1. WFTO Europe at Home
1.1 WFTO-Europe Biennial Conference
1.2 Changes to WFTO-Europe Constitution
2. Europe in a Nutshell
2.2 A Global – not European – Green Deal
3. WFTO Around the World
4. News from the Board
4.1 Current Shape of the Board and Board Elections in June 2024
4.2 IMPORTANT: Election of the European Representative at WFTO Global Board of Directors
5. News from the Region
5.1 Thank you Fabian, welcome Elena!
5.2 New Interns at the Office!
1. WFTO Europe at Home
1.1 WFTO-Europe Biennial Conference
On 11-13 June 2023 WFTO-Europe held its first Biennial Conference since the onset of the Covid pandemic in 2020. The conference was hosted by the member Les Jardins de Gaïa at their headquarters in Wittisheim just outside Strasbourg. Here, members engaged in conversations and workshops in Les Jardins de Gaïa’s tea house while enjoying their delicious and fair teas and savouring Alsace delicacies during lunch and dinner. Part of the conference also took place at a hub for Social and Solidarity Economy organisations in Strasbourg, Kaleidoscoop, where we met and discussed with local organisations advocating for Fair Trade and social economy. The conference ended with a meeting with MEPs in the European Parliament in Strasbourg, discussing how EU regulation could potentially help support and boost Fair Trade in Europe – and by extension support producers in the Global South as well as in the North.
You can find more details about the conference in the conference report here.
You can also find the minutes of the AGM held during the conference here.
And finally, here you can find the Interim Strategic Plan adopted during the AGM covering our work until the AGM of 2025.
1.2 Changes to WFTO-Europe Constitution
WFTO-Europe held an Extraordinary General Assembly (EGM) on occasion of WFTO Global’s Berlin Summit in August 2022 which was called to vote on changes to the WFTO-Europe Constitution. These were put forward by the WFTO-Europe Board of Directors in order to bring our Constitution into accordance with a new law on non-profit organisations in Belgium. The law was introduced in 2019 with entry into force in 2024.
Most changes were almost only aesthetic (like stating that our organisational details would always be printed as the letterhead on documents issued by our organisation). One key change proposed to members, however, were the possibility of doing commercial activity (specifically conducting trainings, webinars, workshops, etc. and drafting educational materials, toolkits or advisory reports, etc.) so long as the money earned contribute to and are put to use within the boundaries of our non-profit purpose.
While at this EGM the necessary quorum (two thirds of effective members) for amending the Constitution was not reached, the EGM was recalled for 28th September 2022 online. On this occasion the changes proposed by the Board were thoroughly discussed and finally approved by vote.
After some administrative delays we received news towards the end of last year that the modified constitution was accepted and made public in the Belgian Gazette of Francophone Enterprises in Brussels (whose jurisdiction we belong to).
Our Constitution can be found here in both the original French version and in an English translation. In case of inconsistencies between the texts the French version is the binding one.
At the AGM of 2023, held on 13th June in connection with the WFTO-Europe Biennial Conference in Strasbourg, the WFTO-Europe Board of Directors made two proposals to the Assembly with regards to the annual fees for members:
- From the AGM of 2023 and onwards, the Assembly would vote on the fees for the following year, not for the ongoing year.
- The fees for 2024 would be indexed according to core inflation of Belgium, which in January 2023 stood at 8.05% (the month when the document was originally prepared).
These proposals came out of discussions by the Board on the gap between the minimum costs of the organisation and the amount collected in membership fees. In 2022 a resolution was put forward by BougaCacao and Fair Trade Scotland, proposing that fees of members should be calculated as a percentage of their turnover (more in line with the fee structure of WFTO-Global), meaning smaller members would get a lower fee than currently, while bigger members would get a higher fee. Since the resolution was rejected, the Board reflected that it could not ask members to cover a bigger part of the gap between costs and core funding. At the same time, the Board felt urged to act on the fact that this gap had widened due to the recent year’s high inflation. The Board therefore decided to propose an indexation for the first time in 10 years, to at least insure that the funding gap would not widen further because of inflation.
However, since membership fees are invoiced to members at the end of the previous year, the Board found it would be fair to wait with the indexation to 2024. This necessitated that the Assembly vote on the fees for the following year, since the AGM is in any case usually in May or June. It was also agreed that it would be a good practice for the organisation to vote on the following year’s fees rather than voting on fees that had already been invoiced several months earlier (and given that only members that have already paid this fee are eligible to vote at the AGM).
Both proposals were voted on and both passed. You can see here what the indexation means for the membership fees of 2024:
| Members turnover in the previous year
(as registered at WFTO global) |
Regional fee 2023 | Regional fee 2024 |
| Up to € 150.000 | € 350 | € 380 |
| Between 150.000€ and € 1.000.000 | € 550 | € 600 |
| Above € 1.000.000 | € 850 | € 920 |
It is important to note that the indexation was not proposed to be recurring each year. What was approved by vote was a one-time indexation. Since membership fees are voted on each year at the General Assembly any future indexations will have to be proposed by the Board and will depend on approval by the membership.
2. Europe in a Nutshell
WFTO-Europe’s Advocacy Journey for Corporate Sustainability:
Throughout 2023, WFTO-Europe has been actively engaged in advocating to influence the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive. Together with FTAO, WFTO-Europe supported the inclusion of Living Income in the directive by acting at two different levels: on the one side at a European level, while on the other side at a national level. Firstly, WFTO-Europe joined forces with FTAO to mobilise a network of CSOs for an open letter addressed to the Council, focusing their efforts on addressing human rights violations and environmental harm. Indeed, while the European Parliament had already included a mention to living income in its position, this mention was absent in the Council’s approach. The Council thus emerged as a key actor to influence, and WFTO-Europe developed a strategy to act at a more local level. The strategy consisted in mobilising WFTO-Europe’s members and asking them to advocate on policymakers government representatives at a national level. WFTO-Europe particularly sought to mobilise the Member States through its members to have the Council include purchasing practices and business models in the Directive. However, this effort proved vain, since this formulation was replaced by a broader mention that “business plans should be taken into account” in the text agreed upon by the institutional triangle in the trilogues in December.
The directive, which was first proposed by the Commission in 2022 and for which an agreement was found in December, underwent a deadlock until the 15th of March, when an agreement was found in COREPER. While this directive still constitutes a significant shift in accountability for business practices, the outcome of the compromise was a dilution in scope and application. The directive was originally supposed to apply to companies with over 500 employees and €150 million in revenue; now, it will apply to companies with over 1000 employees and a turnover of €450 million. Furthermore, the directive agreed on in COREPER leaves out some smaller companies in high-risk sectors (such as textile and mineral extraction), which were previously included.
The text was adopted by the European Parliament on Wednesday 24th April with 374 votes in favour and 235 against. The next steps will be votes at the COREPER (May, 15th) and COMPET (May, 24th). WFTO-Europe will continue to raise awareness as these two dates approach.
2.2 A Global – not European – Green Deal
In a world where change is constant, the need for a global perspective on environmental and social justice has never been more pressing. For this reason, WFTO-Europe and WFTO Global joined efforts with leading organisations like FTAO, SOLIDAR, Fairtrade International, and Global Just Transition, and on the 29th of February, they issued a compelling Press Release and a Call to Action urging the transformation of the European Green Deal into a Global Green Deal. This initiative aims to make the transition more inclusive, equitable, and fair on an international scale. The current structure of the European Green Deal has, indeed, led to negative impacts on the Global South, exacerbating inequalities rather than alleviating them. The vision for a Global Green Deal seeks to ensure a fair distribution of transition costs between Europe and its partner countries, fostering a more balanced and just approach to sustainability.
The launch of this transformative initiative marks a pivotal moment in reshaping the discourse around the European Green Deal to address global social and political realities. Renowned figures like Professor Olivier De Schutter from UCLouvain and Sciences Po Paris have thrown their support behind this initiative, emphasising the importance of aligning external policies with sustainable development goals. The Call To Action represents a culmination of extensive deliberations with various organisations and experts who advocate for a Just Transition for All. This collaborative effort underscores the necessity of integrating just transition measures to support stakeholders within and beyond the EU effectively.
In conclusion, as we stand at the crossroads of environmental sustainability and social equity, the call for a Global Green Deal resonates as a beacon of hope for a more inclusive and just future. By expanding our vision beyond borders and embracing a collective responsibility towards our planet and its inhabitants, we pave the way for a transformative journey towards global environmental and social justice.
You can find our call to action here.
3. WFTO Around the World
2023 marked the conclusive phases of the CREATE project. This initiative, which has been funded through the Erasmus+ program, kicked off in 2022 bringing together a consortium of 5 partners from different European countries, among which WFTO-Europe.
The aim of this project consisted in producing a new learning programme for women to co-create a sustainable fashion collection in order to tackle the social and environmental problems caused by the mainstream fashion industry while empowering women. For this reason, the main outputs of the projects were the Educator’s Handbook (published in 2022) and the Educational Toolkit, which was made public in October 2023.
Furthermore, 2023 was also the year of the second transnational meeting, which took place in Uppsala (Sweden) in March and which was hosted by WLY Communication. On this occasion, partners were able not only to discuss the progress made in the project, but also share on how to further improve the Educational Toolkit.
Finally, the final and conclusive transnational meeting took place in September in Brussels, and was hosted by WFTO-Europe. During this event, partners shared updates about their plans for multipliers event and concluded the project, which proved to be an enriching experience for all parties involved and showed a concrete solution in order to fight the social issues and environmental harm connected to the fashion industry.
4. News from the Board
4.1 Current Shape of the Board and Board Elections in June 2024
At the AGM during the Biennial Conference in June last year, the mandates of two Board members, Charlotte Timson (Transform Trade) and Cassandre Maury (Les Jardins de Gaïa), came to an end. In November, Ilse Pijnenburg (Seepje) left Seepje and so resigned from the Board as well. This means that our current Board consists of four members:
- Juanjo Martínez, President (Oxfam Intermòn)
- Caterina Occhio (SeeMe)
- Martin Rhodes (Scottish Fair Trade Forum)
- Manfred Winkler (GLOBO Fair Trade Partner)
The WFTO-Europe Board of Directors highly encourages members to stand for election to the Board in the coming AGM on 20th June. Since the mandate of our current president, Juanjo Martínez, will come to an end at the time of the AGM, a new President will also need to be selected after the Board elections of the AGM.
The rules and necessary documents of the Board elections are shared each year when the AGM is officially called (this year you can expect them on 17th May). In general, however, each candidate to the Board will need a letter of support from three other members of WFTO-Europe and should then submit an application form outlining their expertise and motivation. More details will follow when the documents of the AGM are shared.
The WFTO-Europe Board of directors meets between 6 and 8 times a year to get updates on the organisation’s work, finances, fundraising, etc. and it takes important decisions about the direction of the organization, defines and proposes the strategic plans and similar to the AGMs. Most meetings are online and one or two meetings are held face-to-face with WFTO-Europe covering expenses for at least one (the other is usually held at either our biennial conference or that of WFTO-Global). If you are interested and have further questions, please don’t hesitate to contact our coordinator, Mikkel Kofod Nørgård at coordination@wfto-europe.org.
4.2 IMPORTANT: Election of the European Representative at WFTO Global Board of Directors
Since 2019, Sophie Tack (Oxfam Magasins du monde), has been part of the WFTO Global Board of Directors as the European representative, elected during our AGM of that year. She has covered this role with impressive dedication and skill, and she has regularly attended the WFTO-Europe Board meetings to ensure the European Board has been minutely up-to-date on discussions and developments at the WFTO Global Board.
Her mandate on the Board of WFTO Global will, however, end at their AGM at the Cape Town Summit in September. We therefore need to elect a new European representative for the Board of WFTO Global. The General Assembly of WFTO-Europe elects this representative in a similar way to the elections for our own Board.
We encourage WFTO-Europe members to present their candidature for this position to be voted on during our AGM on 20th June. The process is simpler, since you just need to send an email to our coordinator, Mikkel (coordination@wfto-europe.org), outlining your motivation and the expertise you wish to bring to this role. If you are considering to stand as a candidate for this role and have further questions, please also reach out to Mikkel at the same email address.
5. News from the Office
5.1 Thank you Fabian, welcome Elena!
In October last year, our former Project & Advocacy Officer, Fabian Richter, got an opportunity to coordinate the EU Food Policy Coalition. We have been grateful for his efforts and always positive spirit since he began in 2022.
Currently, Elena Sbaragli is now holding the position of Project & Advocacy Officer. We are happy to have her on the team and inspired by her as a fast learner and dedicated team mate. In between the time when Fabian resigned his position and Elena began, we had Julia Wild, a former intern in 2021, helping us design a new and diversified fundraising strategy, building on her expertise and experience from the Bosch Foundation. We are grateful for her much-valued advice which is driving our fundraising efforts for the current year.
5.2 New Interns at the Office!
Since then, we also have two new interns: Margherita Serra, who joined as Project Management & Fundraising Assistant in February, and Giorgia Dal Fabbro who joined as Communication & Advocacy Assistant in mid-April. We warmly welcome them to the team and are already happy to enjoy good collaboration with both!
