Sustainable Fair Trade Management System Pilot in Thailand
I have spent the past five days in Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand where the pilot project for the SFTMS has been taking shape.
Several years ago, when peope started talking about the possibiity of a Fair Trade label for handicrafts, I thought that Panama hats would be the perfect product to bear this label as they once symbolised colonial rule, but our Fair Trade panamas now demonstrate the benefit of putting the power in the hands of the produers. A few months ago I was informed that Pachacuti had been selected for the pilot project which is very exciting.
The Sustainable Fair Trade Management System is being established to address a significant gap in product labelling of Fair Trade goods and their production processes. It is intended to provide an independent, transparent and robust third party certification process for Fair Trade Organisations that have Fair Trade at the heart of their mission.
This will be the first international fair trade label which guarantees a fair trade supply chain, as opposed to the FLO label on the commodity, and the label will be given to Fair Trade Organisation who can demonstrate that Fair Trade and sustainability permeate their business practices. Our first challenge will be to carry out a baseline assessment of the majority of our producer groups in Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. This will include partipatory workshops with our producers to look at the supply chain, waste management, energy efficiency, health and safety, business capability, product design and quality, producer wealth, indigenous resources, skills and knowledge.
I am looking forward to the challenge of carrying out this pilot project and producing working models which can be replicated on a large scale by other Fair Trade Organisations. As many of our producers are illiterate, a lot of the participatory assessments will be based on eco-mapping and weather map models which are visual and easy to understand by all involved in the process.
Several years ago, when peope started talking about the possibiity of a Fair Trade label for handicrafts, I thought that Panama hats would be the perfect product to bear this label as they once symbolised colonial rule, but our Fair Trade panamas now demonstrate the benefit of putting the power in the hands of the produers. A few months ago I was informed that Pachacuti had been selected for the pilot project which is very exciting.
The Sustainable Fair Trade Management System is being established to address a significant gap in product labelling of Fair Trade goods and their production processes. It is intended to provide an independent, transparent and robust third party certification process for Fair Trade Organisations that have Fair Trade at the heart of their mission.
This will be the first international fair trade label which guarantees a fair trade supply chain, as opposed to the FLO label on the commodity, and the label will be given to Fair Trade Organisation who can demonstrate that Fair Trade and sustainability permeate their business practices. Our first challenge will be to carry out a baseline assessment of the majority of our producer groups in Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. This will include partipatory workshops with our producers to look at the supply chain, waste management, energy efficiency, health and safety, business capability, product design and quality, producer wealth, indigenous resources, skills and knowledge.
I am looking forward to the challenge of carrying out this pilot project and producing working models which can be replicated on a large scale by other Fair Trade Organisations. As many of our producers are illiterate, a lot of the participatory assessments will be based on eco-mapping and weather map models which are visual and easy to understand by all involved in the process.
posted by Carry Somers at 9:02 AM
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When and where can I buy?
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