint Policy Unit of DFID and BIS:
Why is government involved in trade? setting the enabling environment for trade to happen, increasing market access to trade, aid for trade (turning market access into real trade) – fair trade is an important way of achieving the aid for trade objectives
In 1980 world trade was much smaller – trade exports from dev countries grew massively by 2005 – the projections for 2030 is that 45% of trade is from developing countries- we want to see these grow more and the poorest countries and producers within them rising faster.
Trading services big change over recent years. Globalisation story is positive for growth and poverty reduction. Still high transport costs due to trade-related infrastructure – so many barriers to neighbouring countries doing trade, threat to efficiencies of scale. Sometimes the losers from trade in the short term are a barrier to creating change that will have long term positive impact.
DFID’s recent white paper- Building our Common Future published in July this year – sees growth and trade as a central part of our support to developing countries- over next 4 years massive scale up of funding – committed a 6-fold increase to fair and ethical trade labelling (£12million)
Govt support to Fair Trade currently: DFID through fairtrade foundation provided project support, funding for fair trade schools through funds for raising awareness, since last year involved in new initiative led by Switzerland – an international donor consortium for fairtrade labelling (across Europe, USA and Australasia) (more info here)
Initiatives include Joining up Africa agenda – joining markets, facilitating better flows – supporting devloping countries capacities to trade on their own. Funds are for system development – standard setting, raising understanding and awareness. We do not believe only fair trade labelling is the key, international trade is - fair trade is valuable but not the whole story, it will never be the whole story
Q&A:
Dorothea Kleine – uni lecturer Royal Holloway: globalization is dominated by few large players – saying this is benign for producers without differentiating between different countries is problematic. comparing a company like Tata in India with small producers in sub-Saharan Africa is not clean – we need to think about this in a much more sophisticated way – in your unit in DFID is there that differentiated thinking going on?
70 people within the team – lots of diff thinking. DFID thinks trade is good for growth and development – countries decide when they are ready to trade – South East Asia is a great example of lots of support given before opening their borders to trade
Least developed countries have very long adjustment period- this has the risk of disempowering though – developing countries don’t have the barter capabilities. Aid for Trade is also about helping countries have the capacities to know what their own best interests are in trade.
Q how is DFID tackling these issues in practice?
Lots of examples – ComMark work in South Africa working with regional bodies and private sector looking at removing barriers to change
Q - Patricia- Fair Trade Coalition – peace and security – do any of your 70 policy people address the issues of peace and war and it’s issues with poverty – fair trade as a form of peace building?
We know conflict destroys the gains of development and sometimes positive change leads to new conflict- DFID’s work with a number of countries exiting mass absolute poverty -allows development effort to focus on where the hardest challenges are and those are increasingly those countries affected by conflict – we do see trade as being a valuable part of building links between people (if you’re trading with your neighbours you tend not to be fighting with them) – we see trade as part of the answer and fair trade is part of that too, but not the only part
Mike Gidney – Authenticity, Legitimacy and Certification
November 7th, 2009Rhodes Trust Lecture Theatre
Mike Gidney used to work for Traidcraft – who trade in certified and non-certified Fairtrade goods e.g. there are some rubber gloves available in Tesco with Traidcraft mark but not Fairtrade mark. He now works for Fairtrade Foundation.
“There is no one thing of Fairtrade” – just because Traidcraft has its model here how can we say that the Waitrose Foundation…which is not certified Fairtrade…how can we say they’ve got it wrong?”
Who are we to say what is fair and what is not?
Copycat schemes – claims of fairness, ethicality, sustainability e.g. Ethical Tea Partnership. Line on their packs which would say “working towards a more ethical tea industry”. What does that mean? As a consumer it says nothing about what they’re trying to do.
How do we navigate this labyrinth?
What is authentic Fairtrade? The heart is the promise made to producers and consumers. The Fairtrade mark “is a guarantee of a better deal for FT producers”. A guarantee that this product makes a difference.
Real Fairtrade, authentic Fairtrade, will have a multi stakeholder background, owned and managed and delivered by people who have reached some kind of partnership and understanding.
We know too much now just to trust companies who we think we like.
Internationally agreed Fairtrade standards / internationally argued Fairtrade standards – these are regularly debated. Questions like do we need to change this aspect and are we learning from what we’re doing have to be asked all the time.
International Fairtrade Standards:
- standards for small farmers
- standards for hired labour
- generic trade standard
- product specific standards
- minimum prices
- Fairtrade premium levels
Certification:
- physical inspection of the operations
- desk audits of the operations’ documentation
- desk audits of the traders’ flow of goods reports (purchases, sales, stocks, payment etc)
Increasing our focus on impact is essential.
Impact for smallholders and workers:
Gerado Camacho, Coocafe – “The Fairtrade price allows us to survive as coffee farmers. It covers our costs of production, lets us send our kids to school, buy clothes and keep a roof over our heads.”
Arturo Gomez, Coopetrabasur: “Before I was someone that took a box and loaded it on to a train. That was my only responsibility. I was just a farmer, who was an intermediary. In this new system I have become an internation businessman.”
Studies being undertaken at the moment:
- Sector studies: bananas, cotton
- Country studies: Malawi (tea, sugar and nuts)
- South Africa (hired labour and smallholders, fruit, wine and rooibos)
- Focused work on issues such as gender and diversification
Tesco saw a double digit sales growth when they switched to Fairtrade tea and coffee, Cadburys Dairy Milk is also seeing growth, but it’s too early to say how big. It’s extraordinary that Fairtrade sales are holding up even in a recession when other ethical brands are not.
PWC report on sustainability in 2008 – is it working for consumers? They found consumers clearly want to buy in to sustainability. 58% find fewer sustainable options available than they would like. This is Fairtrade, organic, ethical trade, the whole sector. “Consumers are now at the point where they increasingly expect sustainable attributes to be an inherent part of the products and services they buy.”
Fairtrade is a grassroots social movement:
- 450 Fairtrade towns
- 100 Fairtrade Universities
- 5500 Fairtrade faith groups
- 3000 Fairtrade schools
Public opinion in the UK is hugely in favour of sustainability.
In a recent survey 95% of people would recommend or be positive about Fairtrade.
What do we do next? How do we retain authenticity in this increasingly crowded ethical market? We have to really focus on our integrity. We must not let the mainstreaming of Fairtrade to water down the standards. Now corners will be cut on bringing Starbucks in to the system. What Cadbury’s is doing in Fairtrade is really good – they’re bringing scale and volume. But on a much smaller level what Divine Chocolate are doing is a whole leap ahead, not in volume but as a model.
How do we maintain that level of trust – 95% of the people? It’s a major risk for us but equally the most fantastic opportunity.
Fairtrade is still an incredibly small part of trade. We are still absolutely tiny, our market share is in small percentage points across the product range. But what the trust figure and the PWC Report is telling me is that there is a substantial public mandate in the UK for us to act to make Fairtrade fairer for everybody.
Introduction to the event: Alex Nicholls
November 7th, 2009Alex Nicholls, University Lecturer in Social Entrepreneurship, Skoll Centre, Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, opens the day:
- We held a first event like this 5 years ago – we wanted to revist the idea of a one day event in Oxford
- Fair Trade has been moving fast, and excellerating in the last 5 years – we want to ask more penetating questions of fair trade – 5 years ago we wanted to explore what fair trade was doing but not be too critical – the way FT has developed has been positive but has raised critical issues – up to the last 18 months FT has been under benign economic conditions – that has long since past, so the question now is how to continue to grow FT in times of recession. This is highlighting polictical questions to be answered by those involved in FT.
- Second big area is question of mainstreaming – how to take the movement into the mainstream – the achellenges and issues of mainstreaming and scaling and the are the more problematic issues
- Last time we did this we were aware it was very much talking at the audience – we want you to drive the issues and the programe so the afternoon is about forming discussion groups facilitated by the organisers – we want to get YOU involved in the conversation as much as possible (AG- the perfect Amplified event!)
ftf09 keynote speaker: Safia Minney
November 7th, 2009Safia Minney is an inspiration to anyone involved in social entrepreneurship and fair trade – the founder of Global Village and People Tree, she has built a company that brings social, environmental and educational benefit to communities of workers in 12 countries, and has been hugely influential in educating the UK market on the importance of fair trade.
This video of Safia talking at an Inspiring Entrepreneurs event at the British Library in September gives some insights into the background and workings of People Tree, and offers some surprising statistics:
“People Tree is a brand that would use fashion to empower as many people as possible – so not only would we use organic and fair trade cotton we would also hand weave it, we would hand embellish it… and in this way we might be able to employ not one person for 13 minutes (which is the average length of production time of a garment today) but one person for between one day and four days…creating a business model that will bring and deliver livelihoods into rural areas”
“People Tree employs 3000 people… so there are roughly 15000 people that are eating from the clothes that People Tree sells… and is increasing incomes and revenue levels for those people by around 150%… those profits are invested back into the fairtrade model, helping more people benefit from work opportunities”
I’m definitely looking forward to hearing her talk tomorrow….
Amplifying Fair Trade Futures
November 6th, 2009
The Amplified team will be heading to The Said Business School in Oxford bright and early tomorrow morning to report from the Fair Trade Futures conference, a one-day event aiming to discuss and dissect some of the key issues currently affecting the future of Fair Trade, and hear from recent case studies and examples around each of these.
The speakers and panelists will be tackling 5 key areas:
- The Economics of Virtue: How can Fair Trade continue to grow in the mainstream without being captured by Big Business?
- Authenticity, Legitimacy and Certification; What makes Fair Trade authentically Fair Trade? How does it establish its legitimacy?
- Accountability and Impact: How can the voice of producers be more influential in the planning of Fair Trade strategy?
- Global Economic Trends and Sustainability: Dealing with the crisis – How the economic downturn is affecting Fair Trade?
- Fair Trade and Trade Agreements: What is the impact of bilateral and multilateral trade negotiations on Fair Trade?
With an impressive list of experts, high-level and senior figures, active practitioners and campaigners attending and participating this looks set to be a fascinating day full of discussion and debate, and the Amplified team will be blogging, tweeting and audiobooing from each of the sessions and encouraging all attendees to do the same. Please follow us here to discover the day as it unfolds…
Audioboo PodCasts (this will auto-update as the day unfolds)