This document was prepared and edited on behalf of WFTO by Marlike Kocken, Manager of EFTA, with the input and advice of a number of Fair Trade pioneers.
Fair Trade Today
Fair Trade today is a truly global movement. Over a million small-scale producers and workers are organized in as many as 3,000 grassroots organizations and their umbrella structures in over 50 countries in the South. Their products are sold in thousands of World-shops or Fair Trade shops, supermarkets and many other sales points in the North and, increasingly, in sales outlets in the Southern hemisphere. The movement is engaged in debates with political decision-makers in the European institutions and international forum on making international trade fairer. On top of that, Fair Trade has made mainstream business more aware of its social and environmental responsibility. In short: Fair Trade is becoming more and more successful.
Where did it all begin?
There are many stories about the history of Fair Trade.
It all started in the United States, where Ten Thousand Villages (formerly Self Help Crafts) began buying needlework from Puerto Rico in 1946, and SERRV began to trade with poor communities in the South in the late 1940s. The first formal “Fair Trade” shop which sold these and other items opened in 1958 in the USA.
The earliest traces of Fair Trade in Europe date from the late 1950s when Oxfam UK started to sell crafts made by Chinese refugees in Oxfam shops. In 1964 it created the first Fair Trade Organization. Parallel initiatives were taking place in the Netherlands and in 1967 the importing organization, Fair Trade Original, was established.
At the same time, Dutch third world groups began to sell cane sugar with the message “by buying cane sugar you give people in poor countries a place in the sun of prosperity”. These groups went on to sell handicrafts from the Global South, and in 1969 the first “Third World Shop” opened. World Shops, or Fair Trade shops as they are called in other parts in the world, have played (and still play) a crucial role in the Fair Trade movement. They constitute not only points of sales but are also very active in campaigning and awareness-raising.
During the 1960s and 1970s, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and socially motivated individuals in many countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America perceived the need for fair marketing organizations which would provide advice, assistance and support to disadvantaged producers. Many such Southern Fair Trade Organizations were established, and links were made with the new organizations in the North. These relationships were based on partnership, dialogue, transparency and respect. The goal was greater equity in international trade.
Parallel to this citizens’ movement, the developing countries were addressing international political forums such as the second UNCTAD conference (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development) in Delhi in 1968, to communicate the message “Trade not Aid”. This approach put the emphasis on the establishment of equitable trade relations with the South, instead of seeing the North appropriate all the benefits and only returning a small part of these benefits in the form of development aid.
The growth of Fair Trade (or alternative trade as it was called in the early days) from the late 60s onwards has been associated primarily with development trade. It grew as a response to poverty and sometimes disaster in the South and focused on the marketing of craft products. Its founders were often the large development and sometimes religious agencies in European countries. These NGOs, working with their counterparts in countries in the South, assisted to establish Southern Fair Trade Organizations that organize producers and production, provide social services to producers, and export to the North. Alongside the development trade there was also a branch of solidarity trade. Organizations were set up to import goods from progressive countries in the South that were both politically and economically marginalised.
Exotic crafts and food
In the beginning, Fair Trade Organizations traded mostly with handcrafts producers, mainly because of their contacts with missionaries. Often, crafts provide “supplementary income” to families; they are of crucial importance to households headed by women who have limited employment opportunities. Most Northern Fair Trade Organizations focused on buying these crafts and sold them through World Shops. The market for crafts through these World shops was wide open and for many Fair Trade Organizations sales grew and grew.
In 1973, Fair Trade Original in the Netherlands imported the first “fairly traded” coffee from cooperatives of small farmers in Guatemala. Now, more than 30 years later, fair coffee has become a concept. Meanwhile hundreds of thousands of coffee farmers have benefited from Fair Trade in coffee. And in Europe more and more consumers drink fair coffee. Right now between 25 to 50 % of turnover of Northern Fair Trade Organizations comes from this product.
After coffee, the food range was expanded and it now includes products like tea, cocoa, sugar, wine, fruit juices, nuts, spices, rice, etc. Food products enable Fair Trade Organizations to open new markets, such as institutional markets, supermarkets and bio shops. In addition to these food products, other non-food products such as flowers and cotton have been added to the Fair Trade assortment.
Networking
From the mid-70s, Fair Trade Organizations worldwide began to meet informally in conferences every couple of years. By the mid-80s there was a desire to come together more formally and the end of the decade saw the foundation of the European Fair Trade Association (EFTA, an association of the 11 largest importing organisations in Europe) in 1987 and the International Fair Trade Association (IFAT), now the World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO), in 1989. The organizations that are a part of WFTO vary greatly. They represent the whole chain from producer to sale and also include support organizations such as Shared Interest, which provides financial services and support to producers.
Networking between Fair Trade Organizations is crucial to their success. All over the world, networks have been established. Regional networks include the WFTO Asia (formerly Asia Fair Trade Forum - AFTF), Co-operation for Fair Trade in Africa (COFTA), WFTO Latin America (formerly the Association Latino Americana de Commercio Justo - IFAT LA) and WFTO Europe (formerly - IFAT Europe). National networks include Ecota Fair Trade Forum in Bangladesh, Fair Trade Group Nepal, Associated Partners for Fairer Trade Philippines, Fair Trade Forum India, Kenya Federation for Alternative Trade (KEFAT), etc.
FLO, WFTO, NEWS! and EFTA started to meet in 1998 with the aim to enable these networks and their members to cooperate on important areas of work, such as advocacy and campaigning, standards and monitoring of Fair Trade.
Awareness raising, campaigning and advocacy
From the beginning, the Fair Trade movement aimed to raise awareness among consumers of the problems caused by conventional trade, and to introduce changes to its rules. The sale of products always went alongside with information on the production, producers and their conditions of living. It has become the role of World / Fair Trade Shops to mobilize consumers to participate in campaigning activities for more global justice.
The first European World Shops conference took place in 1984. This conference set the beginning of close cooperation between volunteers working in World Shops from all over Europe. The Network of European World Shops (NEWS!) was formally established in 1994 and now represents approximately 3.000 World Shops in close to 20 European countries. NEWS! coordinates European campaigning activities and stimulates the exchange of information and experiences about development of sales and awareness raising work.
In 1996, NEWS! established the European World Shops Day as a Europe-wide day of campaigning on a particular issue, often with a goal at the European level. This initiative has been taken up by WFTO, which brought it to a worldwide level. The first World Fair Trade Day, which involves the worldwide Fair Trade movement, was celebrated on May 4, 2002. Now World Fair Trade Day takes place every year on the second Saturday of May and has its own Website: www.WFTDay.info.
In the course of the past few years, the Fair Trade movement has become more professional in its awareness-raising and advocacy work. It produces well-researched documents, attractive campaign materials and public events. It has also benefited from the establishment of European structures that help to harmonize and centralise its campaigning and advocacy work. An important tool was the establishment of a joint Advocacy Office in Brussels, which focuses on influencing (European) policy-makers. It is supported, managed and funded by the whole movement, represented in FLO, WFTO, NEWS and EFTA.
Fair Trade and Fair Trade Organizations have been recognised repeatedly by European Institutions as well as national and regional governments for its contribution to poverty reduction, sustainable development and consumer awareness-raising. The European Parliament passed several resolutions on Fair Trade (in 1994, 1998 and 2006) and many European ministers and prime ministers have publicly endorsed Fair Trade. Ever more public institutions are serving Fair Trade products and local authorities include fair and sustainable criteria in their public tenders. Thousands of towns, universities and churches have applied for Fair Trade status, committing to promote Fair Trade and to contribute to overcoming poverty and exclusion. Increasingly, representatives from developing countries promote Fair Trade because it enables small and marginalized producers in their countries to live and work with dignity. Fair Trade is increasingly on the agenda of policy makers throughout the world.
Fair Trade Organizations and Fair Trade labelling
In the first decades Fair Trade products were sold mainly by Fair Trade Organizations that had Fair Trade as the central ethos guiding their activities. In the seventies and eighties, Fair Trade products were sold to consumers mainly in world shops or Fair Trade shops.
In the second half of the 1980s, a new way of reaching the broad public was developed. A priest working with smallholder coffee farmers in Mexico and a collaborator of a Dutch church-based NGO conceived the idea of a Fair Trade label. Coffee bought, traded and sold respecting Fair Trade conditions would qualify for a label that would make it stand out among ordinary coffee on store shelves, and would allow not only Fair Trade Organizations, but any company to sell Fair Trade products. In 1988, the “Max Havelaar” label was established in The Netherlands. The concept caught on: within a year, coffee with the label had a market share of almost three percent.
In the following years, similar non-profit Fair Trade labelling organizations were set up in other European countries and in North America. In 1997 their worldwide association, Fairtrade Labelling International (FLO), was created. Today, FLO is responsible for setting international standards for Fair Trade products, certifying production and auditing trade according to these standards and for the labelling of products. The range of labelled products now counts almost twenty and is expanding. Fair Trade labelling has helped Fair Trade to go into mainstream business. Currently, over two-thirds of Fair Trade products are sold by mainstream catering and retailing.
Parallel to the development of labelling for products, the World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO) developed a monitoring system for Fair Trade Organizations. In order to strengthen the credibility of these organizations towards political decision-makers, mainstream business and consumers, the WFTO Fair Trade Organization Mark was launched in January 2004. The Mark is available to member organizations that meet the requirements of the WFTO monitoring system and identifies them as registered Fair Trade Organizations. WFTO is working with FLO on a Quality Management System for Fair Trade. WFTO is also developing a third-party certified product label for Fair Trade Organizations.
Conclusion
During its history of over 60 years, Fair Trade has developed into a widespread movement. Thanks to the efforts of Fair Trade Organizations worldwide, Fair Trade has gained recognition among politicians and mainstream businesses. More successes are to be expected, as Fair Trade Organizations develop into stronger players and mainstream companies become more and more attuned to the demand for Fair Trade in the marketplace. Watch this space!
Fair Trade Today
Fair Trade today is a truly global movement. Over a million small-scale producers and workers are organized in as many as 3,000 grassroots organizations and their umbrella structures in over 50 countries in the South. Their products are sold in thousands of World-shops or Fair Trade shops, supermarkets and many other sales points in the North and, increasingly, in sales outlets in the Southern hemisphere. The movement is engaged in debates with political decision-makers in the European institutions and international forum on making international trade fairer. On top of that, Fair Trade has made mainstream business more aware of its social and environmental responsibility. In short: Fair Trade is becoming more and more successful.
Where did it all begin?
There are many stories about the history of Fair Trade.
It all started in the United States, where Ten Thousand Villages (formerly Self Help Crafts) began buying needlework from Puerto Rico in 1946, and SERRV began to trade with poor communities in the South in the late 1940s. The first formal “Fair Trade” shop which sold these and other items opened in 1958 in the USA.
The earliest traces of Fair Trade in Europe date from the late 1950s when Oxfam UK started to sell crafts made by Chinese refugees in Oxfam shops. In 1964 it created the first Fair Trade Organization. Parallel initiatives were taking place in the Netherlands and in 1967 the importing organization, Fair Trade Original, was established.
At the same time, Dutch third world groups began to sell cane sugar with the message “by buying cane sugar you give people in poor countries a place in the sun of prosperity”. These groups went on to sell handicrafts from the Global South, and in 1969 the first “Third World Shop” opened. World Shops, or Fair Trade shops as they are called in other parts in the world, have played (and still play) a crucial role in the Fair Trade movement. They constitute not only points of sales but are also very active in campaigning and awareness-raising.
During the 1960s and 1970s, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and socially motivated individuals in many countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America perceived the need for fair marketing organizations which would provide advice, assistance and support to disadvantaged producers. Many such Southern Fair Trade Organizations were established, and links were made with the new organizations in the North. These relationships were based on partnership, dialogue, transparency and respect. The goal was greater equity in international trade.
Parallel to this citizens’ movement, the developing countries were addressing international political forums such as the second UNCTAD conference (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development) in Delhi in 1968, to communicate the message “Trade not Aid”. This approach put the emphasis on the establishment of equitable trade relations with the South, instead of seeing the North appropriate all the benefits and only returning a small part of these benefits in the form of development aid.
The growth of Fair Trade (or alternative trade as it was called in the early days) from the late 60s onwards has been associated primarily with development trade. It grew as a response to poverty and sometimes disaster in the South and focused on the marketing of craft products. Its founders were often the large development and sometimes religious agencies in European countries. These NGOs, working with their counterparts in countries in the South, assisted to establish Southern Fair Trade Organizations that organize producers and production, provide social services to producers, and export to the North. Alongside the development trade there was also a branch of solidarity trade. Organizations were set up to import goods from progressive countries in the South that were both politically and economically marginalised.
Exotic crafts and food
In the beginning, Fair Trade Organizations traded mostly with handcrafts producers, mainly because of their contacts with missionaries. Often, crafts provide “supplementary income” to families; they are of crucial importance to households headed by women who have limited employment opportunities. Most Northern Fair Trade Organizations focused on buying these crafts and sold them through World Shops. The market for crafts through these World shops was wide open and for many Fair Trade Organizations sales grew and grew.
In 1973, Fair Trade Original in the Netherlands imported the first “fairly traded” coffee from cooperatives of small farmers in Guatemala. Now, more than 30 years later, fair coffee has become a concept. Meanwhile hundreds of thousands of coffee farmers have benefited from Fair Trade in coffee. And in Europe more and more consumers drink fair coffee. Right now between 25 to 50 % of turnover of Northern Fair Trade Organizations comes from this product.
After coffee, the food range was expanded and it now includes products like tea, cocoa, sugar, wine, fruit juices, nuts, spices, rice, etc. Food products enable Fair Trade Organizations to open new markets, such as institutional markets, supermarkets and bio shops. In addition to these food products, other non-food products such as flowers and cotton have been added to the Fair Trade assortment.
Networking
From the mid-70s, Fair Trade Organizations worldwide began to meet informally in conferences every couple of years. By the mid-80s there was a desire to come together more formally and the end of the decade saw the foundation of the European Fair Trade Association (EFTA, an association of the 11 largest importing organisations in Europe) in 1987 and the International Fair Trade Association (IFAT), now the World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO), in 1989. The organizations that are a part of WFTO vary greatly. They represent the whole chain from producer to sale and also include support organizations such as Shared Interest, which provides financial services and support to producers.
Networking between Fair Trade Organizations is crucial to their success. All over the world, networks have been established. Regional networks include the WFTO Asia (formerly Asia Fair Trade Forum - AFTF), Co-operation for Fair Trade in Africa (COFTA), WFTO Latin America (formerly the Association Latino Americana de Commercio Justo - IFAT LA) and WFTO Europe (formerly - IFAT Europe). National networks include Ecota Fair Trade Forum in Bangladesh, Fair Trade Group Nepal, Associated Partners for Fairer Trade Philippines, Fair Trade Forum India, Kenya Federation for Alternative Trade (KEFAT), etc.
FLO, WFTO, NEWS! and EFTA started to meet in 1998 with the aim to enable these networks and their members to cooperate on important areas of work, such as advocacy and campaigning, standards and monitoring of Fair Trade.
Awareness raising, campaigning and advocacy
From the beginning, the Fair Trade movement aimed to raise awareness among consumers of the problems caused by conventional trade, and to introduce changes to its rules. The sale of products always went alongside with information on the production, producers and their conditions of living. It has become the role of World / Fair Trade Shops to mobilize consumers to participate in campaigning activities for more global justice.
The first European World Shops conference took place in 1984. This conference set the beginning of close cooperation between volunteers working in World Shops from all over Europe. The Network of European World Shops (NEWS!) was formally established in 1994 and now represents approximately 3.000 World Shops in close to 20 European countries. NEWS! coordinates European campaigning activities and stimulates the exchange of information and experiences about development of sales and awareness raising work.
In 1996, NEWS! established the European World Shops Day as a Europe-wide day of campaigning on a particular issue, often with a goal at the European level. This initiative has been taken up by WFTO, which brought it to a worldwide level. The first World Fair Trade Day, which involves the worldwide Fair Trade movement, was celebrated on May 4, 2002. Now World Fair Trade Day takes place every year on the second Saturday of May and has its own Website: www.WFTDay.info.
In the course of the past few years, the Fair Trade movement has become more professional in its awareness-raising and advocacy work. It produces well-researched documents, attractive campaign materials and public events. It has also benefited from the establishment of European structures that help to harmonize and centralise its campaigning and advocacy work. An important tool was the establishment of a joint Advocacy Office in Brussels, which focuses on influencing (European) policy-makers. It is supported, managed and funded by the whole movement, represented in FLO, WFTO, NEWS and EFTA.
Fair Trade and Fair Trade Organizations have been recognised repeatedly by European Institutions as well as national and regional governments for its contribution to poverty reduction, sustainable development and consumer awareness-raising. The European Parliament passed several resolutions on Fair Trade (in 1994, 1998 and 2006) and many European ministers and prime ministers have publicly endorsed Fair Trade. Ever more public institutions are serving Fair Trade products and local authorities include fair and sustainable criteria in their public tenders. Thousands of towns, universities and churches have applied for Fair Trade status, committing to promote Fair Trade and to contribute to overcoming poverty and exclusion. Increasingly, representatives from developing countries promote Fair Trade because it enables small and marginalized producers in their countries to live and work with dignity. Fair Trade is increasingly on the agenda of policy makers throughout the world.
Fair Trade Organizations and Fair Trade labelling
In the first decades Fair Trade products were sold mainly by Fair Trade Organizations that had Fair Trade as the central ethos guiding their activities. In the seventies and eighties, Fair Trade products were sold to consumers mainly in world shops or Fair Trade shops.
In the second half of the 1980s, a new way of reaching the broad public was developed. A priest working with smallholder coffee farmers in Mexico and a collaborator of a Dutch church-based NGO conceived the idea of a Fair Trade label. Coffee bought, traded and sold respecting Fair Trade conditions would qualify for a label that would make it stand out among ordinary coffee on store shelves, and would allow not only Fair Trade Organizations, but any company to sell Fair Trade products. In 1988, the “Max Havelaar” label was established in The Netherlands. The concept caught on: within a year, coffee with the label had a market share of almost three percent.
In the following years, similar non-profit Fair Trade labelling organizations were set up in other European countries and in North America. In 1997 their worldwide association, Fairtrade Labelling International (FLO), was created. Today, FLO is responsible for setting international standards for Fair Trade products, certifying production and auditing trade according to these standards and for the labelling of products. The range of labelled products now counts almost twenty and is expanding. Fair Trade labelling has helped Fair Trade to go into mainstream business. Currently, over two-thirds of Fair Trade products are sold by mainstream catering and retailing.
Parallel to the development of labelling for products, the World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO) developed a monitoring system for Fair Trade Organizations. In order to strengthen the credibility of these organizations towards political decision-makers, mainstream business and consumers, the WFTO Fair Trade Organization Mark was launched in January 2004. The Mark is available to member organizations that meet the requirements of the WFTO monitoring system and identifies them as registered Fair Trade Organizations. WFTO is working with FLO on a Quality Management System for Fair Trade. WFTO is also developing a third-party certified product label for Fair Trade Organizations.
Conclusion
During its history of over 60 years, Fair Trade has developed into a widespread movement. Thanks to the efforts of Fair Trade Organizations worldwide, Fair Trade has gained recognition among politicians and mainstream businesses. More successes are to be expected, as Fair Trade Organizations develop into stronger players and mainstream companies become more and more attuned to the demand for Fair Trade in the marketplace. Watch this space!