The impact of our work

We support small scale farmers and workers who are marginalised from trade in a variety of ways and carefully monitor the impact of Fairtrade on these communities.

Fairtrade as a certification is much more than merely an environmental certification, it is the only and best ethical and social certification that really ensures social and environmental, ethical and economic impact, and therefore human impact.

Enrique Calderon, Coffee Farmer, Coopeagri

As a certification scheme, the Fairtrade Standards, which demand minimum commitments and requirements such as on pricing, provide one of our primary and also most visible tools for empowering small farmer and worker organisations. Read more about the Fairtrade Standards.

But beyond the standards and certification, the Fairtrade system also provides direct and indirect support to farmers and workers and their organisations to deepen social and environmental sustainability.

Fairtrade has a committed programme of Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) that supports internal learning and improvement and helps build the evidence base for assessing the difference we make. Read about how Fairtrade monitors and measures impact.

This programme is based on our ‘Theory of Change’ and ensures we gather the right data and information on what difference Fairtrade makes to the lives of farmers and workers.