You said Fair Trade?

Good day followers! 

Our partner ULOT Watershed, based in Samar just released their latest newsletter and guess who's part of it? Please find below the gifts and Graces contribution to it, with an informative article about Fair Trade. Hope you will enjoy it. Do not hesitate to comment if you have any question about it. :) Fair Trade is an equitable trading partnership between marketers and producers that is based on dialogue, respect, and fairness. It seeks to give producers, farmers, and low-income artisans protection from exploitation and greater equity in international trade. Fair Trade is ultimately a strategy for poverty alleviation and sustainable development. There are several labels associated with Fair Trade that one should become familiar with:

 

The first one is the label of the Fairtrade International, or Fairtrade Labelling Organization (FLO), an organization certifying fair trade items. The second one is the logo and label of the World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO), an international organization that certifies organizations as a whole as fair trade practitioners, such as Gifts & Graces Fair Trade, Inc. (G&G). The last one is the logo of the Filipino network of WFTO. 

There are ten principles of Fair Trade that the WFTO prescribes (wfto.com):
1. Creating opportunities for economically disadvantaged producers
2. Transparency & accountability
3. Fair Trading practices
4. Payment of a fair price
5. Ensuring no child labor and forced labor
6. Commitment to non-discrimination, gender equity and women’s economic empowerment and freedom of association
7. Ensuring good working conditions
8. Providing capacity building
9. Promoting Fair Trade
10. Respect for the environment.

As part of the movement, Gifts & Graces is a not-for-profit Fair Trade social enterprise, championing disadvantaged communities in their quest to overcome marginalization and poverty through livelihoods. G&G primarily provides three key business solutions to livelihood programs: product development, market access, and capability building. Empowered to earn an income by producing quality hand crafted items, individuals and communities achieve a dignified standard of living, gain pride and become self-reliant members of society.

You wanna know more about fair trade? Here are some websites:

- FLO: http://www.fairtrade.net/about-us.html

- WFTO: http://www.wfto.com/

- WFTO Asia: http://wfto-asia.com/

- Fair Trade resource network: http://www.fairtraderesource.org/

Jeremy

Sharing a great blog post on the role of Social Entrepreneurs in the future we want to create which the author refers to as The Great Turning. Enjoy!

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