Sara Parker, a Geography lecturer from Liverpool John Moores University and member of the Liverpool Fairtrade Steering Committee and Janette Porter, an environmental artist, teamed up in 2006 to start the Fair Trade Statement Flag Project in Liverpool.  

Where did the idea for the Fairtrade statement flags project come from?
The inspiration came from Tibetan Prayer Flags in Nepal, where Sara works with closely with a community in a rural mountainous village, and the desire to make the banner project accessible to as many people as possible. We wanted to make it easy for people to share their support for Fairtrade. Decorating the flags is a fun activity that appeals to people of all ages, not just children! Tibetan prayer flags are believed to carry the prayers and wishes of people far and wide and decorating Fairtrade cotton flags means a wide range of people can share their dreams for a better world.

How did the project take off?
We had support from a range of sources including Liverpool John Moores University Volunteer Services, Liverpool City Council, Faiths for Change, Liverpool Council Volunteer Services and The Co-operative. We bought Fairtrade cotton from Gossypium and fabric pens, paints, glitter glue.  

The project started at the Liverpool’s Children’s Festival in 2005 and has run in lots of places in Liverpool including the Somali Centre, Wirral Multicultural Centre, various women’s groups and also at events such as Healing Days, Africa Oye and as part of Fairtrade Fortnight celebrations in Liverpool.  They have even travelled to Brussels.

What are your tips for campaigners organising a similar event?
Plan ahead:  Decide how to display the flags, gather enough posters and Fairtrade products as well as volunteers to explain the basic principles of Fairtrade, have a range of pens, crayons and paints to decorate the flags - also lots of wet wipes for sticky hands!

Don’t just run the session as part of Fairtrade Fortnight and Fairtrade events – take Fairtrade out to the community all year round.
Engaging volunteers to help out in the project has been vital to its success, from cutting up the cotton into A4 sizes, running workshops on Fairtrade and flag-making sessions, to sewing up all the decorated flags.

For more, read our guide here: www.communitiesandfairtrade.org

Have there been any memorable high points?
Having the exhibition on display in Liverpool World Museum in 2007 and seeing faces of the children from a range of community groups when they saw their work on display here was really good.

Since 2006 hundreds of flags have been made and sewn together – it’s a project which continues to grow and grow. We love seeing it at outside venues where the wishes for a better fairer world really are carried away in the breeze!