Fairtrade: Doing Business Differently

Barbara Crowther (Fairtrade Foundation)

Over the last twenty to thirty years, in response to the failure of global trade to deliver a fair deal to the poor, a new approach to doing business has started to emerge. Originally involving only a few pioneering individuals and organisations, and now having grown to include some of the world’s largest companies, it is an approach to trade that seeks to put the values of equal partnerships, mutual respect, long-term relationships and fair exchange back into the heart of the trading deal. The fair-trade movement has specifically sought to create bespoke market-access opportunities for communities who either struggle to access global markets – for example, small-scale farmers – or who are typically disadvantaged or exploited within supply chains – such as the millions of hired workers on fresh fruit or tea plantations.

What is fair trade?

“Fair Trade is a trading partnership, based on dialogue, transparency and respect, that seeks greater equity in international trade. It contributes to sustainable development by offering better trading conditions to, and securing the rights of, marginalized producers and workers – especially in the South. Fair Trade Organizations, backed by consumers, are engaged actively in supporting producers, awareness raising and in campaigning for changes in the rules and practice of conventional international trade.”  Definition agreed by global Fair Trade organisations

The earliest fair-trade ventures were led by non-governmental organisations (NGOs) such as Oxfam, Traidcraft and Solidaridad, and began largely as a way of bridging between income-generating programmes in the global South producing mostly artisanal and craft products, and their charity supporters in Europe and North America. It also took root in the campesino movements of Latin America and their traditional links with solidarity campaigns, most clearly exemplified in the Nicaraguan campaign coffees of the 1970s and 1980s.