Last year was both the end of Year 1 and the beginning of Year 2 of the Trade Fair Live Fair project. Since this is our main project until August of 2020, we wish to share some important results from 2018, and to anticipate some events and developments for 2019. For 2018, in particular, lots of new research on Fair Trade was completed, all of what we will share here was funded by the Trade Fair Live Fair project.

Events of 2018:

  • International Women’s Day in March 2018: We shared Fair Trade stories with a women empowerment and gender equality-focus. Read or re-read the stories here.
  • World Fair Trade Day in May 2018: We compiled a video with our members presenting themselves and their Fair Trade work. Watch or re-watch it here.
    At the same occasion we promoted the theme: Live Fair, one Fair Trade product at a time to celebrate the growing number of people willing to pay for ethical and sustainable products like Fair Trade. (Re)Visit it here.
  • The WFTO-Europe Biennial Conference in June, which also featured the public event: Universalizing the Fair Trade principles for an EU sustainable – and fair – production and consumption agenda. This was co-organised with the Fair Trade Advocacy Office and was attended by members but also Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) outside of our membership. We expect to replicate the format this year in June to foster partnerships between members and other CSOs.
  • For COP24 in December, we published a Policy Statement for COP24 done in collaboration with a large part of the Fair Trade movement. This lays out our generally agreed position on how Fair Trade contributes to Climate Justice.

Research of 2018:

  • Coordinatora Estatal de Comercio Justo: Fair Trade and Sustainable Development Goals – Investigates how the 10 Fair Trade Principles fit with the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda.
  • Fashion Revolution: Transparency Index 2018 – The famous index of how much fashion brands share about their supply chains…
  • Fashion Revolution: Consumer Survey 2018 – A survey involving app. 5,000 people in the five biggest EU member states – Germany, Italy, Spain, France, and UK – which shows that social impacts of products matter for 38% and environmental impacts matter for 37% of consumers across these five markets.
  • Commerce Équitable France: Coffee – The Success Story that Hides a Crisis – Value created in the coffee industry has increased tremendously in recent years, though the share going to farmers and primary producers has actually decreased in relative terms. This reasserts the importance of better value distribution in coffee supply chains. The study shows that Fairtrade certification works, and works particularly well in combination with organic certification. Especially, Fair Trade helps significantly mitigate external costs for producers and their communities linked to coffee production, and bring farmers closer to a living wage.
  • Oxfam Magasins du Monde: Fair Trade Textiles and Decent WorkOxfam-Magasins du monde’s comparative analysis of 4 Indian fair trade organisations has shown that fair trade leads to significant improvement relative to the conventional textile sector
  • Traidcraft Exchange: The Estate They’re In – research focused on the tea supply chain, and the roles and responsibilities of different actors in addressing the poor pay and living conditions on tea estates in Assam, in North East India.

Our plans in 2019:

  • International Women’s Day on 8th March, where two reports will be published by WFTO Global on how Fair Trade is empowering women and facilitating women in leadership and management positions.
  • WFTO-Europe Review 2019 – a publication promoting stories from WFTO-Europe’s members on their contributions to the SDGs through their work on Fair Trade. It will be published in March.
  • Campaign on the European Parliament Elections kicking off in April.
  • WFTO-Europe gathering event & AGM in June, with a public session on Fair Trade as an alternative business model and its contribution to both social and climate justice.