Bullet points –NCC meeting 9th September 2014

  • In the next few weeks a number of regional Fairtrade supporter conferenceswill be taking place.

South West England, Truro City Hall -13th September

London, Regent Hall, Oxford Street - 17th September

North East England, Stadium of Light, Sunderland - 20th September

North West England, University of Central Lancashire, Preston - 11th October

East England, University of Bedfordshire, Park Square, Luton - 18th October

All the conferences have wide-ranging programmes of workshops and the opportunity to meet Fairtrade producers and experts who can answer your questions about Fairtrade.

There is no admission charge for the conferences and campaigners are very welcome. Pre-registration is essentialDetails can be found here -

There will also be the opportunity to meet your NCC rep and stand for election to the NCC. More details about the NCC can be found here -

Fairtrade Yorkshire is also holding an event (open to all campaigners) at Ilkley on 4th October -

  • Plans are continuing for the International Fair Trade Towns Conference which will take place on 4th-5th July 2015 in Bristol. The conference theme is 'Fairtrade For Sustainability', enabling campaigners to link Fairtrade with local environmental and sustainability plans. There will only be a limited number of places for UK delegates so for more details and the opportunity to register an interest please contact Jenny Foster at .
  • The Foundation is running the Great British Fairness debate from 29th September – 12th Octoberin conjunction with businesses that support Fairtrade. It is an online marketing campaign that seeks to change consumer behaviour by asking ‘are we really as fair as we think we are?’, with an online marketing campaign, films of fairness experiments’ staged at a pop-up coffee cart, and more about the positive impact of buying Fairtrade. The campaign will be launched to all Fairtrade supporters by e-newsletter who will be encouraged to share it online, take part in debate and use the hashtag #befair.
  • Fairtrade at 20Campaign Awards this autumn – the closing date for these awards has been extended to 9am Monday 22nd September. Entries are encouraged from all campaign groups for any event or campaign initiative over the last 20 years. Winners will be presented in London on 15th October at a special 20th anniversary celebration evening.
  • As part of the Fairtrade at 20 celebrations there is a competition to nominate your favourite UK Fairtrade product with threeFairtrade Hampers as prizes for the lucky winners. Terms and conditions here –
  • Impact of Fairtrade- following the publication of the SOAS report criticising Fairtrade, Fairtrade International have published their latest Impact Report which gives more detailed data on the wider impacts of Fairtrade.

More information on monitoring and measuring impact can be found on the new Fairtrade UK website -

  • Fairtrade churches - work is ongoing at the Foundation to strengthen levels of engagement with churches. News to follow in early 2015.
  • The meeting had a lively session with Ben Ramsden from Pants to Poverty- spoke about the challenges of achieving a fully certified supply chain, "from cotton to bottom". Pants to Poverty was launched in 2005 when Ben was spearheading the youth movement for the Make Poverty History campaign. Pants to Poverty sells underwear in over 20 countries and supports over 5000 cotton farmers in India. Alongside selling Fairtrade underwear Ben is working with a coalition of economists on a system known as "Accounting in 3D", which is intended to illustrate the social, environmental and financial success of a business.

Ben has also been involved in the Fashion Revolution movement - -since it was formed following the Rana Plaza disaster in 2013 and is working on the campaign for next yearolution.org/" ali 24th April 2015.

Pants to Poverty are keen to engage with campaigners and are developing a brand new“BriefsCase” model for significantly discounted bulk orders of their underwear for campaigner groups. If you are interested do visit their website or contact your NCC rep for more details.Pants to Poverty would also like us to vote for them in the Living Wage Innovation Challenge

The deadline is 17th September.

  • The Foundation has been working on a cotton Fairtrade Sourcing Program to engender wider interest in sourcing Fairtrade cotton, following the difficulties faced by business in sourcing Fairtrade cotton in the last 3 years - One of the areas for potential development of new markets in fairtrade cotton is in public procurement. Further information here:fairtrade.org.uk/publicprocurementincluding a guide campaigners can download or order to pass on to procurement professionals:
  • Fairtrade Fortnight 2015 - "Choose products that change lives"

The campaign for Fairtrade Fortnight 2015 will focus on individual stories of Fairtrade farmers of tea, coffee, cocoa and sugar, with the intention of deepening understanding of Fairtrade. There will be film(s) telling the producers' stories; these films could form part of a Fairtrade evening event or become part of a Fairtrade Film Festival for Fairtrade Fortnight.

There will be a targeted call to action to encourage a company (details to follow) to switch or stock a new Fairtrade product. There will be producer tours across the UK and opportunities for schools to engage directly in the campaign.

The Fortnight Action Guide will be available for download on the Foundation website on 6th October and will be posted out on 20th October. Orders for materials can be made online from early November. Please contact your NCC rep for further details and to share your plans.