Minutes

6th January 2011 – Coalition Meeting – FTF Planning

Plowman Room, Town Hall

Present:
Maranda St John Nicole; Jo Clifford; Sebastian Blake; Lee Whitchar, Education Officer Botanic Gardens, Sabita; Nicola, Trading for Development; Mike McKinley (co-chair); Tim Davies (co-chair); Kate Goodacre; Rachel Smith; Judith Condor-Vidal.

Apologies:
Elmer and Ian Sinclair; Elizabeth Whitwick.

Agenda/Minutes

1. Fairtrade Foundation Report & Seminar Feedback

• We have received feedback from the Fairtrade Foundation about our recent re-certification as a Fairtrade City which is now available on the website.
• There is also a blog post on the website from Bruce Crowther offering feedback on last years EU seminar

2. Plans for Fairtrade Fortnight
Sabita has been appointed Fairtrade Fortnight co-ordinator. We are using funds from the EU project to support this.

We’re organising a business lunch (Sabita is leading)

• Tuesday 28th February or Tuesday 6th March from 12.30 – 2.30
• Oxford Hub waived room hire, but charging for catering

• We’re basing estimates on 30 people;

Format:

• Speaker at the start;
• Brief preview presentations from our FT business mentors;
• Fair trade business mentors on tables to talk to over lunch;

Approached Alex Nichols, Catherine Dolan & George Monbiot. Not available, but George willing to be invited to future events. Person who spoke at flags event. Constantino in Oxfam.

Suggestion: Ask Carol. Paul from Traidcraft. Harriet Waters. Marcello from Greens Cafe. Will of Vaults and Gardens. Someone from AMT.

Suggestion: Lord Mayor of city local economic development people.Oxford City Centre Manager? Sebastian Johnson on City Partnerships? Elise Benajamin?

Suggestion: Put the call out for Fairtrade Business Mentors

Actions:

• All: Please all help with promotion of event (details on website soon)
• All: Help to identify sponsors for the catering (ideas to Sabita)

Planned Event: Co-op producers – Trading for Development ‘Co-op, Fairtrade, Women’ (Nicola)

• Trading for Development have been looking to develop and event linking International Women’s Festival; International Year of Co-operatives; Fairtrade Fortnight.
• Talked with Oxford Hub and provisionally booked on 3rd/4th March to have an exhibition of resources and information. Trading for Development are providing idea and support to student groups to make something happen. The event will be signposting people to resources, including digital resources.
• Note: The Inauguration of the International Year of Co-operatives is 12th January.

Botanical Gardens (Lee Whitchar)
Last year the Botanical Gardens focused on clothing. Lee is thinking about putting up an Exhibition in the Palm House and having a film on a loop in the education room showing the effects of Pesticides on growers in non-FT situation, and contrasting that with FT growers.

There are possibilities of linking the Coffee Producer and Banana Producers who are visiting Oxford into events at the Botanical Gardens. Contact Shabaz (Shabaz.Hussain) re: Coffee Producer, or Maranda (maranda) re: Banana producer.

Oxford Brookes (Sebastian Blake)

• 28th February – Holding a stall for Fairtrade organisations in the City to promote and sell to students. Contact Sebastian for details.
• 9th March – Lunchtime event specifically targeted at Caterers

• With presentation on how different caters in the town could move towards more Fairtrade and ethical consumption.

Suggestion: Let Oxford Ethics and Environment Committee know and encourage them to come along. Should contact the hospitals as well. Should contact hospitality lists. TD to contact Nominet.

Action: Judith to forward details of city council procurement contacts to Sebastian Blake and Sabita.

Christian Concern for One World – (Maranda)

Anton – Windward Isle Banana Producer is visiting
Fairtrade Foundation are running publicity for this – but we can encourage them to promote main city events also. There are plans for a meeting on Theology of Fairtrade event at Fairtrade at St Michaels.

The Big Brew – annual Traidcraft events taking place throughout the fortnight. It is usually the main activity undertaken by Churches.

There is a co-op sponsored Kidlington event on 7th March with coffee producer. Tastings etc.

Other updates:
Also Oxford Fashion Week during second week of FT Fortnight.

Publicity
Sabita has looked into banners for Fairtrade Fortnight. These cost £220 / site, and with the need to cover at least 8 sites we felt this was likely to be beyond our budget.

It was suggested we could focus on getting ‘Oxford Fairtrade City’ road signs instead – as this is something we’ve never managed to secure in the past.

The possibility of standard banners to attach to railings etc. was also discussed.

Newspaper
The idea of producing our calendar of events as a newletter or Newspaper was explored.

Since the meeting this idea has developed further with plans for an eight-page newspaper to feature Fairtrade information, news and content. Tim is currently looking at costs and sponsorship possibilities.

3. Plans for AGM
Left to a later meeting.

4. Any Other Business

Shared Interest AGM is taking place in Oxford 16th March 2012 (Mike McKinley)
Sally Reith is the local contact for Shared Interest, and Oxford is one of her target areas for the year. Sally would like to explore opportunities for partnering with the coalition during the year. Shared Interest help finance Fairtrade businesses.

Judith reported that Roger Jenkins has provided summary of some of his experience of OFTC to contribute to the history project.

Renewal Feedback form – Public Version.pdf

I had the great pleasure to attend and speak at the first of the EU ‘Local Government Meeting the Millennium Goals’ seminars hosted at Oxford Town Hall in November last year. As well as hearing from fair trade pioneers such as Jon Danzig (co founder of Campaign Coffee) it was great to hear how Oxford is working to promote Fairtrade with its partner cities in Germany, Austria and Hungary and in particular to learn how the City Council continues to show its support for Oxford as a Fairtrade City. I have fond memories of Oxford declaring alongside Cambridge as a Fairtrade City as part of the Ten Cities initiative, when five pairs of ‘rival’ cities agreed to make their declarations on the same day during Fairtrade Fortnight 2004.

But as the home of Oxfam it is not unusual for Oxford to be at the forefront when it comes to promoting fair trade and trade justice. During the seminar Carol Wills showed us the first fair trade product to be sold in the UK, which was a pin cushion
made by refugees in Hong Kong and sold in Oxfam shops in the 1950s. Along with Traidcraft, Oxfam was one of the first to market fair trade goods through their shops and mail order catalogues in the 1960’s and of course as Jon reminded
us Oxford was the home of Campaign Coffee. I also had the enormous pleasure to attend the first Patron Roadshow when George Alagiah, then Patron for the Fairtrade Foundation, visited Oxford in 2003 and in the same year I had the honour
to present the first Fairtrade Universities certificate to Rex Knight, then Deputy Vice Chancellor and Registrar of Oxford Brookes University. Finally, and much closer to my own home, it was the Oxfam group in Garstang that gave rise to the international movement of over 1,000 Fair Trade Towns in 23 countries when their campaign led to the people of Garstang declaring their town the world’s first Fair Trade Town in April 2000.

So long may the Oxford Fairtrade City campaign continue and I wish the Oxford Fairtrade Coalition and Oxford City Council every success in continuing to promote Fairtrade in 2012 and beyond.

Bruce Crowther
Fairtrade Towns Advisor
Fairtrade Foundation
January 2012

Monday 27th February to Sunday 11th March 2012.

This year the Fairtrade Foundation is asking everyone to Take a Step for Fairtrade: ”It can be a simple step like swapping your tea to Fairtrade, or a bigger step, like asking everyone in your office to do it too.” For more information, visit www.step.fairtrade.org.uk

Take your next step for Fairtrade in Oxford:

Oxford FT14 Calendar of Events: Promote your Fairtrade Fortnight event

Oxford is taking steps to oragnise a feast of fair trade activities in schools, universities, shops, clubs and homes. Oxford Fairtrade Coalition is compiling a calendar of events which will be widely publicised and circulated in early February. If you would like your Fairtrade Fortnight activity to appear in it, please contact yourfairtradecity@gmail.com.

Business Lunch: ‘Fairtrade = Good Business’

Book your place on a business lunch for Oxford entrepreneurs who know that fair trade is good business and would like to find out how to go beyond bananas and coffee and take the next step in promoting fair trade. There will be:

• Expert speakers on why fair trade is good business
• Opportunities for discussion with fair trade ‘mentors’ and with fellow entrepreneurs
• Information on where to source a surprisingly wide range of fairly traded products
• A fair trade quiz and prize
• Delicious fair trade food and wine.

Provisional dates: Tuesday 28th February and Tuesday 6th March 2012. Places are limited, so please contact yourfairtradecity@gmail.com as soon as possible to book yours.

Please do contact us if you would like to volunteer as a fair trade mentor.

In the meantime, here’s a list of all the places you can buy Fairtrade in Oxford:

Where to find Fairtrade in Oxford

Media

For  the latest information on fair trade and Oxford’s Fairtrade Fortnight 2012 activities, quotes, photo opportunities etc, please contact Sabita Banerji at yourfairtradecity@gmail.com or call 07773949787.

Happy New Year. I hope you have had a enjoyable Christmas time. Let me take this first message of the year to thank you for all your support for Fair Trade in Oxford in 2011, which was another good year for us. Recent feedback from the Fairtrade Foundation on our recertification as a Fairtrade City included much praise for the diversity of activities to promote Fairtrade taking place in Oxford, from community groups to local retailers; and the City’s current Corporate Plan consultation (http://bit.ly/vdealy) includes positive recognition of the work of many coalition members in developing Oxford as a hub of shared learning around Fairtrade, including with our recent EU seminar. Your support for Fairtrade continues to make a difference to producers across the world – showing how alternative models of trading can promote fairness, environmental sustainability and development.

And with Fairtrade Fortnight 2012 fast approaching, we’re also looking forward to the coming year. Sabita Banerji (07773949787 / yourfairtradecity) is working part time with the coalition over the coming months to help create a directory of all activities for Fairtrade Fortnight, to help catalyse new activities, and to support promotion of your plans – and on this Friday, 6th January, we’ll be meeting at the Town Hall (room tbc. please check e-mails on Thursday) at 5.30 to get all plans fully underway.

This is likely to be our main Fairtrade Fortnight planning meeting, as many coalition members are travelling and away from Oxford over January and early February, so please join us if you can. The agenda will also include updates on our Fairtrade Finder mobile phone application that is under development, and plans for an AGM and speaker event in April for World Fair Trade Day.

New members and visitors are welcome to all meetings. We are particularly keen to find volunteers with time to offer between now and March to support Fairtrade Fortnight activities.

We will aim to keep the meeting brief, and will retire to the Old Tom pub following the meeting for those who want to join some more informal conversation on plans for the coming year.

If you can’t make the meeting, but have news on Fairtrade Fortnight plans, please do get in touch with Sabita, and check out the details on our website at http://www.oxfairtrade.org.uk

All best wishes

Tim Davies
Co-Chair

As well as fair trade products, there will also be a raffle in aid of the Oxford-based homeless charity, The Gatehouse.

Please see attached for the official press release. We would be really grateful if you are able to publish or promote the fair for us.

PRESS RELEASE Jericho Xmas Fair 2011.doc

We will be using this meeting to move forward plans for Fairtrade Fortnight. Anyone involved in organising Fairtrade Fortnight activities across Oxford is welcome to attend and share ideas and plans.

New members welcome.

We were delighted both to be able to present insights from Oxford’s long experience as a Fairtrade Town, and to hear from Jon Danzig (co-founder of Campaign Coffee) and Bruce Crowther (founder of the first Fairtrade Town in Garstang) – as well as to hear about Fairtrade campaigns in other European cities.

Slides from many of the speakers have now been made available on the EU project website, and you can also download them below (in PDF)

From Thursday 10th November

Alex Nichols: Fair Trade in Context: Overview of Fair Trade from local to European and global levels Giving a sense of the growth of the Fairtrade movement.

Bruce Crowther: The Fairtrade Towns Story

Carol Wills & Sebastian Johnson: Fair Trade Status – Working with the Council

From Friday 11th November
Fair trade towns in Austria: A short overview of achievements in public fair procurement and the example of Villach – Emil Benesch, CAA Austria and Isabella Riener, City of Villach

Fair Trade Town Bonn: Local networking and pilot study to measure effects of fair trade town in citizenship – Susanne Walia, Fair Trade Coalition Bonn

The City of Nagykanizsa: Approaches towards fair trade

From local to global: The Millennium Consumption Goals – an additional way to achieve the MDGs? – Thomas Brose, Climate Alliance Europe

21st November 2011 – Oxford City Fairtrade Coalition Meeting – 5pm – 6.30pm

Town Hall (Court Room)

Minutes

Present
Sebastian Johnson, Mike McKinley, Sebastian Blake, Elizabeth Whitwick, Ian Sinclair, Elmer Sinclair, Carol Wills, Tim Davies, Rachel Capel, Sabita Whitwick, Patricia

1. Apologies
Judith Condor-Vidal, Maranda, Joy Day, Sarah (Indigo)

2. Notes of the last meeting
We reviewed key points form the last meeting and noted

• Our AGM has been postponed until Friday May 11th 2012, to coincide with World Fair Trade Day
• We have been told our Fairtrade City Status has been renewed, but have not yet recieved official confirmation.
• Action: Sabita to follow up with the FTF
• We noted that mention of our FT City Status was included in Oxford City Council’s most recent magazine, thanks to Sabita.
• Mike and Elizabeth to liase concerning our bank account

3. Feedback from EU Networking Project
We heard feedback from our recent EU Networking Event. The event was very well recieved, with over 40 people attending the Thursday seminar, and great input from our speakers. Our European visitors gave very positive feedback.

Rachel Capell is finalizing notes which we can use to share a report on our website. The budget is also to be finalized, but it appears all speakers have agreed to donate their fees to the Coalition budget.

Action: Tim to forward powerpoint slides to Rachel C.
Action: Tim to pull up ‘tweets’ from the event to share
Action: Rachel C to feedback on final budget arrangements

Particular thanks to Rachel Capell, Tim Davies, Mike McKinley, and all our speakers and contributors were minuted.

We noted that we may have opportunities to get involved in the next meetings of this EU series which will be taking place in Potsdam, most likely focussed on environmental issues.

Sabita noted the success of conference and seminar type events when organised by OFTC and highlighted that we should consider focussing on this type of event – and considering organising similar events at times when those who work full-time can attend.

4. Fairtrade Fortnight 2012
We discussed ideas for Fairtrade Fortnight 2012. FTF is taking place between the 27th February and 11th March. Ideas included:

• An event linked to Oxford International Women’s Festival

• Action: Sabita, Patricia and Elmer to liase with the Women’s Festival Committee to get an event on the programme. Prospectively 3rd March 2012.
• Action: Confirm with Maranda is producer coming to Oxford is a woman to identify possible connections with Women’s Festival

The launch of a ‘Fair Trade Challenge’ inviting individuals to persuade their workplace, department, school or college to ‘Take a step into Fairtrade’ including: an inspirational talk (ideally our visiting producer); an selection of 30-minute ‘skills workshops’ on campaigning for Fairtrade; networking over drinks. Participants would have until end of April to report back on the steps taking into Fair Trade in their organisation, with awards given for the best action at our AGM in May.

• Action: Tim to work up one-page brief for the event / challenge;
• Action: Find out date that the producer can be in Oxford
• Action: Identify potential participants / supporters for the event

Linking to existing organisations such as local cinemas, encouraging them to do something special for Fairtrade Fortnight.

Working to launch our Fairtrade Map using the data gathered for our renewal as a flyer, with events and other information also on it.

Working with Daily Info to get a special feature of all the Fairtrade Fortnight events on their calendar.

Officially re-launching our Fairtrade Status

Joining a ‘Steps around Oxfordshire’ event as suggested by Maranda – encouraging local groups to join a journey between Fairtrade Towns.

• Carol reminded us that during the WFTO’s Global Journey, Oxford took the banner that was traveling around the world along on a Canal boat, and it was joined by rowers as well.

• Chalking ‘Fairtrade Footsteps’ on the pavement to indicate a trail of Fairtrade Shops, or putting up ‘Fairtrade Trail Plaques’ to indicate places of Fairtrade History in Oxford.
• Engaging with tour guides to get them to offer a special Fairtrade Tour of Oxford in Fairtrade Fortnight

• http://www.iloveoxford.com/ might be interested in getting involved in this.

Other events already planned or in the planning include:

• A Fair Trade Fashion Show (planned by Sarah at Indigo)
• A Fairtrade Meal at Brookes being planned by Elizabeth Whitwick and the Windmill

Action: Everyone to send event ideas to Tim that could be posted onto the Oxfairtrade Blog. Ideally these would be ready to post up on the website and would give other people some ideas and inspiration for running their own events.

Co-ordinator Role
Building on our experience of the Fairtrade Renewal, where using Coalition budget to contract a co-ordinator, we discussed using the incoming funds from the EU project to work with a Fairtrade Fortnight Co-ordinator. Sabita expressed an interest in this role. We agreed we would prepare transparent terms of reference and circulate these for expressions of interest.

Motion: The OFTC should use a proportion of the budget to appoint a Fairtrade Fortnight co-ordinator and provide the co-ordinator with a budget to arrange printing of a Fairtrade City Map. Motion passed unanimously

Action: Tim/Mike to draft Terms of Reference including:

• Creating a shared list of tasks for Coalition members to work on
• Collate a calendar of events across the city,
• Share the calendar with local press; papers; daily info and others.
• Support organisation of a core Coalition event (potential the Fairtrade Challenge event)
• ‘Go where the energy is’ and encourage other groups to organise their own activities, promotions and events for Fairtrade Fortnight
• Co-ordinate creation of a printed Oxford Fairtrade Map
• Secure press coverage for Fairtrade Fortnight.

These Terms of Reference need to agreed ASAP to enable us to recruit someone to be able to start work on this before Christmas.

Grants for groups
Motion: Should put up to £250 of our budget towards small grants to enable groups to run their own Fairtrade Events, subject to a lightweight application and assessment process being developed. Motion passed unanimously

5. Improving publicity
Our discussion of Fairtrade Fortnight included a number of ideas of better publicity.

6. Fairtrade at the Town Hall Museum
Carol, Judith and Tim hope to meet with the Museum next week to talk about possibilities for Fairtrade products in the Town Hall Gift Shop, and to explore opportunities to share information on the history of Fairtrade in Oxford in the Museum.

7. Any Other Business

• There is now a Fairtrade Coffee Machine at the Town Hall. We should write to thank those who have been involved in securing this. Action: Patricia
• The Town Hall cafe is re-opening soon and will stock Fairtrade product.s

Jenny Hill has been exploring having Fair Trade Module in Fashion Course and Catering Courses. We should contact Jenny to offer support.

8. Date of next meeting:
The date of the next meeting is Thursday 8th December: 6pm – 7pm at the Town Hall.