We know that simply through shopping for Fairtrade and other fairly traded products we can help transform the lives
of countless farmers, workers and their families in developing countries.
We know because we have seen it for ourselves.
The pictures below show improvements in water provision through Fairtrade investments
in the coffee farming community of Choche, Ethiopia, which we frequently visit.
Keswick & District Fair Trade Campaign, together with local businesses, have been promoting Fairtrade since 2003. We became a Fairtrade Town in March 2005.
Visit PageIn and around Keswick there are many businesses serving and selling Fairtrade and other fairly traded products. Find where you can buy, stay, drink and source these.
Visit PageYou can promote Fairtrade and other fairly traded products by buying as much as you can. You can also help our campaign by becoming a member or supporter.
Visit PageCoffee is a good example of how conventional trade can be tough for small farmers, like the ones we know in Ethiopia, and also how Fairtrade can help them.
Visit PageConventional trade often works against the interests of small producers, both here and in developing countries, because they are rarely involved in making the rules.
Visit PageConfused? You are not alone – many are! Here we explain how Fairtrade and Fair Trade and similar terms are used and what the different ethical marks mean.
Visit PageSupport Fair Trade Keswick and help make a real difference
We promote Fairtrade, and any other trading system which has at its heart genuine concern for poor and marginalised producers and workers. Below you will find the bottom-line principles by which we work:
Fairtrade does this by taking account of all production costs through extensive consultation and regular review with producer organisations worldwide, and fixing a guaranteed minimum price for each product.
Fairtrade does this by requiring, amongst many other things, that no child under 18 can undertake work which jeopardises his or her schooling, or social, moral or physical development.
Fairtrade does this specifically through the payment of a ‘social premium’, to be invested in business and community development projects, such as new classrooms, clinics and clean water supplies.
Fairtrade does this by encouraging long-term trading relationships, so that producers and their organisations, such as cooperatives, are not trapped in short term arrangements, but are able to plan for the future.
The latest news from Fair Trade Keswick
The Keswick Fair Trade Campaign are concerned about a recent development announced by Sainsbury’s which is the world’s largest retailer of Fairtrade products. Four Sainsbury’s executives met farmers from some of Africa’s biggest tea-growing co-operatives in Nairobi last month. Fairtrade certification establishes strict rules to......
27 June, 2017
7 June, 2017 Fairtrade International congratulates Rainforest Alliance and UTZ on their recently announced merger. In particular, the further lessening of compliance and auditing demands for farmers and workers currently certified under the two schemes. “On behalf of the entire Fairtrade system, I want to......
07 June, 2017
5 June, 2017 Nestlé has announced it will change the way it sources Fairtrade ingredients for its KitKat 2 and 4 finger chocolate. From 5 June, the company will switch from sourcing All That Can Be Fairtrade to sourcing cocoa, sugar and vanilla through the......
05 June, 2017