Do you buy Fairtrade or have you ever thought about it?
Fairtrade is all about supporting farmers, producers and workers in developing countries, ensuring they get a fair price for their products and their work. Producers also get a Fairtrade premium on top of the price of their products, which goes on local projects and thus supports the community in that area. Working conditions are safe and comfortable and wages are decent in line with the cost of living in those countries.
The Co-Operative was the first major supermarket to champion Fairtrade, before the Fairtrade mark was even introduced. Recently they have been working with Amanda Barnes, a British wine and travel writer based in South America. The idea is to give a valuable insight behind the scenes of Fairtrade production and show the benefits that Fairtrade products bring over standard products.
In this first video in the series Amanda talks to the Bosman family vineyards in South America. Did you know the Co-Op is the biggest seller of Fairtrade wine in the UK? I didn't.
The next video discusses how the Pebbles pre-school is funded by Fairtrade money including money from The Bosman family vineyards. School doesn't start in Africa until 6 or 7 and so this is a vital service to the local community. From simple speech and language skills to listening and questioning it is all taught here. Children also learn how to play together and to co-operate whilst working as a group. Skills we take for granted that our children learn in our playgroups and nurseries in the UK.
In this next video Amanda talks to the nurses at the local health clinic and the support staff at an after school club.
In the health clinic there was no privacy when patients had to give a urine sample or a HIV test, but now with funding from Fairtrade they have the privacy they so desperately need.
At the after school club, the children get something to eat before they study and staff help them with their homework. You can see here how that extra five or ten pence that you spend on Fairtrade wine really makes a difference.
In the health clinic there was no privacy when patients had to give a urine sample or a HIV test, but now with funding from Fairtrade they have the privacy they so desperately need.
At the after school club, the children get something to eat before they study and staff help them with their homework. You can see here how that extra five or ten pence that you spend on Fairtrade wine really makes a difference.
In this video Amanda meets the harvesters from the Bosman Family Vineyards. The philosophy of the vineyard is that the co-workers are part of the team, treated well and that if you have happy staff this will produce the best results for the wine too.
As you can see there are lots of ways in which Fairtrade benefits the community.
I hope by reading this post and watching the videos that it has been useful to you, and you get a better understand of how Fairtrade works and where the money actually goes. Just that extra few pence you spend on a Fairtrade bottle of wine really does make a difference to the lives of people in underdeveloped countries, yet it's not just wine. There are over 250 Fairtrade products in Co-Operative stores, from bananas to coffee, tea to chocolate, juice to roses are some of the Fairtrade products available.
If you want to find out more about how the Co-Operative works with Fairtrade producers and read about Amanda's Fairtrade adventure have a look here.
Let me know dear readers what you think about Fairtrade and if you have any thoughts after watching these videos.
* A collaborative post, all words and opinions are my own
