ftrn.org is an information hub designed to grow the fair trade movement. together, we can create a market that values the people who make the food we eat and the goods we use.
Cecilia Appianim from the village of Asentem in central Ghana has a message for U.S. consumers: “Buy more of our chocolates, and our lives will change more,” says the middle-aged woman with an infectious smile.
Appianim is a cocoa farmer and owner-employee of Divine Chocolate, which is a grower-organized co-op of some 52,000 participants. Divine has a democratic structure and is committed to fair trade principles and ethical, sustainable production. (more…)
Organic has been around for about 15 years, and “green” marketing is so last month. So marketers looking for the next socially responsible effort are flocking to the Fair Trade Certified category, whose products are getting more shelf space nationwide.
So far this year, 284 Fair Trade Certified products—typically coffee, tea, herbs, cocoa and chocolate, fruit, sugar, rice, spices and even cut flowers—were launched in the U.S. compared with 130 last year and 17 in 2003, according Mintel, Chicago. (more…)
Producing baskets and mats in central Uganda has traditionally been women’s work. Women made these items for use in homes. The National Association of Women Organisations in Uganda (NAWOU) has changed this practice into a powerful force fighting poverty.
The organisation has a big crafts collection centre in the east African country’s capital of Kampala. Baskets, toys, mats and hand-made cotton cloth can be found there, among other things. The collection centre operates according to fair trade principles and is affiliated to the International Fair Trade Association (IFAT). (more…)
Aura Cacia®, America’s leading aromatherapy company, has introduced “Aura Cacia Fair Trade Certified™ Nourishing Body Polish”. The line of three aromatic body scrubs strips away dull skin with organic, Fair Trade Certified sugar cane granules and restores the skin’s natural vitality. Available in lavender, patchouli/sweet orange and ginger/mint blends, all three body polishes are free of synthetic fragrances, colors and preservatives. (more…)
Schoolchildren across South Lakeland could help people living in developing countries, according to their MP.
Tim Farron, MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale, has embarked on a drive to encourage schools in the district to achieve Fair Trade status.
“Young people living in rural communities like ours can relate very well to the injustices experienced by farming communities in poorer countries,” he said. (more…)
During her weeklong trip to Brazil in July, Ellen Georgi asked a fair trade coffee farmer in the field what she should know about Brazilian coffee.
The barefoot farmer wanted Georgi, a social studies teacher at Urbana Middle School, and the other nine American teachers with her to realize how much work goes into making a cup of coffee.
By growing fair trade coffee in the southern state of Minas Gerais, the family was earning a fair price for the coffee and were able to buy more plants and increase their profit, Georgi said in a presentation at the Urbana Regional Library on Monday. (more…)
A local group hopes its efforts will lead to the certification of Chico as a “Fair Trade Town.”
The group is asking the Chico City Council to pass a resolution supporting fair trade and to commit to serving certified fair trade products at its meetings, one of five requirements to become a certified Fair Trade Town. (more…)
The Rebuilding Alliance is a nonprofit organization dedicated to rebuilding communities and advocating government policies based on human rights and international law in the occupied Palestinian Territories. Their many notable campaigns have included uniting Palestinians and Israelis to rebuild homes and schools, saving a village in the Jordan River Valley, building a playground in memory of a young Palestinian girl, and registering a mini-zoning plan with the Jerusalem municipality. (more…)
The University of Wisconsin Oshkosh is the first university in the U.S. to become a Fair Trade University by making a commitment to do its part toward ending trade injustices that result in millions of people living in poverty.
Fair trade products have been produced providing artisans and farmers with a living wage for their work and humane working conditions, while also protecting the environment. About 70 universities in Europe have Fair Trade University status, including the University of Birmingham and the University of Edinburgh, but UW Oshkosh is the first American university to do so. (more…)
eBay on Wednesday plans to unveil a new e-commerce site for shoppers of environmentally friendly and fair-trade goods, as expected.
In a bid to win over eco- and socially conscious shoppers, the online auctioneer will add a new retail component to its fairly new community site WorldofGood.com, which targets people who care about healthy living and the ethical treatment of workers. The site, which eBay built in partnership with fair-trade company World of Good, will sell products ranging from fair-trade coffee from Costa Rica to toxin-free skin cream from London. (more…)
Fair Trade Resource Network
PO Box 12347 Philadelphia, PA 19119-0347
917.464.5558
