During the Belgian Fair Trade Week (1^st to the 11^th of October 2014), WFTO-Europe will organise a debate where students and young people from Brussels together with Fair Trade national actors will be invited to discuss  the main challenges of Fair Trade and the way ahead. WFTO-Europe will organise this event in collaboration with Oxfam-en-Action, a group of young people engaged in Fair Trade, which benefits from a wide student network in Belgium. Other youth organisations and students from several universities will be invited to participate as well.

WFTO-Europe chose the students and young people as the target group due to their double roles in the society: as consumers and future Fair Trade ambassadors.

The main objectives of this debate are to deepen the knowledge on Fair Trade and to encourage people to be active and be Fair Trade promoters.

In order to do so, the debate will be divided in three different sessions. The first 30 minutes will be dedicated to a general presentation of the debate and the different national Fair Trade actors that will take part to it. Each of them will briefly introduce himself and his activity in his own country. They will also quickly introduce the working group they will lead during the second session, addressing questions raised by the students.

During this session, each FT actor will invite the students to deepen some specific topics in the respective discussion groups (at least 5). These topics will be previously identified through a consultation process amongst students and will be focused on the main challenges/criticisms of Fair Trade (how to promote FT in the current economic crisis in Europe, how to make trade rules and practices fairer, what is the impact of Fair Trade on producers,..). The FT actors will guide the students on the reflection and eventual elaboration of new ideas on how to face the issue. The discussions will be framed so as to identify solutions and, if possible, what Belgium-based young people could do. After twenty minutes, students will be asked to move to another group for a second round of discussion on a different topic.

The debate will end with a wrap up session where one person from each group (a student or the FT actor) will be invited to share insights or other results from the conversations had in the working group with the rest of the people.

Few weeks after the debate, WFTO-Europe will launch a survey to receive the feedback of the participants and to evaluate the impact of the event.

To discover other activities of the Fair Trade Week, please go to the CTB website http://www.semaineducommerceequitable.be/fr/

If you want to take part in the debate and to contribute to the identification of the topics to be discussed, please fill this survey by the 7th of September.

If you have any problem, please contact: projects[at]wfto-europe.org  

The Worldshops Association has been acting in Italy since 1991 and is a network of 70 cooperatives and associations running about 200 worldshops. It is a point of reference for all the Italian worldshops, helping them to be not just shops, but cultural and political organizations.

Among its most relevant activities there are the organization and promotion of Tuttaunaltracosa, the Italian Fair Trade Fair, and Tuttounaltrocampo, an international youth education camp. Moreover, the Worldshops Association organizes Summer School on different fair trade topics, provides logistic services and facilities for members, fundraising and project management services (in collaboration with members and local partners). It also performs lobbying actions in Italian national and regional political councils, organizes seminars and meetings in collaboration with schools, universities and local authorities, takes part at national events/fairs on sustainable development, promotes awareness and boycott campaigns in national content (free water, clean clothes campaign, arms control) and promotes international campaigns for the World Fair Trade Day.

Through Facebook, twitter and its newsletter services, the Wordshops Association manages a fair trade community with thousands of friends sharing interests, thoughts and initiatives.

Tuttounaltrocampo is a uni­que expe­ri­ment, an inter­na­tio­nal work camp, an appren­ti­ce­ship group in a fair, a labo­ra­tory of ideas and friend­ships. It’s inspi­red from the original prin­ci­ples of Fair Trade and aims to share the vision of today and the pro­jects of the future in an envi­ron­ment without natio­nal borders.

Tuttaunaltracosa is the fair trade caravan that every year leads workshops, fair trade centrals, craftsmen from the southern hemisphere and volunteers from all over Italy to an happening in a new town.

From the first edition in 1994, Tuttaunaltracosa has toured many Italian cities (Milan, Genoa, Modena, Ferrara, Lecce, Naples, Reggio Emilia, Arezzo and so on). In the last years, it had averaged 40,000 visitors in three days, over 100 exhibitors from all over Italy. Since 2007 the national fair of fair trade is under the High Patronage of the Italian President of the Republic.

This year marks the the 20th anniversary of Tuttaunaltracosa! We’re going to celebrate this special edition in Ferrara between October 3rd and October 5th, in partnership with the “Internazionale” festival of journalism. Waiting for you too!

Follow us on Facebook page “ass. Botteghe del mondo Italia” and visit our websites

www.assobdm.it

www.tuttaunaltracosa.it

Name: Associazione Botteghe del Mondo

Head office: Reggio Emilia

Year of foundation: 1991

Website: www.assobdm.it

COPADE has been working on international development through Fair Trade and the sustainable consumption of timber products. With our projects we support Southern producers, their families, and communities in order to help them to come out of poverty and improve their living conditions.

We are specialized in the forest sector creating public-private alliances to position timber products and their derivatives in Northern markets. We are pioneers in Spain in implementing development projects in partnership with large Spanish and multinational companies like Leroy Merlin, Bellota Herramientas (Bellota Tools), Federación Española de Industrias de la Madera (Spanish Timber Industrial Federation), etc… We have developed the first worldwide label of Fair Trade in the forestry sector: Fair Timber (Madera Justa).

In COPADE we believe in people and their socioeconomic development. This is why we always involve the producers in all the process of our projects: from its theoretical foundations to its implementation.

COPADE understands Fair Trade and sustainable forest development as the main pillars for development, environmental preservation and improvement of living conditions in Southern communities. This can change trade rules into a new form of trade more human oriented and with more opportunities for everyone.

Further information:

www.copade.es

www.maderajusta.org

From humanitarian to successful business project
BHcrafts is the title of the project which unites creative, humanitarian, business and psychotherapeutic characteristics in a highly balanced and outstandingly successful manner.It is the project of production of handmade clothing and decorative items, which involves women from Bosnia and Herzegovina.Non governmental humanitarian organization Norwegian People’s Aid has started this project in 1995. In the beginning, the project has had prominently humanitarian character, and today, it has developed into a successful and export-oriented business, which is still successfully developing. The result of that development is the enterprise BHcrafts, which is in charge of promoting and selling Bosnian handicrafts in country and abroad.

The way one humanitarian idea developed into a successful business project
BHcrafts is, in every respect, outstanding and successful project. Women, among whom are many of those whose husbands, children, brothers and fathers were killed in the last war, are enabled to integrate into normal way of life again, in the best possible way by means of creativity and personal engagement. All relevant researches has proved that it is the best and the most effective way to confront the war traumas and to eliminate their consequences. Within our program women of different ethnic background from both of the B&H entities were given a chance to forget their difficult past, through a lot of work, care and subtle socialization.

Synthesis of skill and natural materials
Clothing and program for household, made in the BHcrafts, elicit undivided enthusiasm. The leading world media have written about attractiveness and quality of our handicraft products. Each product is unique, hand-made in traditional techniques of knitting, crocheting and weaving, which have made BHcrafts products recognizable and appreciated. These products, regardless of whether they are clothing items, table cloths or carpets, cannot be the subject of mass production. The products are handmade, with devotion and persistence, without the use of machines. Most of the products are made of chemically untreated wool and cotton, in the process which obeys the strict ecological standards.

Ecology, business, self-consciousness
The products of the BHcrafts are made with use of domestic raw materials, thus supporting the economy of Bosnia and Herzegovina. This is the ecologically conscientious project, which does not pollute the environment in not a single stage of production (paper bags, cardboard boxes, looms for weaving). The project promotes Bosnia and Herzegovina in an attractive and original manner by export of the high-quality products. Our products are mixture of traditional and modern achievements of design, which is the combination that ensures a successful existence at the demanding world market.

Social responsibility and fair trade
Bhcrafts is the first recognized, and awarded, social entrepreneurship from Balkans (The Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship in 2002), as well as the first certified fair trade producer, and still the only one in BiH ( International Fair Trade Association – IFAT in 2009) and the winner, in the category “URBAN& REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT”, of Sustainable Entrepreneurship Award – SEA, in 2013. As the pioneer in both categories, BHcrafts has kept promoting Fair Trade principles and Socially Responsible Business ever since then.

 
 
 
 
Name: BHcrafts
Head Office: Tuzla, Bosnia & Herzegovina
Year of Foundation: 1995
Website: www.bhcrafts.org

Member of the Month

EL PUENTE

The Company

El Puente is among the pioneers of the fair trade movement and is today the third largest fair trade organization in Germany. Already since 1972, El Puente has stood as a bridge between north and south, and has worked with small businesses and cooperatives in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The work of El Puente is not profit-orientated. Through the import and distribution of fair trade products, the organization supports more than 140 trade partners in 40 different countries. The range of products consists of around 5,000 handicraft and food articles. Thus, the assortment ranges from jewelry and bags, to tableware and decorative pieces, right up to coffee, chocolate and spices. As a wholesale trader El Puente sells the goods to about 800 fair trade shops in Germany and in some neighboring countries.

Organization Structure

The organization structure of El Puente is pretty unique because of the so called “Partner Committee” (PaCo) which offers the producer organizations the opportunity to be an equal co-owner of the company. Moreover, El Puente has a special body which controls the activities of El Puente independently: New trade partners, whose products shall be incorporated in El Puente’s assortment, need to be approved by this body, the so called PPA (“Projektpartnerausschuss”). Detailed questionnaires, completed by the partner organizations, serve as the main basis for the approval.

Local Activities

The city of Hildesheim in Northern Germany is the birthplace of El Puente. It continues to be the location for many activities, which are mainly initiated by the El Puente association. The only store in the ownership of the El Puente association by is located in the very centre of Hildesheim. There, El Puente offers products and carries out various activities and educational events. “With the development policy-related educational activities which are organized by many committed people on a voluntary basis, we make people more aware of Fair Trade”, Richard Bruns, founder of El Puente explains. Many of these activities are supported by the El Puente foundation which promotes educational work in developmental- and socio-political topics in Germany.

WFTO Guarantee System

El Puente is a WFTO member since 1997 and took part in the pilot project of the new WFTO Guarantee System in 2013. “The process of the WFTO-monitoring was extremely useful for us; we got very positive feedback for our work but also gained constructive criticism which helps us to improve,” Martin Moritz, manager of El Puente Ltd. says.

Name: El Puente
Head Office: Hildesheim, Germany
Date of foundation: 1972
Website: www.el-puente.de