Fair trade is increasingly catching up across the globe, offering benefits to producers in the third world.
Fair trade has now emerged as a global movement with more than 3,000 organizations having their presence in over 50 countries. Fair trade goods are sold in several parts of the world. It has become a mainstream business in the developing world and is committed towards social and environmental responsibility.
Fair trade is an alternative approach to conventional international trade. It is a trading partnership between western marketers and low-income producers in the developing regions. Fair trade's aim is to sustain development of the marginalized and disadvantaged producers who are not in commercial trade. It seeks to guarantee a fair living wage for the work and greater equity in international trade by providing better trading conditions for the developing nations.
Fair trade is a process of giving a fair exchange for products. It is fundamentally all about peopleit puts people rather than just profit at the heart of things. The fair trade movement promotes the use of labor, environmental and social standards for producing commodities; particularly those exported from the developing countries to the developed countries.
One of the fundamental tenets of Fair Trade is transparency and accountability. Barbara Wilson, Member of Brighton & Hove Fair Trade BHFTG, says, "The initial buyer and seller will cooperate in their transactions over price so the buying company will not hide the final selling price from the producer. And the customer must feel the final price is reasonable to complete the transaction. This is a more adult model of human behavior than the competitive gaming of the free market". The Fair Trade Organizations (FTOs) get self-assessed to ensure that their trade practices are in line with what they are supposed to do.
|
