Who is the awarding body? Leeds Development Education Centre (DEC

Why 2012? To help to kick-start the campaign to get Yorkshire designated as the world’s first Fairtrade Region

What is the Award? To recognize a small number of individuals or groups based in, or with strong links to Yorkshire. Each award winner must be making a significant contribution towards making the world a fairer place.

In our submission, we wrote:

“Just imagine five hundred ordinary people, like you and me. Making a real difference to the lives of children and communities all around the world – and a difference to our lives too.

This is what happened when five hundred people, (many from Yorkshire, but some from far away places) were inspired to form a community co-operative. Launched in June 2010, The Fair Traders Cooperative (www.thefairtraderscooperative.co.uk) was made possible by each member buying at least one £20 share. Each and every person wanted to try and do their bit to make the world a fairer place – through promoting Fair trade and buying truly ethical goods.

We sought small producers, especially co-operatives – from Afghanistan, Bolivia, Colombia, Nepal and many other countries – whose lives we could support, by partnering with them, and selling their goods. We also have some local products that have a positive impact on our own community.

Buying products like these means that children around the world get a better deal.
• Drinking Grumpy Mule Guatemala Pocola coffee means children now attend school – with money supporting teachers, buildings and resources. And the coffee is grown in a way that protects the local environment.
• Each product has its own amazing story.
• Each product and supplier is assessed by the members and star rated (5 is best!) – to make sure it has a positive social and economic impact, is environmentally sound, and is produced in a transparent way.

Many members give their time as volunteers – working in the shop, helping with the website, assessing the products, taking assemblies in schools, etc

We, The Fair Traders Cooperative –
• Run campaigns, like the Rice Challenge– for every 90 kg of Kilombero rice sold, the child of a Malawian farmer can go to High School for a year.
• Hold events – learning from Fairtrade producers, promoting Fairtrade fashion, holding Eco-friendly art exhibitions
• Sell goods online and in the Holmfirth shop – for the home and the garden – clothes, toys, food and drink, gifts, stationery…and lots more.
• Share ideas and skills – online and through sessions at the shop

You can -
• Get your school or college or Youth Group to join, as a Corporate member
• Share ideas and learn more from our website and blogs
• Buy goods that you know are making peoples’ lives better, caring for the environment and helping communities grow
• Start your own ‘Young Co-operative’ to make and sell Fairtrade products”

The Reward!
Our submission took the eye of the judges, and as a reward, Mark Lewis (Chief Officer) and Kathryn Sheard (volunteer) were grilled by Hannah Dalyrmple from Leeds DEC!  We soon felt we were in with a chance,

The DEC focused on two areas –
• Our work with schools and education partners, especially the opportunities for Young Cooperatives to work with us – to develop and sell Fair trade goods.
• The Just Trading Rice Challenge we ran in 2011. For every 90 kg of rice a farmer in Malawi sells, he can send a son/daughter to High school for a year. We found the image of 90 kg of rice on one side of the scales catapulting a young person to school in Malawi really inspired people! We sold over 400kg of rice.

 GLOBAL ADVOCATE AWARD WINNERS:

• Bankside Primary School
• Hilary Benn
• Joseph Ndanema
• Liam Spencer
• Lindley Infant School (Kirklees)
• Nahid Rasool
• Not Just Us Youth Enterprise
• St Mary’s Menston
• The Fair Traders Cooperative (Kirklees)

We are delighted to have been chosen as one of only nine winners of the Yorkshire Global Advocate Award. So, thank you – to each and every one of the 540 members of The Fair Traders Cooperative for making this possible.

Leeds DEC has produced a ‘Global Advocate Exhibition Pack’ priced £14.99. This includes a DVD featuring the Award winners, case studies and classroom activities.
For further information contact:
Hannah Dalrymple, Leeds Development Education Centre Hannah@leedsdec.org.uk

In 2003 Thandi became the first ever Fairtrade certified wine brand in the world!

Established in 1995, with the help of the Paul Cluver family, the farmers battled to cultivate the land that was then covered in blue gum and pine trees. Vernon’s story charted the progress of the 250 producer families – from the euphoria and high levels of expectation surrounding the release of Nelson Mandela – to a gradual realisation of the slow rate of change within South Africa. The farms are unusual, in that the farm worker families own 55% of the wine company, and between 55% and 100% of the three farm vineyards.

When you buy this wine, the Fairtrade Premium is used to raise the living standards of the farming community, and to develop educational facilities for both the farm workers and their children. Many have never had the opportunity to attend school. The money from the Fairtrade Premium has also been used to fund the building of a medical facility and nurse training, and to improve transport for children and the elderly.

With vineyards at Stellenbosch, Elgin and Botrivier, the current production is 600 tons. The sun looks to always shine in stunningly beautiful countryside, and in fact, one of the challenges is to protect the grapes from the most intense heat.

The reality for many South Africans is that they have no access to participate in the formal economy. Thandi has bucked the trend and created a sustainable model based on partnership and mentoring.

The Fair Traders Cooperative is now stocking online and in its Holmfirth shop – a range of Thandi wines – so you can both enjoy the fantastic wine and also know that you are contributing to the well-being and future success of the South African farmers and their families.

TAKE A STEP with a Thandi Fairtrade wine. Enjoy the fantastic wine and also know that you are contributing to the lives of the South African farmers and their families.

Let us know if you would like to see Fairtrade Lebanon products at The Fair Traders Cooperative.

Fairtrade International (FLO) / News / Latest News / Single View.

Green (Living) Review: FAIRTRADE FORTNIGHT: One year on, leading jeweller reports positive response to Fairtrade gold.

Fairtrade Fortnight 2012 Starts Today! « Oxford Fairtrade City.

The first is a big thumbs up for George Adam, Scottish MP, who led a Fairtrade debate in the Scottish parliament

MSP Secures Fairtrade Debate to Launch Fairtrade Fortnight.

Fair Trade Fun Football

football?

We’ve chosen this particular promotion because the theme for Fairtrade Fortnight this year is ‘take a step for Fairtrade’, so encouraging people to step up to a Fairtrade football challenge seems a fitting campaign. It also gives us an opportunity to highlight the positive difference that buying a Fairtrade football makes to the people involved in producing the balls – from those harvesting the rubber, to those hand stitching the footballs. Our supplier, Fair Corp, has written up for their website some of the stories of the people who make our Fairtrade footballs, and we have reproduced these below. These stories show how much better workers’ lives are as a result of working for Fairtrade, rather than the traditional sports ball trade. The Fair Traders Co-operative’s Education Group of volunteers has adapted these stories into a format appropriate for schools to use as a teaching resource – please get in touch for more information. Find out more about how you can get involved in The Fair Traders Co-operative’s Fairtrade Keepy Uppy Challenge here.

The Khan Family – a New Addition to a Fairtrade Family

Morcadus

Outside Sialkot, Pakistan, there is a small village called Gaper where a large Banyan tree provides welcome shade from the sweltering heat. The lush, paddy fields surrounding the village are home to numerous tropical birds and water buffalo, which wallow in the mud pools. Gaper is a very poor village; the road is extremely rutted and the few buildings are single-story brick dwellings that house large families. We met the Khan family who had just been joined by a new arrival of a healthy baby boy a few days before. His Mother, Mushulcut, is holding her new baby who was delivered at a good hospital in Sialkot where she stayed 24 hours after giving birth. The hospital fees and all necessary health care were paid entirely by the Fairtrade welfare scheme, “I am very thankful that the hospital was paid for,” she said, “without this we would be in debt. My last baby was also delivered with the help of the welfare scheme, she was a girl. Now we have a boy we have called him ‘Morcadus’ which means ‘The Holy’.” Mushulcut’s husband, Selferaz, was also keen to explain how helpful the Fairtrade scheme has been, “we are a Fair Trade family,” he smiles.

Rezwan Waris – Micro-credits for Maximum Ethics

Rezwan

When Rezwan does his ironing he overlooks the busy side street outside in Pasrur, a historic town close to Sialkot, Pakistan. “Daoud Ahmed’s Laundry Shop” announces a beautifully drawn sign on the shop window. Next to Rezwan, white, light blue, grey and beige kurtas and pyjamas, the long shirts and wide cotton trousers men in Pakistan traditionally wear, are neatly folded and stacked high on the shelf. His brother Mohammad is a football stitcher at Talon, which made 23-year old Rezwan eligible to receive a RS 30,000 loan from the Talon Fair Trade Workers Welfare Society to set up his laundry business. The most expensive investment was the large washing machine and spin drier, which his mother, Shadah, operates at home just a few minutes walk away from the shop. Six suits or twelve pieces of laundry can go through the 15 minute washing cycle at a time and are then dried on the roof of the house. Since Daoud Ahmed’s Laundry opened in December 2006, business has been going well. Depending on the fabric type Rezwan charges between RS 25 and RS 30 for washing and ironing a set of kurta / pyjamas – and the average male in Pasrur gets through three to four sets per week. After paying the rent and other expenses like detergents, Rezwan earns between RS 200 and RS 250 per day, which equals a Fair Trade football stitching wage and provides a reliable, continuous income for himself and support for his parents and siblings.

Sameena Nyaz – Decent Healthcare through Ethical Projects

Sameena

Sameena Nyaz is 18 years old, single, and lives in a village called Chagelen near Sialkot, the world capital of football production in Pakistan. Her father runs the snack shop in the football stitching centre 200 meters away, which was built by Talon Sports, the first Fairtrade football supplier. Sameena goes there to stitch footballs and it is due to Fairtrade that this local centre is available. Most football stitching used to be done in the home but this was phased out by the big companies in an attempt to eradicate child labour. This had a hugely negative impact on families as companies moved the work into big factory units in order to prevent child labour but they effectively locked out women who could not afford to be away from home for the whole day. After home-based stitching stopped, the local stitching centre was one of the first where women could continue such work. Sameena is one of eleven siblings; she has seven sisters and four brothers, two of the older siblings also stitch balls. Stitching wages are low, only Fairtrade buyers pay enough to enable the three children to provide their family with all the basic necessities. Sameena never had the chance to attend school; instead she has been contributing to the family income from an early age, and has now been stitching for over three years. The family has a small hut and a kitchen garden, in which everyone helps out contributing to their everyday lifestyle. Not long before this photo was taken Sameena had to have a thyroid operation – the bandage on her neck is still there. All costs were paid for by the Fair Trade Welfare Society – the health care scheme made possible by the Fairtrade premium that is paid on every Fairtrade ball that is made.

Kitman – Fair Trade Projects Provide Safe Water for Local Community

Kitman

Kitman, who is 67 years old, is still working full-time as a rubber tapper on the Frocester Plantation in Sri Lanka. By local standards, Kitman is a successful man; all of his seven sons have found work in the capital Colombo, which is two hours away by bus. The eldest is in charge of a small business, two have become tailors, two work as drivers and two are employed as shop assistants. One of his daughters is a teacher and the other works as a rubber tapper on the same plantation as her father. Kitman has managed to improve the basic accommodation provided by the plantation with the family’s combined savings, to the extent that the basic structure of what once was called battery housing is hardly noticeable. The house at present is occupied by nine people; Kitman and his wife, three of his daughters-in-law and two grandchildren, as well as his daughters. Previously, the house had one major drawback – there was no running water. This has to be fetched from an open well, 100 yards across the village road. According to the medical officer of the plantation, many people in the area suffer from dysentery and other water-borne diseases as a result from the lack of a safe water supply. This is where Fair Corp’s new Fairtrade rubber project came in. In an agreement with the plantation owners, Fair Corp’s sourcing partner ordered rubber for its ETHLETIC products and paid a Fairtrade premium of 0.50 EUR per KG of rubber. Subsequently, the management and the workers established a Fair Trade Welfare Society and jointly decided how this money should be spent. One project on which the money was spent was the installation of a pump and a piping system, so that 20 households around the well will each get a tap in front of their homes, including Kitman’s household. The other major Fairtrade project agreed was the restoration of a common room for the workers, a canteen area and a unit with sanitary toilets. A place where workers, mostly women, can change into their working clothes and keep food safely was also agreed. All of these projects were paid for by Fairtrade premiums; hopefully there will be many more to come that will improve the living and working conditions of workers, their families and the community.

Shymala – Fairtrade Funding for Higher Education

Shymala

Shymala works in the latex factory of New Ambadi rubber estate. She is a trade union leader, not just representing the workers of the plantation, but also the rubber workers in the whole district. Additionally, Shymala is a member of the joint body which started when Fair Corp’s sourcing partners began buying rubber under Fairtrade conditions. Fair Corp’s sourcing partners are the only company in the world who pay a Fairtrade premium for latex, this is then processed into components for footballs and other sports balls in Pakistan providing an ethical way of supporting local communities. The joint body has regular meetings and keeps a minute book recording all relevant information. After many discussions, the joint body decided to save the Fairtrade premiums and start a fund to pay for higher education for the children of the plantation workers. Even though in principle education in India is free, sadly, only children who can afford to go to private schools have a chance of getting a decent job after their education. The joint body has told Fair Corp’s sourcing partners that it needs to buy at least ninety tons of rubber in order to feed the fund with enough money to start paying out stipends. Shymala hopes that her granddaughter will be one of the first to benefit from this scheme. She hopes she will train as a nurse, therefore giving something back to the local community. The three year course costs approximately £2750 in fees, which she could never afford out of her salary. The second benefit of Fair Corp buying rubber is that it has paid for New Ambadis registration with the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) scheme for responsible forest management, helping to make rubber production more sustainable.

Fair Trade Fun Football

Take a step for fairtrade during Fairtrade Fortnight and beyond.  Buy a fairtrade football here.

Afghan Raisin Farmer

Where the free market has failed these raisin farmers, our amazing suppliers, Tropical Wholefoods, have been working for over five years, against the odds, in a war zone, to develop the first Fair Trade product to come out of Afghanistan.

The Shomali Plain, Parwan province is known as Kabul’s Garden and is ideal for the cultivation of grapes, earning the farmers there a reputation in the 1960s and 70s for producing and exporting some of the best raisins in the world. However, during the Soviet era, civil war and Taliban regime, there was heavy fighting in the region. The low-lying grape vines provided perfect cover for fighters and therefore many of them were destroyed and the entire area was heavily mined.

Firstly ,Tropical Wholefoods helped the grape farmers form the Parwan Raisin Producer Cooperative, which has, in turn, helped them get better prices for equipment, seedlings, and materials.
Next, they provided training and equipment to help them resume production. This included grafting and pruning techniques, provision of trellis poles, and drying mats to keep them clean.
They linked the farmers with a raisin processor who could wash and clean the product for export.
Then, they worked with the farmers to improve their yield by over 100% and improve the quality by reducing waste and mould damage.

Lastly, the farmers are paid on time and at a Fair Trade price that is 30% over the current market price; and they are guaranteed a reliable customer year after year, provided we all buy these Fair Trade raisins. The first shipment of 40 tonnes was made last year.
Other ingredients from Tropical Wholefoods in our special Christmas Cake Kit include Fair Trade dried mangoes from a 2800 strong co-operative in Burkinho Faso. Drying mangoes provides local women with valuable paid income during the 5 month mango season from April through to August, enabling them to eat well, get their children educated and to buy medicine when needed.
There are also Fair Trade solar dried apricots from northern Pakistan. Drying prevents gluts, and the Fair Trade premium has provided materials and books to schools, irrigation upgrades, a new playground, water tanks, a generator, sewing machines, and school fees for the poorest students.
Our Fair Trade cinnamon is organically cultivated and comes from smallholder farmers in Sri Lanka. The fair trade premium has provided these poor rural communities with drinking water, education facilities, and agricultural tools.
Macadamia nuts are sourced from the NESMAC co-operative in the Ntchisi region of Malawi. A fair price and secure demand provide a vital lifeline for poor smallholder farmers in a community badly affected by climate change and AIDS.
Finally, the all important Christmas spirit!  The sugar cane from which our rum is distilled is grown organically around Arroyos y Esteros, 60 miles north of Asuncion the capital of Paraguay helping the low paid sugarcane farmers, of whom there are about 1,000 in the area. The cane is milled and distilled locally further benefiting the economy. Their co-operative gives them strength to negotiate with large companies and market their products. Energy intensive milling and distilling is all powered by hydro electricity. The Rum is transported down river by barge to Buenos Aires; it is then shipped by sea to the UK for completion in a small London based distillery. The glass used for our bottles has a 70% recycled glass content. Organic cultivation avoids the health risks of pesticides and organic varieties of sugar are said to have a cell structure and biological make up that is excellent for making super smooth rums-so enjoy the rest of the bottle!
So there it is, a cake with a story, which we hope you will share with your friends, family, neighbours and colleagues over the festive season in the knowledge that you will be helping make a real difference to our supplier communities.

B

Watch this amazing animated short film by Accrington based Huckleberry Films which uses archive and animated footage to bring the story of the Rochdale pioneers to life and how their beginnings encouraged a global movement which incoporates over a billion members. Watch the New Pioneers film here.

I’ve known Laura since school but I knew very little of her business trips to Asia other than that they involved her being abroad for three months and returning with a good tan. When I showed an interest in travelling out to see her, with free accommodation and Laura’s local knowledge thrown into the deal, I decided that a trip to Kathmandu to find out more was in order! Whilst there, I biked round the suburbs of Kathmandu visiting different suppliers and learnt more about how the Aura Que business operates. It became clear how the sketches Laura had been working on during bus and plane journeys transformed themselves, like pieces of a jigsaw, into the finished product.

Following her experience teaching English in a Nepali village, Laura chose to set up business in Nepal to support fair employment for local people, and it was clear on my visit that Aura Que’s ethical priority is the people involved. The bags are manufactured at the Nepali Leprosy Trust (NLT) where I met many of the workers. Leprosy is a stigmatised disease associated with poverty, meaning those impaired or disabled by leprosy tend to be among the poorest of the poor. The NLT provides employment and opportunities for those affected.

Doing business in Nepal isn’t always straightforward. On my visit we were initially unable to enter the country for three days due to a national strike which shut all businesses and blocked all roads. For me, three days at a border hotel in northern India was a bit frustrating, but if you’re running an international fashion business with meetings, deadlines and stock orders, such a set back has far greater consequences. While we were stuck in a hotel waiting for the border to open, I asked Laura if this kind of thing annoyed her. “It’s just a part of working in Nepal” she said, and she’s right. Strikes are just one additional obstacle that Laura has overcome in setting up a successful fair trade fashion label outside the UK. Shipping stock, ensuring quality levels are maintained and sourcing materials ethically in a culturally different environment has, as Laura put it to me, ‘kept her on her toes’.

The NLT’s manufacture is the final part of the production process. The materials themselves are sourced from small suppliers and individuals. Take the bag below for example

This is where it comes from… Leather – The leather is from buffalo like those we passed on the bus as we travelled through the lowlands of southern Nepal. We carried some with us on our journey overland from Delhi – from the tannery to the NLT…it was heavy. Banana fibre – What looks like wool on the front of the bag is actually banana fibre pruned from the root of the banana tree. I visited the place where they dye this fibre – a small dye plant at the back of a building. The issue Laura was having at the time was making sure they got the dye colours exactly right. It took Laura’s best Nepali, but she got there! Brass fittings – Brass fittings are made by hand by a local man, Mr Rizal, whom I met. He was sitting outside his family’s house in a little self-constructed workshop area moulding the metal with his hammer when we arrived.

Laura puts together high quality fashion products while maintaining a direct and personal link with the people involved in every aspect of each bag’s production. I was fortunate enough to get to meet the people that are being supported by Aura Que, but to find out about more without making the trip to Asia, take a look at the website http://www.auraque.com / or pop into The Fair Traders Co-operativethe Fairtrade shop where Aura Que bags are on display.  You can also buy Aura Que bags online via The Fair Traders Co-operative at www.thefairtraderscooperative.co.uk.

Thank you to member Nick Batty for this post.