New Deputy Executive Director for Fairtrade Foundation
New Deputy Executive Director for Fairtrade Foundation
The Fairtrade Foundation has appointed Mike Gidney to the role of Deputy Executive Director in a move that will help the organisation deliver its ambitious objectives for 2012. These include increasing the impact Fairtrade is having on poverty, doubling the number of producers who benefit from Fairtrade and reaching £2bn in annual sales in the UK.
Mike joins the Foundation at a time when the benefits of Fairtrade are needed more than ever. The global recession is hitting producers in developing countries particularly hard, coming so soon after the severe rise in food prices of 2008. Conditions in Malawi, for example, were less than promising at the onset of the global financial crisis, making the economy particularly vulnerable to fallout, according to the World Bank. Malawi is one of the countries where nut, sugar and tea producers are finding access to the UK Fairtrade market, which is beginning to make a real, positive difference to their communities.
Mike has worked in international development for 20 years, with a particular focus on poverty reduction and small enterprise development, helping producers identify and access markets. Previously a Board Director of the Fairtrade Foundation, and Chair (2005-08), Mike has also served on the Foundation’s Certification and Executive Committees.
He says: ‘I’m really delighted to be joining the Fairtrade Foundation at such a critical time. I know how ambitious we’re being but feel sure we can achieve the scale and impact we’re aiming for. In such difficult economic times, Fairtrade is a lifeline for many communities in the developing world’.
Mike joins the Fairtrade Foundation from pioneering fair trade organisation Traidcraft Exchange, where he has been Director of Policy since 2001. A member of Traidcraft’s senior leadership team, he has built up their policy and campaigning programmes, working on issues including fair trade, trade justice, responsible purchasing practices, and Economic Partnership Agreements, advocating the voices of Traidcraft’s producer partners. He has chaired the advocacy committee of the International Fair Trade Association (now the World Fair Trade Organisation), playing a central role in ensuring that the social and political ambitions of the Fair Trade movement are fully heard in both the UK and internationally as Fairtrade continues to become more mainstream. Mike previously worked with VSO for several years, helping them to set up new international programmes, including linking British businesses with small and media sized enterprises in the developing world. Having started out his career as a teacher in Kenya, Mike has worked in many African countries, including Kenya, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Malawi and Tanzania.
Harriet Lamb, Executive Director of the Fairtrade Foundation said: ‘Mike’s joining the Fairtrade Foundation represents a significant strengthening of our capacity and he brings with him a strong background in policy and international development. We look forward to working with Mike to continue fighting poverty through trade, helping poor producers build more sustainable businesses and campaigning for fairer trade rules and practices internationally.’
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Notes to Editors
1. The FAIRTRADE Mark is a certification mark and a registered trademark of Fairtrade Labelling Organisations International (FLO) of which the Fairtrade Foundation is the UK member. The Fairtrade Foundation is an independent certification body which licenses the use of the FAIRTRADE Mark on products which meet international Fairtrade standards. This independent consumer label is now recognised by 70% of UK consumers and appears on products as a guarantee that disadvantaged producers are getting a better deal. Today, more than 7.5 million people – farmers, workers and their families – across 58 developing countries benefit from the international Fairtrade system.
2. Over 4,500 products have been licensed to carry the FAIRTRADE Mark including coffee, tea, herbal teas, chocolate, cocoa, sugar, bananas, grapes, pineapples, mangoes, avocados, apples, pears, plums, grapefruit, lemons, oranges, satsumas, clementines, mandarins, lychees, coconuts, dried fruit, juices, smoothies, biscuits, cakes & snacks, honey, jams & preserves, chutney & sauces, rice, quinoa, herbs & spices, seeds, nuts & nut oil, wines, beers, rum, confectionary, muesli, cereal bars, yoghurt, ice-cream, flowers, sports balls, sugar body scrub and cotton products including clothing, homeware, beauty products, cloth toys, cotton wool and olive oil.
3. 7 in 10 households purchase Fairtrade goods, including an extra 1.3 million more households in 2008, helping Fairtrade sales reach an estimated £700m in 2008, a 43% increase on the previous year. There are over 460 producer organisations selling to the UK and by the end of October 2008 872 certified producer groups were in the global Fairtrade system, representing more than 1.5 million farmers and workers.