People who are familiar with the word 'Fairtrade' understands the impact it has on the neglected poor producers. Well I would like to explain what is Fairtrade for those people who are not yet aware of it.
Although all my fellow classmates and I have done a workshop on 'Fairtrade', but I believe due to a word limit of 1000 words none of us were able to put into the assignment everything we knew on the topic. I would therefore like to share few information on fairtrade dating back to its inception. As far as I know no one was able discuss in details on the history of fairtrade.
Fairtrade is a monetary relationship between the producers, sellers and consumers based on standard of fairness, but this is strictly confined to the exchange of goods only. Although there is no universal definition of fairtrade, but 'FINE' defined it as, "Fair trade is a trading partnership, based on dialogue, transparency and respect that seek greater equity in international trade." FINE is an informal organization of Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International, World Fair Trade Organizations, Network of European Worldshops and European Fair Trade Association. At present, these four organizations are the main and the largest fairtrade organizations in the world. However there is also another definition of fairtrade provided by the Fairtrade Foundation which is as follows: "A Fairtrade Town is a town, city, village, county, zone, island or borough that has made a commitment to supporting Fairtrade and using products with the FAIRTRADE Mark" (http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/get_involved/campaigns/fairtrade_towns/about_fairtrade_towns.aspx).
It all started in the 1940s and 1950s when some religious groups and non- governmental organizations(NGOs) first attempted to commercialize the fair trade goods in the Northern markets. But it was not until 1946 and 1949 when two NGOs named 'Ten Thousand Villages' and 'SERRV International', respectively, first developed the Fairtrade supply chain in the developing countries. However during that time the fairtrade campaign was not so huge and commercialized as it is now. Products used to be sold in the church and fairs indicating that a donation had been made.
So during that time it was a mere help for the fairtrade goods producers. They were not entitled to a fair wage or price for their products.
The current fairtrade movement was shaped in the Europe in the 1960s. Although during that time the fairtrade was seen as a political gesture against non- imperialism, but the slogan at that time, "Trade not Aid", gained international recognition in 1968 when it was adopted by the 'United Nations Conference on Trade and Development' (UNCTAD) to put the importance on the establishment of fairtrade relations with the developing world.
Nevertheless, the first fairtrade products sale took off with the arrival of the first fairtrade certification initiatives.
And today Fairtrade campaign is present in a lot of developed countries, and even in the universities and colleges! Small towns are are also trying their level best to support Fairtrade. This shows that how conscious we the people are. Lets all work towards achieving Fairtrade worldwide so that we can also provide an opportunity to the extremely neglected poor class people to survive in this increasingly expensive world.
Source:
Internet
