Congratulations all round. You have started a revolution in trade. However, you need to bring the UK supermarkets closer to your aims. At present, for me to give an extra 10p to a farmer, I have to give the supermarket an extra £1.00. It ain't "fair trading", and I object to it. This is the biggest factor limiting the growth of the campaign.
- Hugh, Hertfordshire

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1. Engagement with football clubs - grassroots up as well as Premier League clubs. Supporters Direct (www.supporters-direct.org) are an organisation that support co-operative-run football clubs and would be interested in working with you! 2. Keeping the link with trade justice. Definite role for Foundation to lead on this, Fairtrade is a fantastic entry point for talking about the wider issues. 3. Building a global movement – partnership with co-operatives around the world. The Co-operative in the UK has been a pioneer of Fairtrade for many years, and there is a massive co-operative membership across the world. The biggest obstacle to trade justice has been lack of support of the public in key countries in WTO negotiations – USA, France, Germany etc. We should work with co-operative organisations across the world, using their membership to build a constituency of support for trade justice in all the key countries in WTO negotiations, including key developing countries like Brazil and India. So I would propose a global partnership with co-operatives, starting with approaching the International Co-operative Alliance - www.coop.org
- David Taylor, Oxford

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I personally think the following key points deserve some consideration: 1) Producer to consumer linking: When I’m browsing the Supermarket shelves I would like to be able to easily see where these products came from, who farmed them, and how my buying them will improve their lives. I believe providing this tangible link and evidence of the benefits will prompt more people to leave the non Fairtrade items on the shelves. This already happens, but only to a limited extent. New technology, such as low cost small screens on shelves could play a part. 2) Supermarkets should promote Fairtrade items a lot more. Some do of course, but many don’t, it seems a token gesture. They get on board during Fairtrade fortnight but then it all stops and most products disappear from shelves. This includes how and where they display items, linking it to point one above. I think the Foundation should really turn up the heat on this from CEO down to store managers. 3) Scalability: Most of what we buy comes from large multinationals. Not many of them seem to have embraced Fairtrade in a big way. Perhaps the certification body needs to find a way to accommodate big producers more easily. Thus not leaving the way open for other ethical certification bodies to piggy back on the success of Fairtrade, and certify big multinationals products to lower standards with fewer benefits to farmers.
- Will, Hertfordshire

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Hi All, Tipping the balance seems like a great document, really inspiring and exciting stuff. I’d just like to add something on boycotts. I don't agree that boycotting products is the way forward (unless it has been specifically called for by the workers themselves like in the case of Coca Cola and Nestle) as they often do more damage than good to workers in the developing world. Although I engage in personal moral boycotts they are significantly different to calling for a collective boycott. I think the way forward is to show solidarity with workers in the developing world by supporting their activism. I personally feel a good way of doing this is lobbying companies to switch to Fairtrade. I feel that if we are really going to tip the balance in favour of some of the world's poorest producers we need pick up our game and actively lobby the most powerful decision makers to switch to Fairtrade. I personally think that this is increasingly pressing as there are a growing number of green wash schemes coming on to the market like Rainforest Alliance who do next to nothing for the producers whilst giving companies ethical cudos in the general public's eyes. Again if we are to tip the balance we need to mobilise Fairtrade's amazing campaign network to mass lobby companies to switch to Fairtrade. I feel we should identify one key Target a month ie Tetley's Tea and intensively lobby them, with letter writing campaigns (e-actions) and press stunts maybe outside their Head quarters or in our local towns. Campaigner activism has made a massive difference in the past and I feel if we collectively organise a campaign (either through the Foundation or independently) we can put a lot of pressure on the big boys to act ethically and switch to Fairtrade. I personally believe this is of the utmost importance if we are going to reach the millions of people living in poverty. Best Wishes Lee, Halesowen
- Lee, Halesowen

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I was just watching Blood Sweat and T-shirts, the only way we can ever achieve a fairer equal world is if we stage a global boycott against companies who let third world countries live in such conditions. Why should others have to suffer, i'm sure countries like the Uk and America wont suffer too much if tehy had to pay just a little extra in order to make sure workers are eaning more than £1 a day. We need global action, we need to show the world that we are not prepared to buy things that have been produced by people, even children who earn so much less than minimum wage and yet still have to support their families! It's unacceptable and we as a nation should nto stand for it!
- Najmin Emma Nessa, London

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I agree that sports clubs (both local and professional) should be approached by the foundation/ local fair trade groups- if these clubs were demanding fair trade equipment, perhaps this would trickle to companies such as adidas etc that people are interested in spending their money on Fairtrade goods and so be encouraged to produce for this market. I also think its essential to make using Fairtrade the norm for businesses- everyone is desperate to have the best CSR policy around- could the foundation create Fairtrade workplaces like towns and schools? Could more be made of ingredients which go into beauty products? this is a HUGE industry, and the organics/ nautral side of this sector is growing massivley at the moment. Surely many of the products used in beauty products are food stuffs, so that present critera for the mark could be easily adapted. I know the Body Shop do some 'fairly traded' products, but using the mark would help reach the goal of increasing market opportunites for producers- and this area could definitley be one where producers could be shareholders, like Kuapa Kooko.
- Emily Leonard, Leeds

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Can you help businesses get in touch with manufacturers in third world countries in order to promote their products? I want to start a fair trade business in jewellery. I want to sell fairly traded jewellery produced by artesans in poor countries. How do I find these artesans?
- Mariana Barbera, Preston

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I agree with the previous football comments. As Fairtrade is a global issue that involves us all, what better way is there to promote Fairtrade than through the global passion for football. Football is at heart a simple game, played from the townships in Africa through to corporate sports halls and multi million pound premier league clubs. Sport itself is an area often overlooked when it comes to Fairtrade, and offers the opportunity to target an audience that would not necessarily otherwise become involved. The Blogsplot website begins to cover Fairtrade sport stories and will document all those clubs, schools and organisations that make commitments to Fairtrade. The campaign is currently in discussion with several football clubs, for the 2008-09 season, to encourage committing to Fairtrade; from using sports balls, running community events through to catering Fairtrade products. See www.blogsplot.co.uk
- Paul Blackler, Luton / Bedfordshire

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The celebrity ideas put forward from others sound good – people do listen to them! More Fairtrade Forums working towards Fairtrade status of their town will help get Fairtrade products more readily available (explained in the Getting Involved section of this site). One idea to promote Fairtrade clothes is to get some brands to put the Fairtrade logo on the outside of the clothing and that way it could become a talking point (it would look good on the pocket of a pair of jeans). Also could awareness of Fairtrade be increased by getting someone involved onto a large audience television show - for instance on breakfast television they often invite someone to talk about a subject or event (what about events like the forthcoming Fashion Made Fair). Also there is probably scope for more coverage in newspapers – these often have Sunday supplements on particular themes. It was good to see Marie Clare promoting Fairtrade fashion, perhaps more magazines could get involved.
- Alison Roel, Teddington, London

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Hi Dibi, Happy World Fair Trade Day. At www.ifat.org you will be able to find contact details for companies in Indonesia who have been through their monitoring for crafts, jewellery, textiles etc, as well as an explanation of the principles that apply. There is a mechanism on the home page for searching for organisations that subscribe to fair trade principles. You can also find a link to the Asia Fair Trade Forum which provides networking and support for groups in that region. At the moment there aren't international standards for many of these items, although you could consider integrating Fairtrade certified cotton into your sourcing plans too.
- Barbara, Fairtrade Foundation, London

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