The Fairtrade Foundation
Encyclopedia
The Fairtrade Foundation is a charity based in the United Kingdom
that works to empower disadvantaged producers in developing countries by tackling injustice in conventional trade, in particular by promoting and licensing the Fairtrade Mark, a guarantee that products retailed in the UK have been produced in accordance with internationally agreed Fairtrade standards. The Foundation the British
member of FLO International, which unites 23 Fairtrade producer and labelling initiatives across Europe
, Asia
, Latin America
, North America
, Africa
, Australia
and New Zealand
.
The organization, registered as a charity
, exists to improve the position of poor and marginalised producers in the developing world, by encouraging industry and consumers in the United Kingdom to support fairer trade.
The Foundation aims to achieve its goals by:
The Foundation was established in 1992 by CAFOD
, Christian Aid
, New Consumer, Oxfam
, Traidcraft
and the World Development Movement
. These organisations were later joined by the Women's Institute, Britain's largest women's organisation, and other organisations including Banana Link, Methodist Relief and Development Fund, Nicaragua Solidarity Campaign, People & Planet, SCIAF, Shared Interest Foundation, Soroptimist International , Tearfund and the United Reformed Church.
The Fairtrade Foundation organizes and coordinates promotional campaigns and events every year, such as the Fairtrade fortnight
(typically in February/March), the British
counterpart of Max Havelaar France
's Quinzaine du Commerce Équitable. The Foundation also coordinates the Fairtrade Town
campaign, which designates areas and towns committed to the promotion of Fairtrade certified goods.
The Fairtrade Foundation commissions professional photographers to take images of farmers and workers that belong to Fairtrade certified producer groups. Some of the photographers the Foundation and FLO has worked with are Simon Rawles, Peter Caton, Eduardo Martino, Richard Human, Didier Gentilhomme and Anette Kay.
Fairtrade certified products
are widely available today in the United Kingdom
, and in 2006, there were over 2000 Fairtrade product lines available in the country. Products carrying the Fairtrade label can be found at vendors like Asda
, Budgens
, Booths
, Co-op
, Londis
, Marks & Spencer
, Morrisons
and Safeway
, Sainsbury's, Somerfield, Spar
, Tesco
, Waitrose
as well as in hundreds of coffee shops, small retailers and online merchants.
In 2007, Fairtrade certified sales in the United Kingdom
amounted to approximately £493 million, up from £273 million in 2006. Sales of their top selling product, bananas, were over 150 million pounds, an increase of 130 percent. In 2007, 25% of the bananas sold in the United Kingdom carried the Fairtrade label. Fairtrade sales of coffee
in Britain, which had been their top selling product in 2006, rose 24 percent to 117 million pounds.
It was estimated in 2008 that approximately 70% of British
adults could identify the Fairtrade Certification Mark, up from 25% in 2003, 39% in 2004, 50% in 2005 and 57% in 2007. In 2008, an estimated two in three UK households regularly bought at least one Fairtrade-labelled product.
The Fairtrade Foundation is a registered charity (no. 1043886). It is also a company limited by guarantee, registered in England and Wales (no. 2733136).
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
that works to empower disadvantaged producers in developing countries by tackling injustice in conventional trade, in particular by promoting and licensing the Fairtrade Mark, a guarantee that products retailed in the UK have been produced in accordance with internationally agreed Fairtrade standards. The Foundation the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
member of FLO International, which unites 23 Fairtrade producer and labelling initiatives across Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
, Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
, North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
, Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
.
The organization, registered as a charity
Charitable organization
A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization . It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization (NPO). It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A...
, exists to improve the position of poor and marginalised producers in the developing world, by encouraging industry and consumers in the United Kingdom to support fairer trade.
The Foundation aims to achieve its goals by:
- Awarding a consumer guarantee—the Fairtrade MarkInternational Fairtrade Certification MarkThe International FAIRTRADE Certification Mark is an independent certification mark used in over 50 countries. It appears on products as an independent guarantee that disadvantaged producers in the developing world are getting a better deal....
—to products which meet their standards of a superior deal to producers in the developing world. In collaboration with FLO International and FLO-CERT, the Fairtrade foundation checks, through regular inspection and audit, that products with the Fairtrade Mark continue to meet Fairtrade standards. - Promoting research into and education about the causes and effects of poverty, particularly in relation to the conduct of trade and conditions of employment for poor people throughout the world.
The Foundation was established in 1992 by CAFOD
CAFOD
The Catholic Agency For Overseas Development, previously known as the Catholic Fund for Overseas Development, is a United Kingdom-based international aid agency working to alleviate poverty and suffering in developing. It is funded by the Catholic community in England and Wales, the UK government...
, Christian Aid
Christian Aid
Christian Aid is the official relief and development agency of 40 British and Irish churches and works to support sustainable development, alleviate poverty, support civil society and provide disaster relief in South America, the Caribbean, the Middle East, Africa and Asia...
, New Consumer, Oxfam
Oxfam
Oxfam is an international confederation of 15 organizations working in 98 countries worldwide to find lasting solutions to poverty and related injustice around the world. In all Oxfam’s actions, the ultimate goal is to enable people to exercise their rights and manage their own lives...
, Traidcraft
Traidcraft
Traidcraft is a UK-based fairtrade organisation, established in 1979. The organisation has two components: a public limited company called Traidcraft plc, which sells fairly traded products in the United Kingdom; and a development charity called Traidcraft Exchange that works with poor producers in...
and the World Development Movement
World Development Movement
The World Development Movement is a membership organisation in the United Kingdom which campaigns on issues of global justice and development in the Global South....
. These organisations were later joined by the Women's Institute, Britain's largest women's organisation, and other organisations including Banana Link, Methodist Relief and Development Fund, Nicaragua Solidarity Campaign, People & Planet, SCIAF, Shared Interest Foundation, Soroptimist International , Tearfund and the United Reformed Church.
The Fairtrade Foundation organizes and coordinates promotional campaigns and events every year, such as the Fairtrade fortnight
Fairtrade fortnight
The Fairtrade fortnight is an annual event in which fair and ethical trading values are celebrated. The concept was pioneered by the Fairtrade Foundation in the United Kingdom, and held firstly in 1997 in Scotland directed by Barnaby Miln. This turned out to be a highly successful campaign to get...
(typically in February/March), the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
counterpart of Max Havelaar France
Association Max Havelaar France
Association Max Havelaar France is the French member of FLO International, which unites 23 Fairtrade producer and labelling initiatives across Europe, Asia, Latin America, North America, Africa, Australia and New Zealand....
's Quinzaine du Commerce Équitable. The Foundation also coordinates the Fairtrade Town
Fairtrade Town
Fairtrade Town is a status awarded by a recognized Fairtrade certification body describing an area which is committed to the promotion of Fairtrade certified goods...
campaign, which designates areas and towns committed to the promotion of Fairtrade certified goods.
The Fairtrade Foundation commissions professional photographers to take images of farmers and workers that belong to Fairtrade certified producer groups. Some of the photographers the Foundation and FLO has worked with are Simon Rawles, Peter Caton, Eduardo Martino, Richard Human, Didier Gentilhomme and Anette Kay.
Fairtrade certified products
Fairtrade labelling
Fairtrade certification is a product certification system designed to allow people to identify products that meet agreed environmental, labour and developmental standards. Overseen by a standard-setting body, Fairtrade International , and a certification body, FLO-CERT, the system involves...
are widely available today in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, and in 2006, there were over 2000 Fairtrade product lines available in the country. Products carrying the Fairtrade label can be found at vendors like Asda
Asda
Asda Stores Ltd is a British supermarket chain which retails food, clothing, general merchandise, toys and financial services. It also has a mobile telephone network, , Asda Mobile...
, Budgens
Budgens
Budgens Stores Ltd is a chain of foodstores in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1872 by John Budgen, who opened the first store at Maidenhead, Berkshire. Budgens supermarket chain operates over 227 stores and employs over 6,000 staff...
, Booths
Booths
Booths is a chain of supermarkets in Northern England. Most of its branches are located in Lancashire, but there are also branches in Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire. Booths is targeted at the middle class market and competes on quality as opposed to just...
, Co-op
The Co-operative Group
The Co-operative Group Ltd. is a United Kingdom consumer cooperative with a diverse range of business interests. It is co-operatively run and owned by its members. It is the largest organisation of this type in the world, with over 5.5 million members, who all have a say in how the business is...
, Londis
Londis
Londis is the name for two convenience store franchises operating in the UK and the Republic of Ireland. The stores form a symbol group and are all owned on a franchise basis.-Great Britain:...
, Marks & Spencer
Marks & Spencer
Marks and Spencer plc is a British retailer headquartered in the City of Westminster, London, with over 700 stores in the United Kingdom and over 300 stores spread across more than 40 countries. It specialises in the selling of clothing and luxury food products...
, Morrisons
Morrisons
Wm Morrison Supermarkets plc is the fourth largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom, headquartered in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. The company is usually referred to and is branded as Morrisons formerly Morrison's, and it is part of the FTSE 100 Index of companies...
and Safeway
Safeway (UK)
Safeway was a chain of supermarkets and convenience stores in the United Kingdom. It started as a subsidiary of the American Safeway Inc., before being sold off in 1987....
, Sainsbury's, Somerfield, Spar
SPAR
Spar , trades from approximately 12400 stores in 34 countries worldwide and is the world's largest independent voluntary retail trading chain. Spar was founded in the Netherlands in 1932 by retailer Adriaan Van Well and now, through its affiliate organisations, operates through most European...
, Tesco
Tesco
Tesco plc is a global grocery and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Cheshunt, United Kingdom. It is the third-largest retailer in the world measured by revenues and the second-largest measured by profits...
, Waitrose
Waitrose
Waitrose Limited is an upmarket chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom and is the food division of the British retailer and worker co-operative the John Lewis Partnership. Its head office is in Bracknell, Berkshire, England...
as well as in hundreds of coffee shops, small retailers and online merchants.
In 2007, Fairtrade certified sales in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
amounted to approximately £493 million, up from £273 million in 2006. Sales of their top selling product, bananas, were over 150 million pounds, an increase of 130 percent. In 2007, 25% of the bananas sold in the United Kingdom carried the Fairtrade label. Fairtrade sales of coffee
Coffee
Coffee is a brewed beverage with a dark,init brooo acidic flavor prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant, colloquially called coffee beans. The beans are found in coffee cherries, which grow on trees cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in equatorial Latin America, Southeast Asia,...
in Britain, which had been their top selling product in 2006, rose 24 percent to 117 million pounds.
It was estimated in 2008 that approximately 70% of British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
adults could identify the Fairtrade Certification Mark, up from 25% in 2003, 39% in 2004, 50% in 2005 and 57% in 2007. In 2008, an estimated two in three UK households regularly bought at least one Fairtrade-labelled product.
The Fairtrade Foundation is a registered charity (no. 1043886). It is also a company limited by guarantee, registered in England and Wales (no. 2733136).