A Global Mamas case study

By Andy Good, Member of the Executive Committee, Fair Trade Association of Australia & New Zealand

The Association tries hard to guide its business members and consumers through the maze of sometimes confusing Fair Trade terminology. We work hard to describe what it is and what it isn’t, to differentiate it from many private branding claims of fair or green-washing, even as we try to engage with a wider ‘ethical consumer’ or advocacy audience.

Obviously rigor is much more difficult to achieve when speaking, but when writing, say on social media or websites, best practice is to use the language required by the owner of the verification scheme and to respect the effort and investment undertaken by artisans and farmers to achieve that public outcome and recognition.

Products can be certified Fairtrade ™ against the global Fairtrade International standard. Any business from a sole trader to a multinational can create Fairtrade-certified products provided it submits to the Fairtrade audit. This is a product-based approach.

Businesses, social enterprises or NGOs can become Fair Trade Guaranteed Organisations / Enterprises if they follow the World Fair Trade Organisation’s (WFTO) 10 Principles in all that they do. These are mission-led enterprises that have been independently assessed by the WFTO against the Fair Trade Standard. All products under the assessed enterprise’s brand are termed Fair Trade Guaranteed.

In Australia, the Association operates a programme, targeting small businesses, called Fair Traders of Australia (FToA), based on the same whole business approach as the WFTO Guarantee and the 10 Principles. We describe members of the Association who have been endorsed as Fair Traders or Fair Trade enterprises / organisations because their practices have been verified independently. These are whole business verifications.

The Fairtrade ™ Mark, the WFTO Guarantee and the FToA Endorsement logo are assurances for buyers that Fair Trade claims have been independently checked and verified.

Ultimately, many supporters of our Fair Trade social movement operate a business without independent verification. Perhaps they support the Fair Trade Charter, or have begun implementing some of the 10 Principles, but for whatever reason, have not got around to verification. As a rule, to maintain authority and assurance, the Association follows the norm that the term fair trade, in lower case, is used when referring to organisations that are working towards verification. Their products would be termed fairly traded products. They are not referred to as Fair Trade Organisations or enterprises due to the lack of verification by either Fairtrade, the WFTO or FToA.

Circling back to the possibly confused ‘ethical’ consumer, the term ‘ethically traded’ is a marketing term, a convenient shorthand covering a very wide field of sustainability claims with no basis in verification. Let’s take it out of the too hard box and let’s not use it without describing what Fair Trade (with capital F and capital T) actually does and why it is unique. Let’s let artisans and farmers tell their own stories.