Check out this post from our partner organization TransFair USA about Fair Trade Month in October.

Every October, we launch a month-long campaign to promote awareness and sales of Fair Trade Certified™ products. This year’s theme, 31 Days 31 Ways, offers opportunities to make every October day a Fair Trade day. Each day you can learn something new about Fair Trade and find innovative ways to support the movement. These small acts can make a big difference in the lives of small-scale farmers and farm workers in the developing world who struggle to make a living in the global economy.

We want to hear how you’re making Fair Trade a part of your life and invite you to follow the campaign each day on Facebook and Twitter. Share your progress as you take 31 steps towards alleviating poverty and creating a healthier planet. Add our Fair Trade Month banners and interactive widget to your blog, website or Facebook page and forward the links to all of your friends and networks. Promote Fair Trade in your community by joining or starting a Fair Trade Town campaign. Visit the new Fair Trade Towns USA website or contact us to help you get started.

Be bold! Celebrating Fair Trade Month is as easy as asking for Fair Trade Certified coffee, tea, chocolate, sugar, or bananas when you shop. Or enjoy a bottle of Fair Trade wine and treat someone special (including yourself) with a bouquet of beautiful Fair Trade roses. You will make a difference!

Prior to President Obama’s visit to Ghana, Divine Chocolate, a fair trade chocolate brand co-owned by Kuapa Kokoo Farmers Cooperative in Ghana, invited him to visit and see fair trade in action.

With a fifteen year record as a democratic farmer organization of 45,000 members, Kuapa demonstrates how a more equitable trading system can work and is an excellent example of cocoa farmers organized democratically to participate in shaping their own futures. It stands as a powerful example for other African producers, for industry initiatives and for policy makers.

While Obama didn’t make it to Kuapa, I was pleased that his speech to the Ghana parliament addressed two key ingredients for shaping a policy of fair and sustainable trade.

“Partnership must be grounded in mutual responsibility”

Because 70% of the world’s cocoa comes from West Africa, the fates of chocolate brands and cocoa growers are linked. A sustainable trade system must include a commitment to true partnership. Today the discussions about terms of trade – whether at the level of the International Cocoa Organization (ICCO) or discussions with government and industry regarding issues of child labor and the cocoa sector — are conducted largely without democratic representation of cocoa farmers. Companies and policy makers interested in fair trade must insist on a fair say for cocoa farmers inside institutions that impact their lives.

“Africa’s future is up to Africans.”

A system of fair trade encourages farmers to decide for themselves how to invest in their future. Right now there is an incredible opportunity to build the capacity of cocoa farmers to become players in the global market. For example, the Gates Foundation has funded a $40 million Cocoa Livelihoods Program in West Africa. A measure of its success should be how well cocoa farmers are prepared to become equal participants in shaping the terms of trade, not merely how well does it prepare farmers to produce better cocoa.

But forging a system of fair trade isn’t simply up to Africa or the Obama administration. It requires the participation of individuals like you and me as well. It demands that we let companies and politicians know that paying fair prices is the minimum that should be done. It requires that we value empowerment of African producers and we measure companies and policy makers against their efforts on this front. To learn more about these issues and how you can get involved, go to: www.allafrica.com and www.africaaction.org.

-Erin Gorman, CEO of Divine Chocolate

Hey, if you’re already planning to buy any chocolate, flowers, or wine for Valentines Day, consider buying Fair Trade. Check out this note we got from TransFair USA below.

-Margaret McDonnell, ONE NGO Partnership Coordinator

This Valentine’s Day, it is easier than ever to show someone you care with gifts that benefit farming communities around the world. Fair Trade Certified flowers, chocolate and now wine are available in retailers nationwide and online.

Fair Trade Certified flowers are already helping ensure that flower workers like Nancy Segovia of Agrogandera, a flower plantation in southern Ecuador, receive fair wages, a safe work environment, paid vacation, maternity and sick leave and access to child care.

Fair Trade Certified cocoa is helping the farmers of the Kavokiva cooperative in the Ivory Coast to fund scholarships and school supplies for members children, build a healthcare center and establish a women’s literacy program.

Fair Trade Certified wine is helping wine producers like Marie Malan to move from her previous position as a domestic servant to the esteemed position of Farm Manager at Stellar Organics, an award winning organic vineyard in South Africa.

By choosing Fair Trade Certified products you are directly supporting a better life for farming families through fair prices and just labor conditions, direct trade, community development and environmentally sustainable farming practices.

This Valentine’s Day, pledge to make all of your purchases Fair Trade Certified and encourage your family and friends to do the same. As a special bonus, our friends at 1-800-Flowers are offering 15% off your next purchase of a Fair Trade Certified bouquet to everyone who takes the pledge. Forward this message to family and friends and they can receive the gift too. To take the Fair Trade Valentine’s Day pledge and forward a beautiful Valentine’s Day eCard to your loved ones, click here.

To find out more about where you can find Fair Trade Certified flowers, chocolate and wine in stores and online please visit our beautiful “Fall in Love with Fair Trade” website.

Thank you and Happy Valentine’s Day!

-James Guzzi, TransFair USA