Fairtrade Yorkshire

Our Co-ordinator Joanna Pollard was honoured to receive a Special Recognition award at the Scottish Fair Trade Awards on Monday 16 November, for her work on the Nestle campaign. Here are her thoughts:

“I worked with Martin and especially Colleen from the Scottish Fair Trade Forum on the Nestle campaign and after recently participating in virtual workshops with the Forum and reporting to the Scottish Parliament’s Cross Party committee on Fairtrade, I feel like I’ve been adopted as an honorary Scot. But it was still a wonderful surprise to receive this award alongside such brilliant Scottish fair trade campaigners. As an independent fair trade retailer it was particularly good to see so many of Scotland’s fair trade shops being honoured at what is a particularly tough time for shops but Rainbow Turtle, Gavin’s Mill, All Things Fair and The Emporium of Worldly Goods are stepping up to the challenge of 2020.

For my own part, I was incredibly touched and delighted to hear my friends and colleagues – Colleen, Emina from Fair Trade Wales and in particular my “wing man” Stefan from the Fairtrade Foundation (and originally Northern Ireland, giving us the full set!) with their wonderfully – almost embarrassingly – effusive praise and memories of a summer spent collaborating, brainstorming and organising. I loved hearing that Stefan looked forward to our weekly meetings as the highlight of his week – and our daily email conversations were always creative, productive and supportive, even when I was having a wobble.

Here’s what Emina had to say in a pre-recorded video from her home in South Wales

It was fantastic to collaborate with such generous, enthusiastic and driven people, and I really look forward to working together again in the near future. This award may have my name on it but it’s for everyone involved in the campaign from the York Fair Trade Forum members who stood with me at the gates of Nestle on 1 October to all the 285,000 supporters who signed the petition. But most importantly the award is dedicated to the cocoa farmers in Cote d’Ivoire who we were fighting for. Their video was shown as part of the ceremony and their professionalism, passion and commitment to Fairtrade are so clear. The Found Poem video (featuring MSP Colin Smyth) has it right – “People matter”. Fair trade is all about people supporting one another, connecting wherever in the world we are, putting ourselves on the line for each other. It’s about standing up for one another – standing with farmers when their livelihoods are at risk. It’s about sharing generously, caring passionately and believing in one another. All skills we have had to learn during the pandemic, to keep each other safe. Skills my fair trade tribe have consistently shown they have in spades.

I’ve learnt so much this summer but the most important thing is that with the right people around us we can achieve anything. Collaboration, imagination and motivation are vital but making sure you bring each other joy, keep each other smiling,  and have each other’s backs are most important of all. I feel honoured and privileged to have worked on this campaign and with these people. People matter.”

See all the winners on the Scottish Fair Trade Forum website

Our campaign to Keep KitKat Fairtrade came to a head on Thursday 1 October when a group of supporters from the York Fair Trade Forum and the National Campaigner Committee assembled outside Nestle’s offices in York to hand in the petition which has amassed over 284,000 signatures. The date was chosen as it marks the start of the cocoa harvest in Cote d’Ivoire.

Social media was already buzzing with people from all around the UK sharing the video of a “found poem” read by a range of Fairtrade supporters to reflect the diversity of the UK’s Fairtrade movement. Based on just some of the comments from people who signed the petition, the video can be seen here:

Watch the video

I awoke on Thursday morning to the news that York Central MP Rachael Maskell – who features in our video – had worked with fellow members of the APPG on Fairtrade Holly Lynch MP, Jason McCartney MP and Patrick Grady MP to take control of the floor of the House of Commons for 4 minutes to promote our petition. The game was afoot.

The skies were blue and the air was clear and crisp as we unfurled our banner and donned face masks printed with the slogan “I Stand With Farmers” and T shirts bearing the Fairtrade mark – which will be conspicuous by its absence from KitKats from now on. Our photographer Danny Lawson arranged us in a socially distanced way and started snapping.

Drivers on the busy A19 tooted their horns in support and eventually a security guard came out to ask if he could help us. He agreed to take the text of the petition from us (we will be sending the official petition to the addressee Nestle Global CEO Ulf Mark Schneider direct to his office in Geneva)

I read out I stand with farmers – poem based on petition comments the “found poem” and after some solo chanting (making sure to be covid safe) we were ready to wrap up the protest. Just then a KitKat branded lorry drove past and the opportunity was too good to miss. We rushed to position ourselves in a perfect spot to get the shot with the lorry in the background.

The Day continued with more and more social media shares and coverage from the BBC website, BBC Radio York and the York Press.

Our efforts were rewarded by a final concession from Nestle, who have agreed to match the Fairtrade minimum price paid to farmers for two years – as detailed in this blog from the Fairtrade Foundation.

The campaign was entitled “Keep KitKat Fairtrade” but in reality I knew when I started it that Nestle were unlikely to reverse their decision. So if that was not to be achieved, we demanded several supplementary concessions from Nestle:

1. Transparency about the premium paid to farmers. After my meeting with Nestle in July, they announced a clear plan for this. It is less than the Fairtrade premium, but more than they initially planned to pay.
2. Increased support for farmers in the short term. This has been agreed, with extra support for two years.
3. Nestle to sit down with the RICE network – farmers’ representatives. They have been in an ongoing dialogue for several weeks now.
4. To show the groundswell of support for Fairtrade in the UK. This dedicated band of thousands of volunteers have come together to show Nestle that we want our chocolate to be Fairtrade.

Special thanks to the official supporters of the petition: CAFOD, NUS, BAFTS Fair Trade Network UK, Tearfund, Commitment for Life, National Campaigner Committee, Scottish Fair Trade Forum and Fair Trade Wales.

So what now? The farmers remain Fairtrade certified, which means that they can sell their cocoa on Fairtrade terms if a new buyer can be found for next year’s harvest and beyond. This means we in the UK and beyond need to keep choosing Fairtrade chocolate.  Choosing to buy Fairtrade marked chocolate from dedicated Fairtrade brands like Divine chocolate, Seed & Bean, Tonys Chocolonely and own brand Fairtrade chocolate from supermarkets like Co-op, Lidl, Aldi and Waitrose makes all the difference for cocoa farmers. They sell their crop to big brands like Nestle because they are the biggest buyers. Which means we need to work on turning the most ethical brands into the biggest buyers of cocoa.

I Stand With Farmers

Choose Fairtrade

Choose The World You Want

If you have engaged with the campaign now is your chance to shape any future campaigns like this. Take our survey and we’ll make sure your voice is heard.

Update: 20 October 2020

If you weren’t able to come along to the conference, missed some of it or want to relive its glory once again, click the link below:

Watch the Fairtrade Yorkshire virtual conference 2020 

Further reading

Hopefully the conference has inspired you to take your campaigning further and really become part of our fair trade future.

Our panellists suggested the following links for further information and ideas:

WFTO – Join the business revolution

WFTO & Traidcraft Exchange – Business Models Report

Traidcraft Exchange Building Back Better Report

Labour Behind the Label – FAQ about the garment industry

THIRST Knowledge Hub – Information about human rights in the tea sector

Ethical Trade blog – how can tea buyers support workers

Traidcraft Exchange report – Our Land, Our Rights

Like so many events in this most unprecedented of years, the Fairtrade Yorkshire 2020 Conference has gone online.

The Conference will be held via Zoom on Monday 19 October from 7pm.

While we’ll be very sad not to be able to see one another face to face and network in person, it gives us an opportunity to hear from some people who might otherwise not be able to make it to Yorkshire in person.

So we’re delighted that Erinch Sahan, CEO of the World Fair Trade Organisation has agreed to give our keynote speech at the 2020 Conference. He will be joined afterwards by a group of experts in various aspects of fair and sustainable trade for a panel discussion on the theme “Building A Fair Trade Future”.

Erinch Sahan is Chief Executive of the World Fair Trade Organisation. Founded in 1989, WFTo is the global community and verifier of 400 social enterprises that fully practice Fair Trade. Previously he spent seven years at Oxfam, where he founded its Future of Business Initiative and led campaigning teams. Prior to joining Oxfam, Erinch worked in business, including at Procter & Gamble, and later in government as a development adviser to Australian trade negotiators. he holds both law and business degrees and an honorary Doctorate. Erinch lectures on sustainable business at various universities across the UK.

From 7.30 – 8.15pm Erinch will be joined by a panel of experts with different specialisms for a discussion on the topic “Building A Fair Trade Future”.

Tom Wills is Senior Policy Adviser at Traidcraft Exchange, an international development NGO with a focus on trade and business practices. Tom produced their recent paper on Building Business Back Better. Traidcraft Exchange runs programmes with farmers, artisans and small business owners in India, Bangladesh and East Africa, as well as campaigning for fairer forms of trade in the UK.

Sabita Banerji is the CEO of THIRST The International Roundtable on Sustainable Tea  She has two decades’ experience in international development and in ethical trade, including two terms as Chair of the Oxford Fair Trade Coalition.  As Senior Knowledge and Learning Advisor at the Ethical Trade Initiative she provided companies with support and advice on using the ETI Base Code to protect human rights in their supply chains, with a particular focus on living wages, working hours and gender. She led on a number of studies including a global supplier survey that provided the basis for the ETIs’ Guide to Responsible Buying.  At Oxfam she was technical lead on the Behind the Barcodes supermarket Scorecard, co-authored a report on Addressing the human cost of Assam tea. Sabita is also an associate consultant to Oxfam, and a guest lecturer on fair and ethical trade issues at Oxford Brookes University’s Business School.

Marike Runneboom de Peña is a Sociologist in Agricultural Development from the Landbouw Wageningen University in the Netherlands and has devoted most of her life to bring change in favour of producers and Fairtrade. Since 1986 she has been based in the Dominican Republic, where she worked at the Dominican Land Reform Institute (IAD) training government staff on issues related to agriculture, as well as coordinating projects on organizational strengthening of small farmers. Since 2000 she has been the Managing Director of Banelino Cooperative, a successful Fair Trade banana cooperative from the Dominican Republic. Furthermore, Marike has been an active member of the Latin American and Caribbean Network of Fair Trade Small Producers and Workers (CLAC) for over 12 years, with an outstanding work around the region. Marike has played a key role in the governance of both CLAC and the Fairtrade System, as vice-president and president of their boards in the last decade. Marike is also a Board member at the Fairtrade Foundation

Dominique Muller is Policy Director at Labour Behind the Label – a small but mighty organisation based in the UK which campaigns for workers rights in the garment industry. LBL workers with grassroots partners all around the world, acting in solidarity with garment workers and targeting the actions of UK brands. Dominique previously worked at the Clean Clothes Campaign network as an international coordinator focusing on issues such as migrants, health and safety at work, network building, supply chains and corporate social responsibility. Before that Dominique was based in Hong Kong where she was, among other things, the Executive Director of the International trade Union Confederation (ITUC) Hong Kong Office and a researcher for Amnesty International. Dominique speaks Chinese and French and is currently based in York helping to coordinate the #PayUp campaign.

Join us from 7pm on Monday 19 October 

Book your free tickets on Eventbrite

Update: 27 October

In 2o10 Nestle announced its target to reach 100% sustainable palm oil by 2020. With just two months to go, they cannot trace a third of all the palm oil they use. Gaining good publicity from announcements like this – and the decision the same year to move to Fairtrade cocoa and sugar for KitKats – should mean Nestle is held to account for achieving their goals. That means we are allowed to publicise their failures.

This article from Rainforest Rescue explains how Nestle’s plans on palm oil fell by the wayside.

The Fairtrade Foundation has published its own blogpost bringing together the whole story from their perspective.

Read the blog here.

Update: Wednesday 23 September

The cocoa harvest in Cote d’Ivoire starts on 1 October and that’s the same day that the first KitKats without the Fairtrade mark roll off the production line in York.

So that’s the day we’ve chosen for our Day of Action, and the day we hand in the Keep KitKat Fairtrade petition with almost 300,000 signatures to Nestle.

Obviously the global pandemic and social distancing laws and guidelines limit the number of people who can take part in person, but you can still get involved from the comfort of your own home.

We want the hashtag #IStandWithFarmers trending on Thursday 1 October. We’re asking supporters and campaigners – including celebrities – to tweet our videos, photos and graphics on that day.

You can download the poster and put it in your window on Thursday 1 October. If you have a shop window, a business or access to another place where you think the poster will be seen, please put one up there.

You can also take a photo of yourself with the poster and share it on social media using the hashtag #IStandWithFarmers You can also add #ChooseFairtrade and/or #KeepKitKatFairtrade

We’re asking everyone to change their Facebook cover photo to the I Stand With Farmers graphic. You can do this just for one day or for a longer period, so long as it includes Thursday 1 October. We want to try and turn Facebook red on Thursday 1 October. Don’t forget, if you manage the Facebook page of a Fair Trade business or campaign group, you can change both your personal and the organisation’s cover photos.

Download the poster: Poster English

Download the Facebook cover photo

Download the Twitter post picture

Download the Instagram post picture

Download the Facebook post picture

Day of Action Press Release

Keep an eye out for more details of what’s happening, because there’s lots more to come.

We hope you’ll love and share the above video, featuring Fairtrade campaigners from around the country reading some of the comments on the petition.

When we hand in the petition on Thursday morning we’ll take photos which you’ll find on our Twitter and Facebook pages.

You will have your own ideas for other ways to get involved. Perhaps you’re having a Zoom meeting for your fair trade towns group, so why not take a screenshot of all your members holding the poster like this one from Dunscore Fairtrade Village.

Perhaps you’re running an art or craft class for children or adults, so why not take our poster and add your own decorations in the white spaces or create your own versions? Or write your own haiku when you tweet out our video? (Tip: Keep KitKat Fairtrade and I Stand With Farmers are both 5 syllables)

These are also available in Welsh from the Fair Trade Wales website

Update: Tuesday 15 September

The latest International Guide to Fair Trade Labels 2020 Edition has been released.

While this looks at both Fairtrade and Rainforest Alliance Standards it does not contain Rainforest Alliance in its list of Fair Trade Labels, instead classing it as a Sustainable Development label. Nevertheless, campaigners have been asking for a simple side by side comparison of the two marks so we have produced a document which attempts to do this. It is not exhaustive and has not been produced under rigorous academic conditions. It is simply a way of broadly comparing the standards of the two marks. All the material comes directly from either the International Guide or from the websites of Rainforest Alliance or Fairtrade.

Rainforest Alliance Fairtrade comparison

You can download the full Rainforest Alliance 2020 standards from their website here.

And download the full FLO standards from their website here.

Update: Wednesday 2 September

Watch the video from the Ivorian Fair Trade Network (RICE) showing how important Fairtrade is for farmers

Update: Thursday 23 July

With the petition now standing at over 275,000 signatures, Nestle has met Joanna and Mark, current and previous Co-ordinators of Fairtrade Yorkshire. Before the meeting we asked some of the signatories what they wanted Nestle to hear. One comment in particular stood out:

My great-great grandfather, Henry Isaac Rowntree, started H.I.Rowntree & Co, later Rowntree & Co. Remind them that KitKat was a Rowntree product and that Rowntree was a Quaker firm, based on Quaker principles of fairness and honesty. Fairtrade matches those principles. The farmers who produce the cocoa for Nestle are as much their workers as those directly employed and are owed a duty of care.

Key Points

Nestle’s plan is for all their cocoa to be independently certified as sustainable by 2025. Because they have been working with Rainforest Alliance and UTZ – which have now merged and will be called Rainforest Alliance – they have chosen to work only with them in the future. This means their relationship with Fairtrade on KitKat will end in October 2020. We asked if the implementation could be postponed until after the pandemic, but the answer was “No.”

Around 10,000 cocoa farmers who form 8 co-operatives in Cote d’Ivoire currently supply Fairtrade cocoa to Nestle. Around half of these already have both Fairtrade and Rainforest Alliance certification. When a company buys cocoa from a Fairtrade farmer they don’t have to buy it on Fairtrade terms. They must do so if they wish to use the Fairtrade mark on their packaging, but until the last decade it was not unusual for farmers to have to sell most of their crop on non-Fairtrade terms. In October 2020 it is likely that some or many of the farmers who are currently only Fairtrade certified  will not have had chance to gain Rainforest Alliance certification. Nestle has agreed that it will help pay for these farmers to gain certification and for those who have not yet achieved it, they will pay a premium on the 2020 harvest – not the Fairtrade premium, but a lower Rainforest Alliance premium. The Rainforest Alliance plans to introduce a minimum premium of $70 per tonne by 2022. At present they require buyers to pay a sustainability premium but there is no minimum. In contrast the Fairtrade premium is set at $240 per tonne.

Nestle says it will end up paying $180 per tonne in premiums. This is lower than the $240 per tonne Fairtrade premium. The Fairtrade premium is paid direct to co-operatives where the money is allocated based on a democratic vote. Nestle has promised to give Fairtrade Yorkshire a breakdown of the $180 premium – how and to whom it is paid and who decides where it is spent.

The key feature of the Fairtrade system is the minimum price guarantee. Currently this is $2400 per tonne. It is likely that the price of cocoa – plus the legally required Living Income Differential – will not drop below this for the 2020 harvest. But in 2017 cocoa prices dropped by 40%. Farmers will not be able to plan long term if they cannot guarantee what price they will receive for their harvest. Bear in mind that on average cocoa farmers in Cote d’Ivoire earn just 74p per day.

Nestle also appeared before the All Party Parliamentary Group on Fairtrade whose co-Chairs, Holly Lynch and Jason McCartney both represent Yorkshire constituencies. They covered all the same concerns as we did in our meeting but also raised the concern that if, as a lot of the petition signatories suggest, people start to boycott KitKat because they are no longer Fairtrade, workers in Nestle’s Yorkshire factories which produce KitKat are at risk of losing their jobs which, particularly in the current employment climate, would be devastating.

Read the the APPG’s press release

Keep KitKat Fairtrade campaign

Kit Kat was invented in York in 1935. A billion bars a year are still made in the city and Nestle has offices here. From its earliest  beginnings in York, Rowntree like many of the city’s Quaker chocolatiers was known as a good employer, providing pay, working conditions and housing and healthcare far beyond what other employers at the time were doing. Fairtrade now does the same thing for people who live in desperate poverty in low income countries growing the food we eat. Which is why we in Yorkshire were delighted when in 2010 Nestle announced that KitKat – its best selling brand – would bear the Fairtrade mark, meaning all the cocoa and sugar which Nestle sources for KitKat is bought on Fairtrade terms.

In the past ten years, cocoa farmers in Cote d’Ivoire, like Rosine who visited Yorkshire in March, and sugar farmers in Fiji and Malawi have benefited from increased prices and community premiums which have transformed their lives and the lives of their families. Nestle intends to source all its sugar from European sugar beet farmers which means around 10,000 small scale sugar farmers losing out. The brand plans to continue buying from its cocoa farmers but not on Fairtrade terms which means 16,000 farmers losing the premiums which they allocate democratically based on their communities’ needs. It’s undemocratic and risks sending the message that cocoa farmers don’t deserve to make decisions about their own lives.

The Black Lives Matter protests have successfully brought the issue of violence against people of colour into mainstream conversation. Black lives matter wherever those lives are lived and reducing the already low incomes and right to self determination of some of the poorest black people in the world will be devastating.   To take and implement this decision in the middle of a global pandemic is unconscionable.

The Association which represents fair trade producers in Cote d’Ivoire have written a letter to Nestle to  ask them to reconsider. You can read more including the letter here.

You can read Joanna’s opinion piece in the i newspaper here.

Please sign the petition to Keep KitKat Fairtrade and share it widely with your networks.

Sign the petition

UPDATE; Friday 3 July – We now have over 240,000 signatures on the petition. Thank you to everyone who’s signed and shared.

The Ethical Trading Initiative published an interesting blog post about the issue. Is Nestle Building Back Worse?

Nestle has published this page on its website to deal with the issue.

My comments: Rainforest Alliance is a really good organisation, and for cocoa brands which don’t currently have any independent certification for their suppliers, it’s a good choice to ensure their farmers are Rainforest Alliance certified. Lots of farms – coffee as well as cocoa – are “triple cert” – Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance and Organic, and the majority of farmers who currently supply Nestle on Fairtrade terms will already meet Rainforest Alliance standards. From September, Rainforest Alliance will be applying new sustainability standards. This will coincide with Nestle’s move to Rainforest Alliance.

However, Nestle is moving away from the more rigorous Fairtrade certified cocoa standards to Rainforest Alliance. Having the same symbol on all your products might be tempting from a branding point of view but it doesn’t help the farmers who will be paid less for their work.

“Our aim is not only to make sure farmers receive a fair price for their cocoa but to also make sure that we are tackling key social and environmental issues including child labour and deforestation.” 

Fairtrade has always been about much much more than paying a fair price to farmers. Tackling social and environmental issues is also at the heart of Fairtrade, and tackling the endemic problem of the worst forms of child labour on West African cocoa farms has always been one of the guiding principles of Fairtrade. Rainforest Alliance’s new sustainability standards focus on child labour and deforestation after some criticism about certifications for farms which were encroaching on rainforest (ironically) in Cote d’Ivoire.

“Farmer income is based on some variables that we do not control. This includes the annual price of cocoa, which the Ivorian and Ghanaian governments will only confirm shortly before the new cocoa year begins, as well as the portion of the Fairtrade premium that the farmer receives, as this is decided by each individual cooperative. The amount we spend on premiums and investment in additional projects with the farmer cooperatives in the year ahead will significantly exceed the Fairtrade premium we would have paid.”

This is the key paragraph for the farmers who will be working with Nestle. With Fairtrade there is a minimum price for cocoa guaranteed at $2,400 per tonne. This has been calculated to cover the cost of production and applies whatever the market price for cocoa happens to be. So if Nestle really wanted to guarantee what price they pay their cocoa farmers they could continue with Fairtrade. Recently the governments of Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana introduced the Living Income Differential which adds $400 per tonne to prices paid for cocoa grown in these countries, regardless of who the buyer is. The money is put into a pot to compensate farmers when the cocoa market price falls. This will mean that the price should be more or less the same as the Fairtrade minimum for the next couple of years, but if there is another collapse like 2017 when prices dropped by 40% this will severely impact farmers.

The Fairtrade premium is paid directly to the farmer who pools it with other cocoa farmers in her community and they decide democratically how their community should best use it. There is no need to explain what they plan to do, to apply for the money. This is their money and Fairtrade understands that they know best how to spend it. The Fairtrade premium is $240 per tonne – 30% higher than the $180 per tonne Rainforest Alliance premium which Nestle says it will be paying. Nestle has committed to extra payments over the next two years but communities need to be able to rely on a steady income long term. What Nestle is proposing feels more like charity than fair trade.

The elephant in the room is sugar. Nestle has made commitments to the cocoa farmers but none to the sugar farmers. The decision to source all their sugar from European sugar beet will have a devastating effect on sugar farmers like these in Fiji whose plight Australian media are reporting.

For more information about the differences between Fairtrade and Rainforest Alliance certification – and others, you can download the International Guide to Fair Trade Labels by clicking below.

international-Guide-to-Fair-Trade-Labels-2020-Edition

It’s often said that COVID-19 doesn’t discriminate, but all evidence shows that it does affect some people worse than others. People who can’t work from home, who live in overcrowded or unsanitary conditions, and who have underlying health conditions are worse affected. All of these apply to the people who live in low income countries and who fair trade is designed to support and help. There have been some fantastic responses from Fairtrade organisations around the world, and very quickly the rules were changed so that the Fairtrade premium can be used by communities to pay for hand sanitisers, Tippy Taps and training for essential workers to help them stay safe. Many are also supporting workers and their families who are unable to work.

Howard and Webster at an event organised by the Fairer World shop in York

In 2018 Howard and Webster – two rice farmers from the Kilombero rice project in Malawi – visited Yorkshire. Howard was recently in touch with JTS who have said this:

Sadly, Covid 19 has now arrived in the developing world to make life even tougher than it already is for our producers. Howard Msukwa, a producer of Kilombero rice in Malawi, advised us that at the weekend there were “25 active cases of Covid-19 and 3 deaths so far”. They are at the very beginning of this pandemic and so JTS have been asking all our vulnerable producer partners what support they need in the current crisis. 

KASFA rice farmers in Malawi and Eswatini Swazi Kitchen from The Kingdom of Eswatini, have told us that their main need at this time is for simple handwashing facilities and soap. Therefore we have set up a Total Giving page to raise funds to supply these basic necessities.  

Together, we can help the most vulnerable people fight this global pandemic. Let’s give them a chance.

The best thing we can do is to continue buying fair trade products. Some countries have total lockdown meaning that they are unable to export any goods at all. Most fair trade suppliers are supporting their workers with orders even though they are unable to receive the goods. Most non-supermarket shops are closed in the UK or have moved to offering limited “Click & Collect”, local delivery or selling online, so it might be a little bit harder to find your usual fair trade products, but please continue to support fair trade farmers, suppliers and retailers as much as you can.

You can check out our list of Yorkshire outlets selling fair trade here: Fair Trade Detectives.

Fairtrade Fortnight events are going on all over the region.

NORTH YORKSHIRE

27 February – 6pm – SOFA SESSION Spurriergate Centre, York. This is our flagship event for Fairtrade Fortnight 2020.

Speakers include: Cocoa farmer Rosine Bekoin, Rachael Maskell, York Central MP, Sarah Wakefield, Food Sustainability Manager, Co-op, Sophi Tranchell, Managing Director of Divine Chocolate, Sophie Jewett of York Cocoa House and the Fairtrade Foundation’s Julia Nicoara, Director of Public Engagement.

Rosine Bekoin, a mum of five, is one of the 25 percent of women in Côte d’Ivoire who does own her own land. She runs a 2.5-hectare farm, which she inherited from her mother and is a member of CAYAT cocoa co-operative. Rosine used to sell her cocoa to local middlemen but struggled to make a decent living. After joining the farming co-operative CAYAT, she received training in quality and good agricultural practices helping to increase her production by 50 percent. This was a welcome boost to her income, which she put towards building a new house. She also found the training on women’s rights as part of the Women’s School of Leadership transformed her entire outlook on life, and has seen her advocate for other women ever since.

Rosine Bekoin, said: “Before the Women’s School of Leadership, I was full of doubts. I’ve never been to school before, and I can’t even speak French properly. On the first day, I couldn’t understand anything. On the second day I thought, if I look inside myself, I have potential. Then I woke up and I joined in. Today, I’m strong. I’ve changed all those misconceptions, and I can stand proud and say I am capable and can do things on my own. Before I was an invisible woman. I’m so grateful I was taught about what was hidden inside ourselves. I am a leader today for many people because I am very confident.”

Now, through her role as secretary of the women’s society, Rosine is helping more than 400 women who are collectively investing their Fairtrade Premium in income diversification projects, such as a communal vegetable garden. Growing food crops to sell locally provides a good source of additional and independent income, particularly for the women who don’t own land. Ever entrepreneurial, the group is expanding into chicken rearing too, which has a positive effect for their fellow farmers. They are able to buy bags of organic fertiliser produced from the chickens at a much reduced rate.

Click here to download the poster: FF20_Flagship_events_leaflet_York

Click here to download the press release for this event.2. Press release She Deserves regional events

28 February 10-30 till 12noon BIG BREW Fairtrade coffee morning at Fylingthorpe Methodist Chapel.

28 February – 1-2pm – FAIRTRADE TEA WITH COUNCILLORS – Celebrating 10 years of Scarborough as a Fairtrade Town, Scarborough Town Hall

29 February – 10am FAIR TRADE & LOCAL CRAFT FAIR Friends Meeting House, Malton

29 February – 9.30-1.30 POP UP SHOP & ACTIVITIES Skipton Library

29 February 10.00a.m-12.00noon FAIRTRADE COFFEE MORNING at Cayton Methodist Church, Scarborough.

29 February 2.00pm-4.00pm FAIRTRADE AFTERNOON TEA St Andrews URC, Ramshill Road, Scarborough.

6 March – 7pm FILM SHOWING The Kite Runner, Clements Hall, York

7 March 10.00a.m -11.30a.m. FAIRTRADE COFFEE MORNING at Scalby Methodist Church, Scarborough.

EAST YORKSHIRE

18 February – 9.45 COFFEE MORNING All Saints Church, Pocklington

26 February 10-12 FAIRTRADE CELEBRATION Guildhall, Hull

3 March LORD MAYORS TEA Guildhall, Hull (invitation only for local campaigners)

WEST YORKSHIRE

22 February – 10-1 BIG BREW St Edmunds Church, Leeds

1 March – 8.45 – 9.45 BREAKFAST Bradford Cathedral – Book your place here.

4 March – 5.30-7.30 FAIRTRADE KIRKLEES GALA Huddersfield University Book your ticket here.

5 March – 6.30-8.30 CURRY NIGHT WITH FAIR TRADE KILOMBERO RICE The Flying Duck, Ilkley  £6 per head. Contact hils38@aol.com to book.

7 March – 10.30-1.30 COFFEE MORNING Methodist Centre, Chapel Allerton, Leeds

7 March – 10-3 FARTRADE STALL Albany Arcade, Halifax. Poetry Competition winner to be announced at 11am by Holly Lynch MP.

7-8 March 11-3.30 POP UP FAIR TRADE STALL The Gallery at The Manor House, Ilkley

19 March – 11-3.30 FAIR TRADE FAIR Leeds University

SOUTH YORKSHIRE

26 February – 7-9pm PALESTINIAN FARMER VISIT  Showroom cinema, Sheffield. Find out how Fairtrade helps Palestinian farmers growing for Zaytoun.

THROUGHOUT FAIRTRADE FORTNIGHT

Skipton based fair trade company Namaste is donating £1 to Child Rescue Nepal for every £10 spent during Fairtrade Fortnight. Click to visit their website 

Don’t Give Up On Fairtrade this Lent
Lent is a time when many of us choose to make a small sacrifice for a few weeks. For lots of us this includes giving up chocolate, which has the added benefit of making our Easter celebrations that bit sweeter, but have you considered the impact of your choice on the millions of cocoa and sugar farmers who rely on our chocolate consumption for a living.
Fairtrade Fortnight starts on the Monday before Ash Wednesday and we’re asking you not to give up on the Fairtrade farmers this Lent. By pledging to make sure all the chocolate you eat this Lent is Fairtrade – and talking to others about your choice – you can help support farmers around the world to have a better life.

When we ask Fairtrade farmers what they want us as campaigners to do, the answer is nearly always “Buy our goods!”
So while giving up chocolate for Lent might feel like the right thing to do, it leaves cocoa (and sugar) farmers out of pocket.
So this year we’re saying “Don’t Give Up On Fairtrade this Lent”
By making sure you only eat Fairtrade chocolate in Lent – instead of giving up altogether – you can help farmers around the world.
Because the Easter message is partly that one person can save the world and Fairtrade is a way for you to be that one person.

So instead of refusing all chocolate by saying “Sorry, I’ve given up chocolate for Lent” now you can say “I’ve pledged only to eat Fairtrade chocolate during Lent” and start a conversation with someone who may not know how important Fairtrade is to farmers.

You can download our leaflet below and this Fairtrade Fortnight look out for stories from the cocoa farmers themselves to help you explain why you’re not giving up on Fairtrade this Lent. Some of these will be “storybombed” by Fairtrade campaigners and supporters, some will be in the national and local press and some will be available on the Fairtrade Foundation website and social media.

Dont Give Up on Fairtrade – download the leaflet

Bradford Cathedral has become the first cathedral to re-commit as a Fairtrade place of worship,

Bradford Cathedral’s commitment to Fairtrade began with an award back in 2009, spearheaded by
Canon Andy Williams and his wife Jennie.
The cathedral continues to focus on Fairtrade by ensuring all its tea and coffee provisions are
Fairtrade as well as running a stall every Sunday after the morning Eucharist selling a whole range
of goods including chocolate, cooking oils and biscuits, as well as seasonable items like advent
calendars.

Click the link below for more details

Bradford cathedral Renewal publicity with latest photo

You may have noticed that the Fairtrade Yorkshire logo looks slightly different from other Fairtrade places logos. We have added a white Yorkshire rose to the image.

We have produced a range of Fairtrade places logos for the 38 Fairtrade places in Yorkshire to use if they wish to which also incorporate the white rose.

Click on an image below then save to download it or email joanna@fairtradeyork.com if you would like me to send it to you by email.

How many times have you visited a town or village and looked in vain for a cafe where you can get a Fairtrade cup of coffee or a shop selling delicious Fairtrade chocolate to satisfy your cravings? Perhaps you’re going Christmas shopping in a Yorkshire city and want to know where you can buy fair trade gifts for your loved ones. Well – at Fairtrade Yorkshire we’re here to help.

Our brand new web resource turns you into a fair trade detective – and helps you find fair trade goods wherever you are in the region.

Whenever you find fair trade goods in Yorkshire, upload the details to the website (it won’t be instant – just in case people take advantage!) and help others find the Fairtrade and fair trade goods we love.

Click here to go to the fair trade detectives website

The criteria are: it can be a shop, cafe or a regular stall for example in a church. They must be selling goods with the Fairtrade mark, or sourced from members of WFTO or BAFTS (UK Fair Trade Network).

If you’re a group wanting to promote the Fairtrade Detectives scheme at local schools and events we have pens and leaflets for you to give out. Simply contact us to order what you need.

Look for these marks.