How You Can Make a Difference - Fair Trade

Question: Can I actually make a difference in world poverty?

FACT: The United Nations defines poverty as those living on less than $2.00 U.S. a day. Nearly 2/3 of the world population lives below this level.

Answer: YES, by purchasing “fair trade” products, just one purchase can make a tremendous difference in one life.

Educated consumers can demand retailers offer products for which a fair wage is paid to the artisans. Often this choice will have little or no impact on the product’s final price, since labor costs are a small percentage of the expense of bringing a product to market. One way to keep “fair trade” products competitively priced is to reduce the number of middlemen between artisan and consumer. For example, the internet is one method for reducing this needless expense and overhead so that artisans can compete with larger, well-funded corporations.

Fair Trade, or alternative trade, refers to the exchange of goods based on principles of economic and social justice. The key objectives of Fair Trade are to empower low-income artisans and farmers around the world to better their conditions, and to promote understanding between them and people of developed regions. Alternative traders who are members of the Fair Trade Federation pledge to:

Pay a fair wage in the local context.
Provide equal opportunities for all people.
Engage in environmentally sustainable practices.
Build long-term trade relationships.
Provide healthy and safe working conditions.
Provide financial and technical assistance to workers whenever possible.

While a “fair” price is often difficult to determine, Fair Trade advocates generally agree that the producers should earn enough not only to cover material and labor costs, but also to improve the standards of living for the producer’s family, cooperative and community. (from The Conscious Consumer ©2002, Rosemarie Benz Ericson)

Artisans in third world countries spend their money to meet the most basic life-sustaining needs of food and shelter. Once these needs are met, money is most often spent on children’s school fees, books and uniforms for public school, which in most third world countries is not free.