Why You Should Buy Fair Trade Products

October 28, 2016 - At Home, Blog, Featured - Comments: 
By Desiree Jordan, Lindsay Heidal, and Nikki Davidson, Chapel Hill Missions
Pictured is Teddy Namuyigawomen, a Bead for Life artisan in Uganda. The Bead for Life beading program provides smart and savvy women living in poverty with an entrepreneurial training that gives them skills and confidence to transform their lives through the creation of a self-sustaining business. Unlike a typical fair trade model, these women graduate from the program as independent business owners.
Pictured is Teddy Namuyigawomen, a Bead for Life artisan in Uganda. The Bead for Life beading program provides smart and savvy women living in poverty with an entrepreneurial training that gives them skills and confidence to transform their lives through the creation of a self-sustaining business. Unlike a typical fair trade model, these women graduate from the program as independent business owners.

Fair Trade is an alternative way of doing business — one that builds equitable, long-term partnerships between consumers in North America and producers in developing regions.

When purchasing a Fair Trade item, you can buy with confidence knowing it means the goods were produced under regulated standards designed to prevent poverty, poor labor conditions and harmful environmental practices.

Fair trade businesses commit to principles that include:

  • Providing prompt and fair payment. Fair trade means paying producers enough to cover the cost of sustainable production plus the value of their work, enabling them to provide for themselves, their families and their communities. Artisans are offered advanced payment to help cover the cost of production.
  • Supporting safe, empowering and democratic work conditions, healthy and free of discrimination for men and women in the work place.
  • Ensuring the security, education, play and respect of children in accordance with the U.N. Convention on the Rights of a Child; a guarantee that no child labor is used in the production of fair trade goods.
  • Cultivating environmental stewardship by encouraging responsible use of resourced and eco-friendly production processes. (No genetically modified crops are allowed to be Fair Trade certified.)
An artisan is a worker in a skilled trade, especially one that involves making things by hand. Pictured here are women at the Rajana Association, a nonprofit organization that trains young Cambodians in traditional craft-making skills, as well as accounting, marketing, computer courses and English. Through development of traditional craft-making skills, Rajana helps maintain and rebuild Cambodia's rich cultural traditions, damaged in the country's wars.
An artisan is a worker in a skilled trade, especially one that involves making things by hand. Pictured here are women at the Rajana Association, a nonprofit organization that trains young Cambodians in traditional craft-making skills, as well as accounting, marketing, computer courses and English. Through development of traditional craft-making skills, Rajana helps maintain and rebuild Cambodia’s rich cultural traditions, damaged in the country’s wars.

Due to increasing Fair Trade demand and awareness, artisans and farmers around the globe are thriving in their communities. Families who were once impoverished and lacked access to long-term, well-paying jobs are now able to provide for their families, educate their children and look toward their future with hope and dignity.

This means that when you purchase a Fair Trade item, you are making a positive, direct impact on another person’s livelihood!

Fair Trade at
Festival of Hope

Chapel Hill Presbyterian Church (7700 Skansie Avenue, Gig Harbor) has been hosting an annual Fair Trade market for the local community for more than 15 years. The 2016 Festival of Hope on Nov. 19-20 will feature the long-standing Fair Trade supplier Ten Thousand Villages as well as 40 additional artisans and vendors with products from around the world. Visit the Chapel Hill website for more event details: chapelhillpc.org.

Fair Trade Month (October) is coming to an end, but your purchasing power can continue all year long. These goods are more accessible than ever before, and you can help increase Fair Trade awareness.

Look for the Fair Trade logo when purchasing coffee, chocolate, sugar, bananas and other consumable goods! When purchasing gifts, consciously choose the “gift that gives twice” by visiting the Fair Trade Federation website and finding retailers and online businesses that adhere to Fair Trade practices.

With the upcoming holiday season, look for local Fair Trade markets (like the Festival of Hope at Chapel Hill Church — Nov. 19-20, 2016) to purchase beautiful, meaningful presents that also benefit an artisan or farmer in another part of the world.

Once people begin to understand the importance and significance behind the meaning of Fair Trade, our community may call for an even wider selection of goods. Your purchases matter!

About The Authors

Authors Desiree Jordan, Lindsay Heidal and Nikki Davidson are the coordinators for Festival of Hope, an annual Fair Trade market hosted by Chapel Hill Presbyterian Church. They are Gig Harbor friends and moms who have spent a gazillion years combined participating, leading, volunteering and working at Chapel Hill with a passion for community-building and increasing awareness about fair trade and social injustice. If you stop by Chapel Hill on any given day, you will likely run into at least one of these women!  www.chapelhillpc.org.

Fair Trade Around West Sound

You can find Fair Trade products throughout West Sound shops. Some examples are Grounds for Change coffee, which is roasted and has a tasting room/retail shop in Poulsbo; Bainbridge Island’s Gelarto ice cream, which sells Fair Trade handicrafts; and Tango Zulu Imports, which has a variety of Fair Trade products at its Bainbridge, Port Gamble and Seattle locations.