FAIRTRADE FAIR 2012

Fairtrade Trade Fair at the Guildhall, with the City of London Corporation Fairtrade Group

 

This event aimed to showcase the range of Fairtrade wholesale and retail products now on the market and to encourage more City firms to serve Fairtrade products at their events.

 

With over 150 people from City firms (catering contract managers, procurement managers, CSR managers and those interested in sustainability), Livery companies and the Court of Common Council signed up to attend, there was a fantastic atmosphere in the Guildhall's stunning Basinghall Suite. Suppliers from Peros, Premcrest, La Riojana, Liberation!, Ubuntu chocolate, Geobar, Divine, Qi, Sustain and CyT UK offered samples of tea, chocolate, nuts and wine whilst also explaining more about the origin of their products and how the products could be purchased, wholesale, retail or via catering companies. We were delighted to welcome the Lady Mayoress who enjoyed a tour of the room, sampling and learning more about the products available.

FAIRTRADE FORTNIGHT 2012

We had a full Fairtrade Fortnight 2012 with a wonderful range of events, beginning with Paul Chandler's lecture for JustShare on Fairtrade and Christian Attitudes to the Market (watch the film here).

 

On Monday 5th March, we welcomed Divine Chocolate, Hotel Chocolat and Ubuntu Chocolate for a delicious and educational evening of ethical chocolate tasting. Of course, Divine is the only one of these three to be Fairtrade certified but Hotel Chocolat and Ubuntu have close relationships with their growers and all three shared their philosophies and producer stories generously, as well as their products. We learnt how to taste professionally, tried a fairly traded 'chocktail' (picture below) and enjoyed flavours from fennel to lime.

 

On Thursday 8th March, Eversheds. in association with Elior, kindly hosted afternoon tea for 3 visitors from Malawi, Rosemary Kadzitche and Judith Harry, 2 nutfarmers from Mchinji district, and Kingsley Makiyoni of NASFAM. They supply peanuts and cashew nuts to the Fairtrade company Liberation! established (like Divine and Cafe Direct) by Twin Trading. Liberation! is 42% owned by 11 nut co-operatives such as Rosemary and Judith's, and also markets Harry's Nuts too. Rosemary and Judith taught us how peanuts are grown, harvested, stored and sold, and told us that Fairtrade and Liberation! had transformed their lives. Previously, they had only been able to sell to local middlemen; now, they are guaranteed a minimum price and demand is growing. They urged is to keep buying, saying: 'Thank you, it really helps.'

 

Rosemary and Judith particularly welcomed the Fairtrade premium too. Rosemary's co-operative had decided to use it to build a shelter outside the local maternity hospital. Pregnant women came from miles around to this hospital to give birth and many had had to  sleep outside whilst waiting their turn as the hospital was usually full. Now they had a safe place to stay until they were delivered. Judith's co-operative had built a store with their social premium to keep harvested nuts dry and rot-free. The store also doubled as a school, microfinance centre and meeting place for women's and orphans' support groups.

 

We ended the fortnight with 2 events to celebrate the Diocese of London achieving Fairtrade status, a long-awaited and very welcome achievement! On Friday 9th March, the Bishop of London, clergy and passing tourists made Fairtrade smoothies by pedal-power on Fairtrade smoothie-making bikes outside St Paul's Cathedral. 


On Sunday 11th March, a service at St Paul's complete with steel band and banana song commemorated the occasion, with Harriet Lamb, CEO of the Fairtrade Foundation, presenting the Bishop with the Diocese's Certificate.

FAIRTRADE AND CHRISTIAN ATTITUDES

Watch a JustShare Christian Social and Political Thought Lecture for Fairtrade Fortnight filmed on Wednesday 29th February, 2012 

'Fairtrade and Christian Attitudes to the Market' by Paul Chandler, CEO of Traidcraft plc, the Fairtrade company which fights poverty through trade. Founded in 1979 as a Christian response to poverty, Traidcraft now has a turnover of £14m and works with over 100 producer groups in 30 developing countries. 

FAIRTRADE FORTNIGHT 2011

Our annual City of London Fairtrade Wine Tasting evening took place on Tuesday 1st March 2011 at the offices of Barnett Waddingham LLP.

An audience consisting of representatives from procurement and catering, Livery Companies, the Corporation, the Church, City businesses, Fairtrade activists and NGOs were treated to an excellent array of Bibendum wines from La Riojana in Argentina and Stellenrust in South Africa, and Liberation! Fairtrade peanuts from Mozambique. Miles Platt of Bibendum spoke about the need to source high quality of Fairtrade wines and the impact the Fairtrade premium on farmers, whilst Andrew Emmott of Twin Trading (which founded Liberation! as well as Cafe Direct, Divine and Agrofair) described his role in helping nut farmer co-operatives gain access to international markets, add value to their produce and manage supply chains. We are very grateful to Bibendum, Twin Trading, Liberation!, Barnett Waddingham and the City of London Fairtrade Steering Group for making this event possible.

We also celebrated Fairtrade Fortnight 2011 by joining in the Show Off Your Label photo campaign. Nina Tweddle from the Diocese of London Fairtrade Group, Andrew Emmott from Twin Trading and Dyborn Chibonga, CEO of the National Smallholder Farmers’ Association of Malawi (NASFAM), all pictured on the right, broadcast Fairtrade fruit and nuts quite literally from the rooftops - well, from the top of St Mary-le-Bow tower. NASFAM, which has 110,000 members, includes many nut farmers whose cashews and peanuts you'll find in packets of Harry's Nuts! in supermarkets and pubs in the UK. Dyborn was in the UK to promote Harry’s Nuts! in Fairtrade Fortnight.

JustShare Clergy Seminar Supper, Tuesday 15th March 2011

Peter Sigley, CEO of the Federation of Cocoa Commerce Ltd and Chair of both Cocoa Research UK and the Federation of Commodity Associations, gave us a fascinating insight into the complexities of the cocoa industry and the challenges for governments, development agencies, the private sector and farmers themselves of achieving economic and social development through agriculture.

THE BIG SWAP

Panel Discussion on big businesses and Fairtrade:'The big swap: issues and impacts'

JustShare brought together Julia Clark, Strategic Brand Manager at Tate & Lyle, Claire Levens, Head of Advocacy and Responsibility at Starbucks, and Alison Ward, Head of Global CSR at Cadbury. These three global corporations have switched to Fairtrade over the past couple of years. In celebration of World Fairtrade Day, we asked them why they did it and what impact it has had on their business; their supply chains, their brand and their bottom line, as well as on the farmers with whom they trade. The debate was chaired by Ben Speed of the Fairtrade Foundation.

FAIRTRADE EVENTS 2009

Fairtrade was prominent throughout the year in 2009,

May Day topic at JustShare for 2009 was Fairtrade, in celebration of London becoming a Fairtrade City. We teamed up with Trading Visions and the London Fairtrade Campaign to put on a Fairtrade Fair outside the Royal Exchange. Live music came from RumHoney and Louis Cole, and there were Fairtrade stalls and samples from Divine, Dubble, Liberation, Cafédirect, The Co-operative, Shared Interest, Traidcraft, Stellar Organics, the London Diocese Fairtrade Campaign and the City of London Fairtrade Campaign. Sophi Tranchell and Nick Saltmarch gave keynote speeches encouraging the use of ethically-sourced products in offices, homes, schools & places of worship.

As well as May Day, we hosted a Fairtrade Conference (‘Make It Happen’) for the diocese in January, attended by representatives from churches across London and aiming to help achieve Fairtrade Diocese status.

During Fairtrade Fortnight we held a well-attended Fairtrade wine tasting combined with a fairly-traded Afghani carpet sale, in partnership with La Riojana and Afghan Action.

The crypt was transformed with beautifully woven Afghan rugs rather bravely spread amongst tables of Argentinian wine. We are grateful to La Riojana for generously providing Fairtrade wine after our Lectures throughout the year.

The Traidcraft Big Brew gave us the opportunity for another novel Fairtrade event. The Big Brew encourages churches to open their doors to the public and serve free Fairtrade drinks on a designated day in the summer. Taking advantage of the City of London Festival’s Street Piano initiative, which saw pianos placed in outdoor venues across the City for passers-by to play ad hoc, we held a Street Piano Big Brew.

We served free Fairtrade tea, coffee and wine around the piano in the churchyard, inviting passers-by to sample the Fairtrade refreshments whilst playing or listening to the piano in the sunshine.