In this Issue:
- 2015: An exciting year for our network
- Important imminent deadlines!
- European Year for Development 2015
- Training on the Guarantee System
- Vote4FairTrade
- Member of the month
And More..!
Agenda
-23-24 January: Fair Trade Federation Retailer Symposium
-11–14 February: BIOFACH
-20 February: World Day of Social Justice
-23 February—8 March: Fairtrade Fortnight UK 2015
-8 March: International Women Day
-24-26 March: Fair Trade Federation Conference
-09-12 April: 2015 Fair Handeln Fair in Germany
-19 April: 2015 Bio Ost Fair in Berlin
-09 May: World Fair Trade Day
-23-31 May: 2015 World Fair Trade Week
Let us know about your events!
Main Articles
2015: An exciting year for our network
Photo: www.newyearevequotes.com
Dear members,
The New Year has just started and many activities have been already scheduled to make the 2015 even more exciting and our messages even stronger than the previous year. Please find below some of these activities and be sure not to miss the opportunity to promote/get involved in them:
WFTD 2015: “BE AN AGENT FOR CHANGE” (9 MAY 2015)
The theme of this year will allow WFTO, members, non-members and many other actors within the Fair Trade movement to make use of it in many different ways, due to its broad character. The “agent” theme will give members the possibility to define their own change and commitment standards.
WFTO-Europe also encourages its members to use this theme and merge this message with the one of Unfair Trading Practices of the Power in Supply Chain report, which was launched by the FTAO the last 18th of December 2014. The main aim of this decision is to convey in a common message which could reinforce our voice and make our impact even stronger.
These messages can be easily combined in several ways and so double their effects.
Your campaign can indeed engage several auditors/“agents” for change, from your respective governments/ministries to citizens and consumers and focus on unfair trading practices (UTP). Some example might be ‘Business as agent for Change’ or ‘Consumers as Agents for Change’, asking for policy change in UTP.
Let us know about your planned events and do not hesitate to get back to us: communication@wfto-europe.org for any further support!
WORLD FAIR TRADE WEEK AND WFTO BIENNIAL CONFERENCE 2015
Co-organised by WFTO and AGICES (the Italian General Assembly of Fair Trade Organisations), the 2015 WFTWeek will include several events in its programme. One of the main events is the WFTO 13th Biennial Conference, scheduled for 24-27 May. It will be followed by the Milano Fair City exhibition (an international fair for fair traders and other social economy actors), on 28-31 May. We remind you that registration for the WFTO Biennial Conference is now open, until the end April 2015. You can find more details here. Registrations after 1 March will pay a late fee.
BELGIAN FAIR TRADE WEEK
The FT week is the annual meeting for FT actors to speak out about FT and promote our principles. The Belgian Fair Trade week will take place in October 2015 and WFTO-Europe welcomes this opportunity to organize something cheerful but interesting to increase the visibility of the network and promote FT.
EUROPEAN YEAR FOR DEVELOPMENT 2015
All the above activities will take place within a particular year: the “European Year for Development”. This is an opportunity to reach out to a wider public regarding the importance of the development agenda. Aware of this, WFTO-Europe is planning several communication activities around this topic and invites all the members to stay tuned and watch regularly our space for more information.
Important imminent deadlines!
Photo: www.cmich.edu
Dear members,
Please find below a brief summary to remind you some important and imminent deadlines:
FAIR TRADE INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM (29th – 31st MAY 2015)
The FTIS 2015 will be dedicated to the theme “Critically Developing the Fair Trade Movement: Trade justice in food, fashion and craft”, in connection with the themes of the Milan EXPO 2015. The FTIS program will be based on presentations of research and original documentations, presented by speakers and panelists, selected among those that will be proposed – answering to a “CALL FOR PAPER” – by academics, researchers, practitioners.
WFTO Europe recommends its members to use this event as an opportunity to contact academics, researchers and institutions. Please spread the voice about the 2015 FTIS event, and propose documents and/or speakers to it. Deadline to submit an extended abstract is the 15 January 2015.
Read the “Call for Paper” here.
WFTO BIENNIAL CONFERENCE/AGM (24th – 27th MAY 2015)
Please bear in mind that registrations are open until end February 2015, or until end of April 2015 with a late fee registration. Click here for more information.
WORLD FAIR TRADE EXHIBITION (28th – 31st MAY 2015)
The first World Fair Trade Fair will be held in the prestigious location of the “Fabbrica del Vapore” (Steam Factory). 200 exhibitors are expected from all over the world, from Fair Trade food and crafts to the so-called “domestic Fair Trade”, from international cooperation to the solidarity economy, with the possibility not only of buying products and living direct experiences with Fair Trade’s producers.
Why do not be there? We do think that European FTOs should also be part of this event. Application deadline is 30th of March, 2015. Waiting list open until 24th April 2015. All information regarding rules, participation and organization details are in: http://www.fairtradeweek2015.org/milano-fair-city-aperte-le-iscrizioni/?lang=en
8TH MOHAMMED ISLAM DESIGN AWARD
This prize will be awarded during the WFTO 2015 Conference, in Milan, to the best 5 products showing how an innovative design can be combined with market appropriateness. There are five competition categories available. Read more in the attached Guidelines (click to download) and Registration Form (click to download). The deadline for applications is 31st April 2015. Show us how you can create an amazing product!
European Year for Development 2015
European Year for Development 2015 is the first dedicated to this theme since European years have been thematically characterized from 1983 until now. It will be officially launched on the 9th of January 2015 in Riga, among other events which will mark the beginning of the first Latvian Presidency of the Council of the European Union.
EYD 2015 Motto:
The last 9th of December, WFTO-Europe together with the FTAO took part in the Enlarged Stakeholders Meeting which brought together speakers from various EU institutions, CSOs, UN and other professionals to discuss aims and expectations of this year and what will be the next steps.
Part of the meeting was dedicated to the introduction of the communication tools (motto, website, social media etc.) available to those who decide to become a partner and promote the EYD 2015.
WFTO-Europe is planning some communication activities to make sure that the Fair Trade movement will have space and visibility within this very important year for creating awareness about cooperation and development.
For any further information regarding the event attended on the 9th of December, here the minutes from the event.
Lesson #2: Types of Membership
WFTO has two categories of membership:
1) Provisional members: an organisation, who has applied for WFTO membership, paid its first membership fee but not yet completed the first monitoring cycle of the WFTO Guarantee System. These organisations have two years’ time since their approval as provisional members, to submit their SAR and go through the GS process. Provisional members are not entitled to:
- Using the WFTO logo in any form without the permission of the WFTO Global Office as well as the WFTO Product Label on their products.
- Serving on the Board
- Speaking or voting at the Annual General Meeting
2) Full members: All the members that have completed the first cycle of monitoring requirements under the WFTO Guarantee System. This means that they will have submitted the SAR forms (Profile for existing members + Self Assessment Report) and have undergone the first monitoring audit.
In the transition phase, the category registered member will remain in use to cover those members that became full members before the introduction of the Guarantee System, but have not completed their first Monitoring Cycle.
In addition to the above distinction, members are also divided in 3 categories according to their main activity.
Members of WFTO can be:
News from the Office
WFTO-Europe wishes you, once again, all the best for the 2015 !
Newsfrom the Board
The next face-to-face board meeting will be held in Paris on the 28th-29th of January.
Vote4FairTrade: Testimonials
Nibir Bordoloi, India
Southern producer, Nibir Bordoloi from India speaking to European decision makers.
Member of the Month
BAFTS – The British Association for Fair Trade Shops and Suppliers
BAFTS stands for the British Association for Fair Trade Shops and Suppliers. Originally, it was set up in 1995 by Aileen Garden, then Manageress of Gateway World Shop, Durham, to be the voice of fair trade retailing in the UK. We provided a membership organisation mainly for handicrafts’ shops selling fairly-traded goods, to share information, experience, and mutual support.
After a name change, we now incorporate organisations which sell fairly-traded goods, whether on a wholesale or retail basis. We currently have 132 members in all four countries of the UK, including the Isle of Man and Isle of Wight. They supply or sell goods from 28 different developing countries across Asia, Africa and Latin America. Our members are committed to working to bring about changes in the status of developing world producers through fair trade retailing and campaigning. Together, we provide a community for fair trade shops and suppliers, sharing ideas and best practices. With ever-increasing membership enquiries as our profile is raised, we anticipate some growth in our numbers throughout 2015.
BAFTS is run by a voluntary Board of five members (certain roles attract an Honorarium) and a part-time Marketing and Membership Coordinator. Our income comes from membership subscriptions and our outlay covers the costs of employment, travel to necessary meetings and Trade Fairs, essential overheads, campaign materials and our Annual Conference.
We are proud to be recognised as a national fair trade network by the WFTO. As members of WFTO (International) and WFTO Europe, we adhere to their 10 Principles of Fair Trade and work to support their aims. We are an organisation whose members share our aims and commit to the 10 Principles. We annually require members to be transparent about their supply chain. Our organisation is bound by a Code of Conduct and Compliance Procedure which every member signs up to when their application is approved by us. This Code ensures that the principle of fairness also extends between our members.
Our Annual Conference and AGM are held in late May (the image left shows the Chair of BAFTS addressing members at our Annual Conference in Reading in 2014)
with the venue changing location each year, so that as many of our members as possible have the opportunity to attend. They also organise informal Regional meetings and events from time to time. Many BAFTS members have links with Fairtrade Towns’ as well as Fairtrade Nation campaigns in Wales and Scotland.
In the coming months we are thrilled to be holding a Panel Discussion at Spring Fair at the NEC Birmingham about Successful Fair Trade retailing, and sorting the finer details for our Annual Conference. We are also working with a large media company to help raise awareness of the nationwide 2015 Fairtrade Campaign launching in February.
| Name: | BAFTS |
| Head Office: | Selby, United Kingdom |
| Year of foundation: | 1995 |
| Website: | www.bafts.org.uk |
FT-RELATED NEWS, PUBLICATIONS AND OTHER TOOLS
- The FTAO’s Internal Advocacy Bulletin for November 2014 (login required) includes articles regarding policy issues (Who’s got the power? New study confirms that it is not the producers), FTAO news (Minutes of EU Fair Trade Advocacy Meeting) and more!
- Event it Up – Time to end extreme inequality, new report from Oxfam about the growing inequality which characterises the world today.
- Climate Change Action Now – Fairtrade producers will be in Lima (COP 20), urging governments to provide more support to smallholder farmers in fighting the effects of climate change on their livelihood.
- EU tax havens drain money from developing nations – article from EU Observer
- New proposed EC Regulation on Organic Farming—Positon Paper form FTAO
- Rhize Catalyst Fellowship 2015—fellowship for movement-builders around the world
This publication has been produced with the assistance of the European Union. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of WFTO-Europe and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union.