Fair Trade and Non Profit enterprises transform local communities, empower women, and practice organic farming
Fair Trade is a global movement to improve the lives of farmers and workers in developing countries by ensuring that they have access to export markets and are paid a fair price for their products.
It promotes sustainable development by offering better trading conditions to, and securing the rights of, marginalized producers and workers in developing countries.
Those objectives are often achieved by establishing direct trading relationships between small-scale producers in Africa, Asia, and Latin America and fair trade organizations (FTOs) in the United States and Europe, thereby eliminating intermediary buyers and sellers.
Fair trade is grounded in three core beliefs
🌸 Producers have the power to express unity with consumers.
🌸 The world trade practices that currently exist promote the unequal distribution of wealth between nations.
🌸 Buying products from producers in developing countries at a fair price is a more efficient way of promoting sustainable development than traditional charity and aid.
Fair trade products are certified by various organizations as meeting certain environmental or labor standards
🌸 Certified producers must pay their workers a good wage and guarantee safe working conditions.
🌸 Fair trade guarantees producers a stable minimum price, even when the market price drops.
🌸 Producers also earn a community-investment premium above the minimum price. They can invest this in improving product quality, or in health care and education projects in the community
🌸 As quality goes up, producers can negotiate for a higher price than the guaranteed minimum.
🌸 Fair trade groups encourage sustainable agriculture and other practices that benefit the producers in the long term.
Fair trade offers a way to buy ethically
Knowing that goods were produced without worker exploitation, such as with slave labor or in sweatshops, and using environmentally sustainable practices can help buyers reconcile their purchases with their principles.
Resources:
World Federal Trade Organization: www.wfto.com
Global Inequality Organization: www.inequality.org
Britannica: www.britannica.com
Sampling: www.sapling.com