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
Fairtrade Fortnight this year was, of course, different. The Fairtrade Foundation made good use of technology to offer a Festival of webinars on the theme of Choose the World you Want. These are available on the FTF website www.fairtrade.org.uk/choose-the-world-you-want. The message was an encouragement to......
31 March, 2021
This has been a strange and thorny year for us all. Most of us have probably been focused on ways to endure the trials of COVID-19. Yet we are well aware that around the world there are people who have less capacity to cope......
12 February, 2021
If you would like to keep track of FairTrade updates, news, information, and local events via social media, please follow our Facebook page or look out for updates on Twitter. With FairTrade Fortnight just a few weeks away we will be sharing ways you can......
04 February, 2021