Stoke-on-Trent - a Fairtrade City

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Fairtrade Stoke

What is Fairtrade?

Where to buy Fairtrade goods

Cafés serving Fairtrade produce

Fairtrade workplaces/canteens

Community Fairtrade Users

Local happenings

What can I do?

What can I do?

	Buy fairly traded products regularly.

	If you cannot find a fairly traded product that you want - ASK! Shops may be unaware of the demand for these items.

	Persuade organisations to which you belong to use Fairtrade tea and coffee at their meetings.

	Stay informed by subscribing to Fair Comment, the Fairtrade Foundation's free newsletter.

	Get your favourite café or your workplace to switch to fairly traded refreshments.

	Tell a friend or relative about Fairtrade.

	Organise an event or stall to promote Fair Trade.

	Choose a fairly traded craft item for the next gift that you buy.

	"My advice to all consumers of chocolate is to buy more Fairtrade products. It gives a clear social message and it has a clear social benefit. You will not only be eating chocolate but helping people who are trapped in poverty because of the world market price. All of us have to go shopping - and Fairtrade is simply shopping with respect." Kwabena Ohemeng Tinyase head of the Kuapa Kokoo co-operative, Kumasi, Ghana. Observer Food Monthly No. 59, February 2006 Kuapa Kokoo Union is an umbrella organisation consisting of over 300 village associations, representing about 40,000 farmers. Its aim is to empower its members, increase their income level and raise their standard of living. The co-op was christened Kuapa Kokoo (good farmers' cocoa in the Twi dialect). In 10 years they have grown from nothing, to supplying one percent of the world's entire cocoa production.

	“Through Fairtrade, we have been able to change our agricultural techniques to improve the quality and quantity of our teas. We have opened new access roads to benefit all in the community, assisted in providing primary healthcare through construction of health clinics and added a new block to the local secondary school. Fairtrade is significantly contributing towards the social improvement of our community and providing a better future for our youngsters.” Silver Kasaro Atwaki, Mabale Growers Tea Factory, Uganda Mabale first began supplying Cafédirect in November 2000. Like Cafédirect's other tea producer-partners, Mabale receives a Fairtrade premium over and above the market price for tea. Through their Fairtrade Premium Committees, the workers themselves decide how the Fairtrade premium is used and projects are selected that benefit the wider community as well as the estate workers. The Fairtrade Premium Committee has set priorities for use of the premium to buy school materials, provide better health services and access roads, and improve the general living standards of the farmers. They have decided that the best way to do this is to increase the farmers' yields of tea, so they intend to put money into training extension services to improve farming methods and increase yields. Premiums will also be used to pay for nurseries and tea seedlings so farmers can increase the numbers of trees on their plots. Members of the Stoke-on-Trent Fairtrade Group with Silver Kasaro Atwaki, March 2006

The Department for International Development has published the UK government's current opinion on fair trade:

"The bottom line with trade is not merely profit, but people - the lives which could be transformed if people were able to sell their goods and services and buy other people's.
The potential benefits of trade eclipse the benefits of both aid and debt relief because they offer people the chance to earn their way out of poverty - and promise a time when poor countries will no longer be dependent on aid."

"Trade alone will not roll back poverty. Without fair prices, good working conditions, a respect for the environment and for intellectual property rights, the benefits of increased trade could be lost.
And we as individual consumers can make decisions which ensure that trade works to benefit the poorest people. Buying fairly traded goods that give poor producers a fair return can make a vital difference for people in developing countries. From coffee to bananas, chocolate to wine, lampshades to trainers, more and more people are voting with their pockets in favour of delivering decent working conditions and wages to workforces in developing countries."

"The sheer enormity of global poverty can make people feel powerless. But your choices and your point of view are taken very seriously, by both business and politicians. Your choice can make a difference in the global trade debate - as both voter and consumer:

Vote with your wallet - buy fairly traded goods
Speak out in support of poor people
Write to your MP or MEP
If you do business, think about how your purchasing choices can affect people in poor countries ..."

"... if rich nations played fair with poor ones, by allowing them a decent foothold in Western markets ... then many people who are presently poor would no longer be ... and the world would take a giant step towards ending poverty."

Trade matters in the fight against world poverty (2005) DfID

Can anything stop the expansion of fair trade now that the government is so firmly committed?

Contact Peter Kent-Baguley on 07773 464626 or e-mail

Also, as a matter of interest: http://www.readmyday.co.uk/pkb