Fairtrade Fortnight 2019 25th February – 10th March

Oxford marks its 15^th Fairtrade Fortnight

It’s Fairtrade Fortnight again! From today, 25^th February until March 10^th the Fairtrade City of Oxford is marking the event for the 15^th year running through its many fair trade shops, universities and businesses. To mention but a few; Fairtrade at St Michael’s will be holding a  Fairtrade Fortnight extravaganza on the Saturday 9th March, with quizzes, musical instruments, and a human sized Fairtrade Banana!

The Botanic Gardens will be hosting a Fairtrade display to help you “discover more about cocoa, from how it grows to how it’s processed to make one of our favourite snack foods” and “Find out more about how the living income and the Fairtrade premium makes a real difference to cocoa farmers and their communities.”

And the world’s first Fairtrade University, Oxford Brookes and the Fairtrade colleges of Oxford University will be laying on events and activities for their students, raising awareness of the importance of fair trade in the next generation…

 

Sweeten your pancakes with fairness this Pancake Day

Divine Chocolate, banana and maple syrup pancakes

Shrove Tuesday – aka Pancake Day – falls within Fairtrade Fortnight on March 5th. Traditionally, Shrove Tuesday is the last day gorging yourself before the 40-day fasting period of Lent in the run up to Easter. For many, this is a time of self-reflection, repentance and consideration of how to live better. So it’s the perfect day to switch to Fairtrade versions of the sugar, spices, jam, honey, bananas and chocolate that make your pancakes so delicious. You can buy these ingredients at many shops in Oxford, including Fairtrade at St Michaels, Headington Fairtrade, or your local Co-op.

 

Cocoa farmers deserve a living income

And talking of chocolate… that is the theme for this year’s Fairtrade Fortnight: the Fairtrade Foundation invites you to support the #SheDeserves campaign for a living income for cocoa farmers in West Africa. The Foundation says “Almost all cocoa farmers in West Africa live in poverty.

For the women the situation is even worse. They may plant and harvest on the farm, look after children, carry water, collect wood, cook and clean for the family, and transport the cocoa beans to market but often with fewer rights than men. This is why we at Fairtrade are campaigning for a living income to become a reality for cocoa farmers in West Africa. If we can work together with governments, chocolate companies and retailers to make the commitments and policies necessary, then we can make it happen.”

Visit the Fairtrade Foundation website for more information and how you can help: www.fairtrade.org.uk

 

Support Palestinian Fair Trade Craft Producers

Many producers of beautiful, fair trade handicrafts are struggling to survive – especially now with Traidcraft having to pull out of many suppliers. Craft producers in Palestine in particular badly need your support. Please help – and get yourself some truly exquisite artefacts by placing an order with The Holy Land Handicraft Cooperative Society. https://www.holyland-handicraft.org/en

 

Join our Fairtrade Tea & Biscuits supporting World day for Eradication of Leprosy. Plus Documentary & Sale of Fairtrade Products. 26th January 3.30pm – 5pm

Second Fair Trade tour of Palestine

Following the trip to Palestine by OFTC members, Carol Wills and Elizabeth Laskar, and the enlightening talk by fair trade producer Nawal Slemiah, we are pleased to share details from Catholic Relief Services of the second Fair Trade Tour.

OFTC’s 14th AGM: ‘Can Business deliver Human Rights?’

Join us this International Human Rights Day to discuss whether business can deliver on human rights. Our speakers –  Erinch Sahan, Chief Executive of the World Fair Trade Organisation, Phil Bloomer, Director of the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre and Dr Jill Millar, Senior Lecturer in Business and Management will share their experience and lead a discussion on one of the most important topics of our time as we face the consequences of globalisation…

The discussion, and the OFTC AGM, takes place on December 10th at the Council Chamber, Oxford Town Hall, St Aldates, 19:00-21:00. Free entry, donations welcome.

To be sure of a place, please register here.

 

Don’t miss this exciting art exhibition by OFTC member, Kate McFarlane.

Fair Trade Festival at One World Fair

As part of the One World Fair and Fair Trade Festival Oxford Fair Trade Coaltion (OFTC) presents

A programme of Talks and Tastings

3 November 2018 at the Oxford Town Hall Assembly Rooms

Image: Fairtrade Scotland

 

You’ve heard about fair trade coffee, tea and chocolate – but there are many fascinating stories behind them. Find out more  and explore the sweet tastes of fairness!

• Try Divine Chocolate‘s new range that’s not just fair trade, but also vegan and organic
• Compare the tastes of different fair (and unfair!) trade teas – is your palate discerning enough to know the difference?
• Sample the delights of  Eswatini Kitchens chutney and hear the stories behind the ingredients
• Wake up and smell (and taste) the Mzuzu coffee and find out how certification has helped the growers
• Show your good taste in fashion by hearing about how fair trade tartan improves the lives of producers.

Please visit our Events page for details of all the talks and tastings on the day.

The One World Fair and Fair Trade Festival is a collaboration between the Oxford Oxfam Group and Oxford Fair Trade Coalition, and is sponsored by Oxford City Council.

Blog: Embroidery and Guns – Nawal’s story

Next time you’re cursing the traffic on your commute, or things that are getting in the way of you achieving something you’ve set your heart on, or a bully at work… think of Nawal Slemiah, the woman who built up a thriving handicraft business and community organisation against all the odds in Israeli occupied Hebron.

Last night, the diminutive Palestinian woman stood beside the lectern in Lady Margaret Hall College, Oxford (she would not have been visible behind it), and – without slides or notes – she spoke for 45 riveting minutes about how she built up Women in Hebron, from nothing in the divided city.

She described her first trip to Hebron from her village – a trip that would take 15 minutes if not for the roadblocks. She’d been surprised to learn that a woman she met earlier lived in the Palestinian part of the city (which had been divided by occupying Israeli forces in 1995). She didn’t know anyone lived in the ghost town anymore.

So she decided to go there and try her luck at selling her traditional embroidery – that her mother had taught her how to make. Her university education had been interrupted, and she had no other form of income. She described standing outside the mosque holding out a few pieces of her work.

A man approached her and said “Instead of standing there looking like you are begging, come with me and I’ll give you a shop to sell from”. Nawal didn’t hesitate. She followed the stranger and her trust paid off. He was trying to encourage people to come back to the Palestinian part of Hebron and repopulate the deserted shops.

Years of determination, hard work, courage and intricately, beautifully embroidered pieces later and Nawal was sitting in her shop with a group of women – some widowed, some whose husbands had been incarcerated – who could now make a living selling their handicrafts, mainly to the foreign visitors who come to bear witness to the occupation.

Nawal described how she and her friends were talking and laughing, when an Israeli soldier came in and demanded to know what she was laughing about. Nawal was furious and stood up to him. “Don’t you know that I can just arrest you? Or kill you?” he said. She refused to back down and eventually he left. Standing up to bullies often pays off. After years of similar incidents, the shop is now largely left in peace.

But Nawal and her family and neighbours still live in a country characterized by conflict. Her nine year old daughter is terrified of the guns and Nawal is glad that she hasn’t got used to them. And it is against this background that she and 150 other women produce their beautiful wares and have set up a community centre where they can meet and support each other.

The Women in Hebron website says “Our work is based on the idea that developing Palestinian handicrafts is more than just an income-generating project. It is in of itself an act of community-strengthening, of honoring the role of women in our society, and a means to show sumud – steadfastness – in the face of the occupation of Palestine and the harm it has done to the people of Hebron”.

Nawal’s story reminded us that business is so much more than profit generation; business is about exchanging ideas and goodwill as much as about exchanging goods and money. It’s about building community rather than building empires. Every business is a form of community – a community of suppliers, traders, and customers.

Nawal proudly tells us that Women in Hebron is now a World Fair Trade Organisation certified producer. She has high hopes to sell more of their products in shops in the UK and elsewhere. And I know by now that if Nawal puts her mind to something – it will happen. This woman really can do anything.

OFTC Talk 15th October 7pm – 9pm: Fair Trade in Palestine with Nawal Slemiah, Founder and Director of Women in Hebron Fair Trade Cooperative

Fair Trade in Palestine with Nawal Slemiah
Founder and Director of Women in Hebron Fair Trade Cooperative
Venue:  Simpkins Lee Theatre, Lady Margaret Hall, University of Oxford
Date:  Monday 15 October 2018
Time: 7.00 – 9.00 pm
Tickets on the door:  £5 / Students free
(All funds/donations will go to OFTC and Women of Hebron)
Refreshments available
http://www.facebook.com/OxfordFairTrade

In May 2018, Carol Wills and Elizabeth Laskar went on the first ever Fair Trade tour of Palestine, organised by the Holyland Handicrafts Cooperative Society and the University of Bethlehem Fair Trade Resource Centre, and met Nawal Slemiah at the Women in Hebron Cooperative.  They will speak about the journey they made.  Nawal will talk about the work the cooperative does to empower Palestinian women and keep Palestinian culture and traditional handicrafts alive.    There will be an opportunity to buy and order goods from Women of Hebron before and after the talk.  OFTC will be covering some of Nawal’s costs for her visit to Oxford – please donate generously.

Renewing Fair Trade – in Oxford and worldwide

Yesterday, September the 25^th, was the 3rd anniversary of the launch of the Sustainable Development Goals – the ambitious but achievable UN roadmap for a fairer, healthier, safer world.

It was also the day of the global launch of International Fair Trade Charter. Initiated by Fairtrade International and the World Fair Trade Organisation, it sets down the fundamental values of Fair Trade and defines a common vision towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). A vision that, we believe, cannot be attained through business as usual.

And it was the day that, on behalf of Oxford Fair Trade Coalition and the Fairtrade Foundation, I was proud to present the Lord Mayor of Oxford with the certificate of renewal for Oxford’s status as a Fairtrade City.

It was a fitting recognition of the commitment of the many Oxford businesses, organisations and individuals who are working for and promoting fair trading between producers all over the world and the people of Oxford.

They model a different kind of business… a kinder kind of business. The kind of business which supports sustainable development.

Oxford has been one of the cradles of the fair trade movement – the first Oxfam shop, the precursor of all fair trade shops, selling crafts made by Chinese refugees, is here in Oxford.

The world’s first Fairtrade University, Oxford Brookes is here in Oxford. Now six colleges of Oxford University have recently also gained Fairtrade status.

The World Fair Trade Organisation began life as part of Oxfam here in Oxford and its CEO, Erinch Sahan is coming to Oxford to speak at our AGM on December 10^th – International Human Rights Day (put it in your diaries!).

Importantly, we have several dedicated fair trade shops here in Oxford, including Fairtrade at St Michael’s – that celebrates its 15^th anniversary this year – Exclusive Roots in St Giles, Indigo in Cowley Road and Headington Fairtrade… that was graced with a visit by Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

And,  of course, Oxford City Council has continued to play its important part in keeping the city Fairtrade – its procurement policy now requires suppliers to provide Fairtrade alternatives where possible.

As the Lord Mayor said, Oxford is “a city of influencers” – let’s use that influence to create a global trading system populated by supply chains and models of business that leave no one behind.

Oxford Fair Trade Coalition will continue to draw on our city’s deep roots in fair trade, its history of thought leadership and its global reach through its thousands of students and visitors every year –  to support the fair trade movement and the Sustainable Development Goals.  Please do join us in doing so.

Sabita Banerji – Chair, OFTC

[1] The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2018

[2] World Inequality Report 2018