Economic inclusion

Fair trade practices as a gateway for economic inclusion

“It will be unavoidable to transform how we understand production, consumption, and to think about the future of work. There is no one single type of economy, and fair trade will be critical to ensure informality is addressed in future discussions.”

“Our new strategy is to bring a transformative approach to improve the livelihoods of producers, to bring Fairtrade's impact for the world, and seek to empower consumers and turn them into responsible citizens. We cannot do this alone, only through combined work can we make the link.”

“It’s essential to ask ourselves how LRGs can play a role in fair trade to bring equality to all people. In Asia, we are seeing struggles to connect consumers with producers, and it is often up to local governments to encourage producers to develop.”

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Background

Fair trade is concerned with working towards greater global justice in economic, social, human and environmental terms. In this sense, fair trade pursues a trading model that protects human rights and the environment, thus contributing to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.

In this sense, the application of fair trade practices has a direct impact on SDG1 (opportunities for disadvantaged producers); SDG3 (fair trade practices); SDG 5 and 7 (no child or forced labour and no discrimination based on gender equality, respectively); SDG7 (good working conditions); and SDG10 (respect for the environment).

In this sense, and, especially in the context of recovery from the pandemic, trade constitutes a way to overcome inequalities and to ensure local development capacity. The session was hosted by UCLG, FAMSI, Fair Trade International and the UCLG Local Economic and Social Development Committee, and it brought together leaders of local and regional governments as well as relevant stakeholders and representatives of civil society. The aim of the session was to highlight the importance of collaboration from the local level in order to transform our patterns of production and the global trade dynamics. Likewise, a dialogue was created in order to discuss the challenges faced and propose alternatives towards the ecological transition.

70

cities brought together by the Pact for Sustainable procurement to ensure Fair Trade actions on the ground

128

million euros in Fairtrade purchases, achieved by IDEAS’ campaign whose aim was to bring together Spanish cities for Fair Trade

Challenges

SGDs and fair trade are deeply interconnected; therefore, our models of consumption and production need to be transformed in order to reshape the relationship between the people, the planet and the governments.
The transformation from the local level is needed to achieve fair systems in which conditions of local producers, consumers and informal workers are taken into account.
The current models of production and consumption has provoked a big loss of working hours and are currently provoking more crises such as COVID-19. In this context, local governments need to set up innovative policies and strategic actions that ensure a fair-trade system that can empower local producers.
In terms of public procurement, it is important to establish and improve regulations in order to defend the integrity of workers. Public procurement needs to be green, gender-sensitive and should be established in a way that can be transmitted from the international level to the local level.
To ensure the Fairtrade Challenges for 2030 (fair salaries, generational change and the climate crisis) for future generations, democracy needs to be reinvented.

Learn more about the challenges being faced by cities and regions

Responses

Fairtrade International is setting up a transformative approach that seeks to improve the livelihoods of producers and empower consumers. To this end, cooperation is being put into practice.
In Quito, several measures to protect producers have been established. Among others, at least 10% of all local purchases should be considered fairtrade products and cooperatives of consumers are being developed.
In the Nuremberg Metropolitan region, an alliance of municipalities has been created under the Pact for Sustainable procurement. This Pact has brought together 70 cities together to ensure Fair Trade actions on the ground and has bought products with over 8.000.000€ worth.
To promote advocacy about local and environmental justice, IDEAS has launched a campaign whose aim was to bring together Spanish cities for Fair Trade. As a result, over 50 cities have joined in some capacity and a total of 128 million euros in Fairtrade purchases has been achieved.
In the same line, to raise awareness and promote advocacy, the UNDP promoted a fair business environment in ASEAN regions.

Learn more about other responses and initiatives in terms of Migration:

Towards the Pact

The post-pandemic constitutes an opportunity to amplify the work on local economic development, especially in Africa and the Middle East.
Fairtrade policies and grants constitute a path towards a fair supply chain that will facilitate access to global markets.
It is important to materialise fair trade policies in the medium and long term and to identify the links between fair trade and sustainable consumption.
Integrating the demands of both consumers and producers into our systems will help to generate synergies and common spaces to create global fair trade.

Resources

Fair Trade: An opportunity to transform our consumption and production patterns from the bottom-up and leave no-one behind

For further information on the topic of Public Service Delivery and its impact on cities and regions, please refer to the related resources included below.