Swansea Fair Trade Forum
Everything you need to know about Fair Trade in Swansea!
The Swansea Fair Trade Forum is the main source of Fair Trade information and activity in Swansea.
On these pages you can find out where to buy Fair Trade products in Swansea, the latest Fair Trade news and events, links to similar-minded organisations and a wealth of web based resources.
Find out more about us here.
Latest news:
Fairtrade Foundation: National Campaigner Committee
Summary bullets from meeting on 30th April 2014
1. Fairtrade Fortnight 2014 – Stick with Foncho was a good campaign with a great message of trade justice.. Levels of engagement were higher than predicted overall. The petition is likely to be presented to Vince Cable near World Fair Trade Day on 9th May 2014 and there are just a few more days to sign. So far there are in excess of 63,000 signatures on- and offline – a significant and credible number.. The next stage of the Make Bananas Fair campaign will take place in the Autumn.
2. Role and effectiveness of NCC - there was a robust discussion with the Campaigns Team about progress to date and the way forward. NCC work has helped to re-shape the schools programme, shift the focus of the Foundation’s fundraising activities, encourage the Foundation to support campaign activities for Fairtrade gold, promote involvement of the members organisations (eg Oxfam, Traidcraft, Christian Aid, etc) during Fairtrade Fortnight, and led to a sharper focus on trade justice in Fairtrade Fortnight campaign this year . There is still plenty of room for improvement when it comes to role as regional representatives and acting as a conduit for information between the Foundation and the grassroots.
3. Plans for Fairtrade Fortnight 2015 initial thoughts are to highlight the impact and core values of Fairtrade evidenced by its stakeholders rather than specific campaign or commodity focus. The theme will be announced in the Autumn and materials will be available
4. Communications about new Fairtrade model the Fairtrade Foundation were encouraged to start communicating more proactively with campaigners about the new Fairtrade Sourcing Programs that have been launched by Fairtrade International and which will be introduced in the UK by the end of 2014. Meanwhile this briefing about FSP is available on the Foundation’s website and there is more information on the Fairtrade International website.
5. Priorities for Campaigns team - overall strategic priorities include maximising campaigner/supporter engagement during Fairtrade Fortnight to achieve campaign objectives, improving the Foundation’s internal systems for managing communications (including a major upgrade of their campaigner database) and improvements to the Fairtrade Schools programme to encourage schools taking their first steps on Fairtrade while still providing a framework to reward the more active schools. This represents a shift from certification to rewarding positive steps, and similar revisions may be proposed for Fairtrade Towns and the other certification schemes.
6. ‘Ambassadors’ scheme - to be launched by the end of 2014 with supporting materials to individuals who wish to be available as speakers on Fairtrade, go into schools and be informed helpers at events organised by campaigners. It is that many people already active as campaigners will be interested on taking on this role and that it will be complementary with other speaker schemes such as Traidcraft’s.
7. 20th anniversary Fairtrade mark – conference to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Fairtrade Mark will be held in London in October, bringing together representatives of the UK Fairtrade movement including campaigners, NGO’s, and businesses . This will take the place of the National Supporter Conference and the Commercial Conference. In their place there will be 7 regional supporter events across the UK in the Autumn and look out for details of these will be available on the website in coming weeks. (South West - September 13, London - September 17, Northwest September, Northern Ireland – early-mid October, North West – early-mid October, East of England – early to mid October).-
8. 20th anniversary celebration events - The Foundation will be developing a pack with suggestions for how local Fairtrade Town groups can also celebrate 20 years of the Fairtrade Mark.
9. The International Fair Trade Towns conference will be held in Bristol 4th and 5th July 2015 with the theme ‘Fairtrade and Sustainability’. Aims are to demonstrate these links, and also give delegates a flavour of Bristol’s unique character with fringe events like celebration on Fri 3rd of Bristol as European Green Capital 2015 and Keep Sunday Special Festival. The organising committee are open to suggestions of involvement from other regions in the conference itself or even add-on visits to other regions for small groups of delegates. For more information please contact Jenny Foster bristolfairtradenetwork@gmail.com
10. Foundation Website - good news! – The Foundation is finally sorting out its website and a new (and better) one will be available later in 2014.
11. New developments in Fairtrade Gold – a new Fairtrade gold website has been launched and later in 2014 there will be a specific campaign about Fairtrade gold wedding rings. For more information go to www.fairgold.org or see Greg Valerio’s (Fairtrade International gold coordinator) blog at blog.gregvalerio.com.
Our Chair attends these meetings as the Welsh rep, please contact us with any comments or queries for her to pass on. You can email her at postmaster@fairtradeswansea.org.uk The next meeting is in mid June.
World Fair Trade Day - Saturday 10th May
Celebrate World Fair Trade Day at Garnswllt Activity Centre, from 11.30am to 3pm.
See the events page for more information.
Fairtrade Fortnight 2014
24th February to 9th March 2014
This year we campaigned to make Bananas fair.
We had some great local Events. Click HERE to see a list.
A great ending for this year Fairtrade Fortnight! Over 16,000 people signed the petition to make bananas fair! For more information, visit the "Stick with Foncho" official website.
Fairtrade Foundation: National Campaigner Committee
Summary bullets from meeting on 30th April 2014
1. Fairtrade Fortnight 2014 – Stick with Foncho was a good campaign with a great message of trade justice.. Levels of engagement were higher than predicted overall. The petition is likely to be presented to Vince Cable near World Fair Trade Day on 9th May 2014 and there are just a few more days to sign. So far there are in excess of 63,000 signatures on- and offline – a significant and credible number.. The next stage of the Make Bananas Fair campaign will take place in the Autumn.
2. Role and effectiveness of NCC - there was a robust discussion with the Campaigns Team about progress to date and the way forward. NCC work has helped to re-shape the schools programme, shift the focus of the Foundation’s fundraising activities, encourage the Foundation to support campaign activities for Fairtrade gold, promote involvement of the members organisations (eg Oxfam, Traidcraft, Christian Aid, etc) during Fairtrade Fortnight, and led to a sharper focus on trade justice in Fairtrade Fortnight campaign this year . There is still plenty of room for improvement when it comes to role as regional representatives and acting as a conduit for information between the Foundation and the grassroots.
3. Plans for Fairtrade Fortnight 2015 initial thoughts are to highlight the impact and core values of Fairtrade evidenced by its stakeholders rather than specific campaign or commodity focus. The theme will be announced in the Autumn and materials will be available
4. Communications about new Fairtrade model the Fairtrade Foundation were encouraged to start communicating more proactively with campaigners about the new Fairtrade Sourcing Programs that have been launched by Fairtrade International and which will be introduced in the UK by the end of 2014. Meanwhile this briefing about FSP is available on the Foundation’s website and there is more information on the Fairtrade International website.
5. Priorities for Campaigns team - overall strategic priorities include maximising campaigner/supporter engagement during Fairtrade Fortnight to achieve campaign objectives, improving the Foundation’s internal systems for managing communications (including a major upgrade of their campaigner database) and improvements to the Fairtrade Schools programme to encourage schools taking their first steps on Fairtrade while still providing a framework to reward the more active schools. This represents a shift from certification to rewarding positive steps, and similar revisions may be proposed for Fairtrade Towns and the other certification schemes.
6. ‘Ambassadors’ scheme - to be launched by the end of 2014 with supporting materials to individuals who wish to be available as speakers on Fairtrade, go into schools and be informed helpers at events organised by campaigners. It is that many people already active as campaigners will be interested on taking on this role and that it will be complementary with other speaker schemes such as Traidcraft’s.
7. 20th anniversary Fairtrade mark – conference to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Fairtrade Mark will be held in London in October, bringing together representatives of the UK Fairtrade movement including campaigners, NGO’s, and businesses . This will take the place of the National Supporter Conference and the Commercial Conference. In their place there will be 7 regional supporter events across the UK in the Autumn and look out for details of these will be available on the website in coming weeks. (South West - September 13, London - September 17, Northwest September, Northern Ireland – early-mid October, North West – early-mid October, East of England – early to mid October).-
8. 20th anniversary celebration events - The Foundation will be developing a pack with suggestions for how local Fairtrade Town groups can also celebrate 20 years of the Fairtrade Mark.
9. The International Fair Trade Towns conference will be held in Bristol 4th and 5th July 2015 with the theme ‘Fairtrade and Sustainability’. Aims are to demonstrate these links, and also give delegates a flavour of Bristol’s unique character with fringe events like celebration on Fri 3rd of Bristol as European Green Capital 2015 and Keep Sunday Special Festival. The organising committee are open to suggestions of involvement from other regions in the conference itself or even add-on visits to other regions for small groups of delegates. For more information please contact Jenny Foster bristolfairtradenetwork@gmail.com
10. Foundation Website - good news! – The Foundation is finally sorting out its website and a new (and better) one will be available later in 2014.
11. New developments in Fairtrade Gold – a new Fairtrade gold website has been launched and later in 2014 there will be a specific campaign about Fairtrade gold wedding rings. For more information go to www.fairgold.org or see Greg Valerio’s (Fairtrade International gold coordinator) blog at blog.gregvalerio.com.
Our Chair attends these meetings as the Welsh rep, please contact us with any comments or queries for her to pass on. You can email her at postmaster@fairtradeswansea.org.uk The next meeting is in mid June.
World Fair Trade Day - Saturday 10th May
Celebrate World Fair Trade Day at Garnswllt Activity Centre, from 11.30am to 3pm.
See the events page for more information.
Fairtrade Fortnight 2014
24th February to 9th March 2014
This year we campaigned to make Bananas fair.
We had some great local Events. Click HERE to see a list.
A great ending for this year Fairtrade Fortnight! Over 16,000 people signed the petition to make bananas fair! For more information, visit the "Stick with Foncho" official website.
Many thanks to Alex Adkins for designing the SFTF logo. Website last updated 28/03/12 Identity design by Alex Adkins. All artwork and photos belong to H Adkins or the Environment Centre Swansea (unless otherwise stated).
