Silver Kasoro-Atwoki joins Fairtrade Foundation's Board

Silver Kasoro-Atwoki, Director and Chairman of the Mabale Growers Tea Factory in Uganda, has been appointed to the Board of the Fairtrade Foundation, the UK certification body that licenses the FAIRTRADE Mark to products which meet international Fairtrade standards.

Mr Kasoro- Atwoki, a tea grower himself, brings to the Foundation’s Board a wealth of experience of operating under the Fairtrade system on the ground in Uganda. Mr Kasoro-Atwoki is Chairman of the tea factory’s Joint Body, the committee that decides on the use of the social premium from Fairtrade sales.

Mr Kasoro-Atwoki says: “I am delighted to join the Board of a very strong team that has been making significant progress in raising the profile and penetration of Fairtrade products within mainstream retailing in the UK. The UK is a very important market for African tea producers such as Mabale. Through my new role I hope to bring the perspective of African producers to the highest level of the Foundation’s discussions and planning processes. I also hope that I will be able to share useful insights on developments in the UK with the wider networks of Fairtrade producers I represent.”

“Thanks to Fairtrade, we have changed our agricultural techniques which have improved the quality and quantity of our teas. We have opened new access roads to benefit all in the community, assisted in providing primary health care through construction of health units and added a new block to a local secondary school. Fairtrade is significantly contributing towards the social improvement of our community and providing a better future for our youngsters.”

Mr Kasoro-Atwoki also represents the East Africa Fairtrade Network within the wider Africa Fairtrade Network (AFN). These networks were set up in recent years to strengthen organization and communication between Fairtrade producers in different African countries and provide support to members.

Ian Bretman, Deputy Director of the Fairtrade Foundation said: “Fairtrade aims to be a partnership with producers to improve the developmental impact of international trade and so we are thrilled that Mr Kasoro-Atwoki has joined the Board of the Foundation as his experience will enable this aspect of our work to be strengthened. His appointment will bring a new dimension to the way we work on behalf of producers across Africa and we hope to extend this initiative to other regions of the developing world in the future.”

Mr Kasoro-Atwoki attended his first Board meeting in July where he met with fellow members and commenced his appointment. Members are appointed to the Fairtrade Foundation’s Board for a period of two years.

The Fairtrade Foundation confirmed that it has also issued an invitation to the Latin American and Caribbean Fairtrade producer networks to appoint a representative to its Board.

For more information, please email martine.julseth@fairtrade.org.uk or eileen.maybin@fairtrade.org.uk or telephone the Fairtrade Foundation Press Office on Tel: 020 7440 7695/ 020 7440 7686 or mobile 07770 957 451.

Notes to Editors

• The other Board members are Cathy Keable Elliott (CAFOD), Janice Langley (National Federation of Women’s Institutes), Rosemary Byrde (Oxfam), Peter Lockyer (Christian Aid), Ed Mayo (National Consumer Council), Sue Osborne (Shared Interest), Bert Schouwenburg (GMB London Region), Nabs Suma (consultant on organic and Fairtrade certification issues), Jez Frampton (Chief Executive, Interbrand). The Board is chaired by Mike Gidney of Traidcraft Exchange and Lynne Gregory, NCVO is Board Treasurer.
• The Joint Body is the elected committee which decides how to invest the Fairtrade premium, the additional payment reserved for business and social development projects.
• Mabale Growers Tea Factory Ltd is located at an altitude of around 1,500 metres on the lower slopes of the Rwenzori Mountains near Fort Portal, one of Uganda’s main tea growing areas. It incorporates a tea processing factory and two tea estates that were previously owned and operated by the state but were abandoned during the chaos of the Amin regime and its aftermath in the 1970s and 1980s. They have since been renovated, rehabilitated and privatised under the government’s Smallholder Tea Programme which also saw the ownership pass to an association of 950 shareholders, mostly small-scale tea farmers who supply the factory with their green leaf tea.
• Apart from Fairtrade and a few local sales, most of Mabale’s (processed) tea is sold to international buyers via the Mombassa auction. Despite a current uplift in recent weeks and months, the prices received at auction are following the worldwide long-term downward trend which, with all other costs rising, makes it very difficult for tea growers to make a decent living.
• Today, more than five million people - farmers, workers and their families - across 58 developing countries benefit from the international Fairtrade system.
• The full range of Fairtrade products now includes coffee, tea, chocolate, cocoa, sugar, bananas, apples, pears, grapes, plums, lemons, oranges, satsumas, clementines, lychees, avocados, pineapples, mangoes, fruit juices, quinoa, peppers, green beans, coconut, dried fruit, rooibos tea, green tea, cakes and biscuits, honey, muesli, cereal bars, jams, chutney and sauces, herbs and spices, nuts and nut oil, wine, beer, rum, flowers, sports balls, rice, yoghurt, babyfood, sugar body scrub, cotton wool and cotton products.
  

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