Fair Trade Fortnight 2013

Get loud and proud this Fair Trade Fortnight (4 – 19 May) and show off your swap to fair trade and Fairtrade Certified™ products.

 

Fair Trade Pop Up Market

Leichhardt Council is pleased to present an exciting Fair Trade Pop Up Market at Gladstone Park in Balmain on Saturday 18th May to celebrate Fair Trade Fortnight 2013.

There will be lots happening on the day with an array of Fair Trade stalls and products for sale as well as music, entertainment and face painting for the kids, making it a great family day out. Stallholders will include Ethica Accessories, My Ecofriend, Tali Gallery, Bercat, African Pacific, Funky Bubs, Elephant Emporium, Carpets for Communities, The Trading Circle, Global Handmade, Me Too Please and Nuturing Threads, with more still to be confirmed.

Fair Trade aims to tackle poverty and create better futures for developing country farmers, producers, their families and communities. Leichhardt Council are proud and active members of the Fair Trade Community – accredited since May 2010 by the Fair Trade Association of Australia and New Zealand (FTAANZ).

Fair Trade Fortnight is Australia’s biggest annual celebration of all things Fair Trade and celebrates the life-changing difference our Fair Trade choices make for millions farmers, producers, their families and communities in developing countries. This period acknowledges the important role played by Fair Trade, and encourages everyone in the community to consider making ethical choices when they shop.

For more information on Fair Trade including local providers of Fair Trade products, click on http://www.leichhardt.nsw.gov.au/FairTrade.

The Trading Circle

The Trading Circle is a not-for-profit Fair Trade organisation importing and retailing 100% fair trade products since 1995, working directly with 40 different producer groups (mostly micro-enterprises and community cooperatives) in 10 developing countries across Asia, South America and Africa.

These producer groups exist only to create a reliable source of work and income for women in dire circumstance, thereby helping them work and trade their way out of poverty with dignity, one purchase at a time. Often these women are victims of poverty, violence, trafficking and abandonment. All producer groups are paid directly and receive fair and just wages, no middle parties involved.

One such producer group is the Red de Apoyo Soldiario group, which works in 5 locations throughout Peru and across 8 different income-generating projects including food growing, weaving and jewellery making, just to name a few. Currently 180 people and their families rely on these projects, which not only provide income but also aim to provide education services and support prevention of violence.

The ChiangRai Good Shepherd Youth Centre is another place where minority groups can take refuge, and offers young women from Northern Thailand a chance to break the cycle of poverty and learn skills that will help make them a living, whether it be through university education, or learning a trade. In the centre, girls are tutored in English and Thai, as well as cooking, fruit cultivation and agriculture, computer skills and dressmaking and craft production. When you buy a product from the centre you support the education and economic development of these women.

The Trading Circle is an initiative of the Good Shepherd Sisters as a constructive and self-sustaining response to global poverty. Visit our store for our wide range of beautiful Fair Trade gifts, home-wares, toys, cards, coffee, chocolate, bags, scarves, jewellery and accessories.

The Trading Circle:
27 Lackey St, Summer Hill.
Tel. 9798 0373
www.thetradingcircle.com.au.

 

Sacred Grounds

Sacred Grounds was established to provide, in a small way, the opportunity to effect change without compromising the quality of our lifestyle.

We have managed to blend our love of coffee with our desire for a more equitable world. As a result, all Sacred Grounds products are ethical, socially responsible and where possible have a limited impact on the environment. We also only use the highest quality 100 per cent Arabica beans that are fully Certified Organic and Fairtrade.

As global citizens we all want to make a difference, Sacred Grounds provides the opportunity for individuals to consume with a conscience.

Sacred Grounds:
2/87 Sydenham Rd, Marrickville.
Tel. 9550 2222.
www.sacredgroundsorganic.com.

 

Tali Gallery

Tali Gallery’s Fair Trade offerings include, but extend beyond, Australian Aboriginal creations. Tali Gallery also carries contemporary jewellery, gifts and homewares that are the result of cross-cultural projects from Indigenous communities around the globe with pricing to match online.

The best way we can support the developing world, and our own Aboriginal people and their very special culture, is to select gifts that provide fair income through craft creation and royalty payments. This is truly meaningful gift giving with beautiful handcrafting and a fair and ethical exchange for everyone involved. Everyone wins!

It’s a simple way we can all make a difference!

Tali Gallery:
667 Darling St, Rozelle.
Tel. 9555 6555.
www.taligallery.com.au.

 

 

Alfalfa House

Fair trade Fortnight at the co-op sometimes passes without us even knowing. Why? Because every day here at Alfalfa House we are dedicated to bringing in the highest quality, ethically grown, and produced products from Australia and around the world. 

Fair Trade Fortnight is an excellent reminder of the struggles of people around the world who are trying to merge their traditional cultures with modern practices.

While we, or course, support a fair wage for those who are working and selling products we would like to acknowledge that some of these people are only struggling due to the introduction of capitalism to indigenous cultures that have survived for 1000’s of years on their own.

Shop CO-OP and work for a better world!

Alfalfa House:
113 Enmore Rd, Newtown.
Tel. 9519 3374.
www.alfalfahouse.org