Palace date as tireless Fairtrade campaigner Joe Human receives an MBE
Fairtrade campaigner Joe Human will receive an MBE for services to Fairtrade and Oxfam at Buckingham Palace on Friday, 21 May.
Joe, 69, currently helps run the Cumbria Fair Trade Network and has volunteered for the Fairtrade Foundation and Oxfam for many years. He has also worked as a teacher in India and Kenya. Cumbria now has more Fairtrade Towns than any other county, including Keswick where Joe lives.
He says: ‘I was pleased to hear that I’d been awarded an MBE as I hope it shows that Fairtrade is increasingly seen as a force for good. I look forward to carrying on my work for Fairtrade and other organisations.’
As part of his work for Fairtrade in Cumbria, Joe was behind a project to link Keswick with the village of Choche in Ethiopia, the legendary birthplace of coffee and one of modern day Ethiopia’s coffee growing areas and he has visited the village several times.
He says: ‘This link shows supporters that Fairtrade really does work and is helping producers to lead a much better life. Ties like this let people see the positive results of committed campaigning. Working for Fairtrade Towns is enormously empowering for those involved as well as the producers in the developing world.’
Once Joe has his MBE he plans to carry on campaigning in Cumbria and continue an ongoing project to get all hotels and B&B’s in Keswick to go Fairtrade in order to capture the attention of the many tourists who flock to the region each year.
Joe says: ‘I believe that there are around 200 hotels and B&Bs in Keswick and around half now use Fairtrade products. My goal over the next year or so is to persuade the rest to join the movement.’
Hannah Reed, Campaigns Manager for Fairtrade Towns at the Fairtrade Foundation, says: ‘Joe is an inspiration to many people in Cumbria and beyond and we are delighted that his hard work has been recognised. This recognition is a testament to Joe’s dedication and passion and to the hundreds of people like him who are taking Fairtrade forward in their communities, one conversation and one event at a time.
The Fairtrade Foundation is the independent non-profit organisation that licenses use of the FAIRTRADE Mark on products in the UK in accordance with internationally agreed Fairtrade standards. The Foundation was established in 1992 by CAFOD, Christian Aid, Oxfam, Traidcraft and the World Development Movement, later joined by the National Federation of Women’s Institutes and it works to transform trading structures and practices in favour of the poor and disadvantaged.
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Notes to Editors
1. Today there are more than 480 Fairtrade Towns, 100 Fairtrade
Universities & Colleges, over 6,000 Faith Groups and more than
3,000 schools registered with the Fairtrade Foundation.
2. To gain Fairtrade Town status, communities have to demonstrate a
commitment to Fairtrade across local government, businesses and retail
outlets.
3. Today there are more than 450 Fairtrade Towns, 100 Fairtrade
Universities & Colleges, over 6,000 Faith Groups and more than
3,000 schools registered with the Fairtrade Foundation.
4. Today over 4,500 retail and catering 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, olive oil, rice, quinoa, herbs & spices,
seeds, nuts & nut oil, wines, beers, rum, confectionary, muesli,
cereal bars, yoghurt, ice-cream, flowers, sports balls, sugar body
scrub, plus cotton products including clothing, homeware, cloth toys
and cotton wool.
5. 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 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.
For more information please contact Faith Mall, Media & PR Manager at the Fairtrade Foundation, on 0207 440 8597 or Eileen Maybin, Head of Media, on 0207 440 7686.