Fair Trade Month Wraps Up
In a recent blog I wrote about Fair Trade Month, an annual campaign every October to promote Fair Trade – a system that provides economic development opportunities for farming families and sustainable development for the planet. In this entry, I’d like to underscore the role that Fair Trade certification plays in poverty alleviation, thus aligning with ONE’s core mission to “make poverty history.” I know of no easier way for us to make a difference for struggling farmers and workers in developing countries than to simply choose a Fair Trade Certified™ product—coffee, tea, chocolate, sugar, banana, flowers, wine—when we shop or celebrate a special occasion. Fair Trade premiums and additional income for farming families are invested in improving livelihoods as well as community development projects, empowering people to lift themselves out of poverty.
For example, Fair Trade revenues have made it possible for Hutu and Tutsi farmers in Rwanda to provide necessary services to their communities after the devastating civil in the 1990s. Augustin Rutarauisha, member of the Dukunde Kawa Coffee Co-op, says this: “Thanks to Fair Trade, I was able to purchase schoolbooks and keep my children in school. I was even able to buy a cow!”
However we approach solutions to end hunger, the empowerment factor is essential, because with empowerment comes a sense of dignity, and with dignity the possibility of change and sustainable development. Fair Trade is a creative, proven model that works—it addresses poverty at its roots and benefits everyone involved: farmers & workers, industry, consumers, and the Earth.
Fair Trade Month is winding down, but you can support Fair Trade throughout the year. One way students can incorporate Fair Trade into your ONE Campus Challenge is to support serving Fair Trade Certified coffee & tea in campus eating establishments and promote Fair Trade at events. Each of us can make a difference—purchasing the products and sharing the story—as together we help make poverty history.
-David Funkhouser, TransFair USA
TAGS: NGO Partner, Uncategorized