Fairtrade Foundation to Provide Opening Evidence to House of Commons International Development Committee Inquiry Into Fair Trade and Development

> Listen in Real Player  to the opening speeches (at 14:30)

Harriet Lamb, The Executive Director of the Fairtrade Foundation, will be the first to give evidence to the House of Commons International Development Committee (IDC) on Tuesday, 27 February, which coincides with the beginning of Fairtrade Fortnight (26 February – 11 March 2007). Harriet will be calling on the UK Government, as the UK is the most dynamic Fairtrade market, to take a lead within the international donor community to secure a minimum £50m strategic investment in the future of Fairtrade worldwide over the next five years.

However, the Fairtrade Foundation will raise concerns with the IDC about the lack of an overall strategic approach to Fairtrade within the Department for International Development (DFID). Despite a string of positive statements made by UK ministers at the G8 in Gleneagles, the Commission for Africa and other public meetings about increasing support to marginalized producers and growing fair trade markets, the Fairtrade Foundation will call for a more consistent and strategic approach to investing in the sector, rather than short-term grant giving.

“Whilst we acknowledge the very public support from the current Secretary of State for International Development and other Ministers, behind the scenes the Department appears to be falling behind the curve of growing public and business support for Fairtrade,” Harriet will say. “The Department has provided some project grant funding to date, but now we are calling on them to apply joined-up thinking and adopt a strategic long-term approach to investment in the fair trade sector as a whole.”

The Foundation also plans to draw attention to its work supporting co-operatives of marginalized small-scale banana farmers in the Windward Islands and Dominican Republic who have only been able to upgrade their farms and stay in the market thanks to the better deal they get from Fairtrade sales and the growth in consumer demand for Fairtrade bananas. Recent changes to the EU Regime for importing bananas raised further challenges for the survival of the industry at a crucial time in its history. The St Lucian banana farmers have coined a slogan in Creole “Fig Fini San Fairtrade”, which means there would be no banana industry without Fairtrade.

Roosevelt Skerrit, Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Dominica, will also take part in the opening session of the committee on 27 February, in order to provide evidence about the impact of Fairtrade in the Windward Islands. Mr Skerrit will point to the positive role played by Fairtrade in enabling small banana farmers across the islands to survive in an increasingly cut-throat international market. This has led to a position today where banana farming groups are able to look to the future again, use their premiums from Fairtrade to improve local community services, and invest in strengthening their businesses.

The IDC launched an inquiry into fair trade and its place in development at the end of last year. The Fairtrade Foundation’s submission argues that Fairtrade has proved such a valuable model in enabling marginalised farmers and workers’ groups to compete successfully in international trade and benefit their families and communities, that more government funds should be made available to support the development of Fairtrade market and producers.

“Fairtrade is at a watershed,” the submission concludes. “With major strategic funding, the Foundation has the opportunity to mainstream Fairtrade on a major scale. What is needed at this crucial turning point is substantial and strategic donor investment in order to ensure that the significant market development opportunities achieved in the North can be maximised for the benefit of producers and workers in developing countries.”

The submission argues that with modest donor funding, the Fairtrade Foundation has been able to lift Fairtrade to a new level in the UK market, with 50 percent of the public now recognising the FAIRTRADE Mark and sales growing at 40 percent year-on-year. The Foundation is working with over 262 licensees, covering all of the major supermarkets, many independent stores, wholesalers and catering companies, offering over 2,500 products to the public in the UK alone.

The Fairtrade Foundation evidence demonstrates that Fairtrade has had a positive effect for farmers, workers and their families and for their organisations and communities too. Currently the international Fairtrade Labelling system spans almost 80 countries, working with 580 producer partners, representing over 5 million people - farmers, workers and their families - from 58 countries.

“What they have in common is that Fairtrade has supported their organisational democracy and transparency and personal participation and empowerment,” says the submission, citing the example of cotton farmers in Mali They used the first Fairtrade premium payment to build a two-room schoolhouse. The new-found confidence engendered by their democratic engagement in Fairtrade meant that they went on to challenge local government to live up to their responsibilities. The result – a brand new school for approximately 160 pupils funded jointly by the local government and the cooperative.

The IDC Inquiry into Fair Trade and Development comes about because, according to the IDC, “Fairtrade has been repeatedly recognised by European institutions and agreements as a key tool for sustainable development and poverty reduction.”

The Gleneagles G8 Communique 2005 said “[we] welcome the growing market for fair-trade goods and their positive effort in support livelihoods and increasing public awareness of the positive role of trade in development.”

Commenting on her hopes for the outcome of the inquiry, Harriet Lamb says, “We hope the IDC will recommend that the Department for International Development works more in partnership with the Fairtrade movement to achieve a long-term investment plan with the shared objectives of expanding Fairtrade markets and enabling many more poor communities in developing countries to benefit from the better deal that they provide.”

Notes to Editors
• The Department for International Development (DFID) has provided grants to the Fairtrade Foundation since 1999 totalling approximately £1.8m for a variety of activities including public awareness-raising through the Fairtrade Towns initiative and in schools, new product development and promoting Fairtrade in the ‘out of home’ sector. Fairtrade initiatives in other European countries receive similar funding from their governments.

• The Fairtrade Foundation is an independent certification body that awards the FAIRTRADE Mark to products which meet international Fairtrade standards set by FLO (Fairtrade Labelling Organisations International) coordinated from Bonn, Germany. Five million people - farmers, workers and their families - benefit from the international Fairtrade system and FLO aims to continually increase the number of producer groups registered to supply the international Fairtrade market. For example, the number African Fairtrade certified organisations rose from 42 in 12 countries in 2002 to 164 organisations from 23 countries by the end of 2006 – an increase of 290%.

• Fairtrade Fortnight is promoted by networks around the country including development agencies ActionAid, CAFOD, Christian Aid, Oxfam, SCIAF, Tearfund, Traidcraft Exchange and the World Development Movement, as well as a wide range of other organisations: Banana Link, the Methodist Relief and Development Fund, the Mothers’ Union, The National Federation of Women’s Institutes, the Nicaragua Solidarity Campaign, People & Planet, Shared Interest Foundation, Soroptimist GBI, the Public and Commercial Services Union, UNISON, the United Reformed Church and many individual churches.

For further information, phone 020 7440 7686/7695 or mobile 07770 957 451 or email eileen.maybin@fairtrade.org.uk or martine.julseth@fairtrade.org.uk.


The Fairtrade Foundation,
Room 204, 16 Baldwin’s Gardens,
London EC1N 7RJ.

Tel: 020 7405 5942
Fax: 020 7405 5943
Web: www.fairtrade.org.uk