As you might expect, Fair Trade Certified’s heartland is in driving social impact across the supply chain. When the Fair Trade name first landed in the coffee space and later the cotton and textiles industry, ensuring the fair treatment of workers at factory level found itself at the core of the initiative.
Some 20 years on, and the mission statement remains the same. The impact that Fair Trade can have upon the lives of those communities, however, only continues to grow.
Community Development today finds itself at the core of the Fair Trade Certified programme, an accreditation programme that brands can join to promote their alignment with sustainable social development through the recognition that comes with the Fair Trade name. And this is primarily through the team’s Community Development Fund.
Through the money generated by brands paying a premium for their Fair Trade Certified accreditation, funds are delivered directly back to workers. Working with Fair Trade Certified, these workers are empowered to create a committee through which they can vote on projects to be funded via this programme, projects which meet their community needs.
It’s a means of placing the power of decision-making directly into the hands of the workers, without any outside interference from brands or partners. For brands, it’s a means of authentically delivering on their business’ Social policies within their ESG strategy – through the funding of projects that will then be nurtured by communities themselves.
“Last year, the team reached $1bn of impact in the form of brands delivering Community Development Funds directly into the hands of farmers, fishers, and workers,” said Emma Schnee, brand and partnership manager on the Factory team for Fair Trade Global.
And this is just some of the good work that Fair Trade Certified is carrying out through its programme.
Earlier this month, Emma presented the initiative to the Products of Change community. That recording is now available for Products of Change members to watch On Demand via the Products of Change platform.
New developments and structuring of the programme at Fair Trade Global mean that the organisation is now setting its sights on the toys and licensing industries; looking to partner with new brands across its Certified initiative with the “hope to partner with brands to bring the first Fair Trade Certified toys to the market very soon.”
“The toy space has a unique opportunity to have the Fair Trade Certified story resonate particularly well with its customers,” said Emma. “Our standard ensures that factories are protecting their workers. Often times, workers at factories vote to use their Community Development Funds to support local schools or pay for the workers’ children school expenses.
“Through purchasing toys made in Fair Trade Certified facilities, consumers could be contributing back to projects that are directly benefitting the children of the workers that made them.”
Watch the video at Products of Change On Demand to learn more about the programme.
