Case Studies

Carmarthenshire Council Procurement

There has been a Fairtrade County campaign in Carmarthenshire since 2006. Since its launch there have been significant achievements, which have resulted in Carmarthenshire achieving Fairtrade county status in June of this year (2009).

Procurement is a key driver for promoting sustainability and fair-trade, and as part of its sustainable procurement policy the council have made a commitment to support Fairtrade in a number of ways. The council now source Fairtrade fruit juice (where possible) for the local schools (primary and secondary) in the area. This will also support the many schools in Carmarthenshire who are working to become recognised as a ‘Fairtrade School'.

The catering service has recently secured a supply of Fairtrade bananas for the next 40 weeks. This means that in addition to schools, residents will be able to buy Fairtrade bananas in council canteens, swimming pools, sports clubs etc across the county, which in turn will also help to raise awareness about Fairtrade. Interestingly this switch has not come at an increased cost to the council. This demonstrates that buying ethically sourced products does not necessarily mean an increased cost.

The Procurement team are piloting the Sustainable Risk Assessment, as recommended by Value Wales , which includes criteria on a number of sustainability issues to ensure that these are incorporated into all procurement decisions at the earliest opportunity. Using the SRA on the fruit and vegetable contract helped to secure a supply of Fairtrade bananas. The authority has also recently achieved a platinum award for the Corporate Health Standard awarded by the Welsh Assembly Government. The case-study focussed on the Sustainable Food Procurement strategy, which included Fair Trade food.

Internally, the council has a number of Green Teams who work to promote green issues, and support Fairtrade activities. The council also nominates a staff representative to attend Fairtrade county meetings and helps coordinate the work of the group.

In terms of working with partners, back in 2007 the Carmarthenshire Local Service Board (a partnership of local public sector organisations in Carmarthenshire which includes the council, health trust, police and community sector) signed a pledge to "Make Carmarthenshire a Sustainable County". This includes a commitment to use Fairtrade products and support the Fairtrade county campaign.

The council identified that the biggest challenges are ensuring that the adopted policies are complied with, and trying to ensure that where individuals or separate offices have their own responsibility for buying things (e.g. tea and coffee), that they are aware of the council's commitment to Fairtrade and support it by choosing Fairtrade. They recognise that there is an ongoing job to be done to increase awareness and support for Fairtrade both in the council offices and within the Carmarthenshire community.

However due to the council's ongoing commitment to sustainability, significant achievements have been made to date in relation to procurement and ethical issues, within the authority and with schools, partners and the wider community. Hopefully this will mean that Carmarthenshire County Council can continue this good work and further increase their commitment to Fairtrade and the wider sustainability agenda.

Nia Higginbotham

Nia Higginbotham is Chair of the Conwy Fair Trade group and has helped to make significant progress with linking the fair trade and local campaigns. We asked her to tell us more about her involvement with fair trade.

Nia has been a Fair Trade consumer from the beginning as a natural progression from her interest in Global South issues and particularly from her support for Christian Aid. It was however through TCC (Together Creating Communities) which is a broadbased community organising charity that she got seriously involved. TCC works on issues which the members bring forward and one member challenged us to think of a way of supporting Fairtrade more effectively. They came up with the idea of working to make Wrexham the First Fairtrade County Borough in Wales - this was achieved in 2003. This inspired them to continue the work in Flintshire and Denbighshire and they were instrumental in first thinking of working on Wales becoming the First Fair Trade Country in the world.

Nia says that one of her main achievements is to have worked through TCC in making Fairtrade much more visible in Wales, particularly in the North. She says "Public recognition of the FT mark is much higher in North Wales than in other areas. This has required a lot of work by a lot of people, and a lot of organisations. I would like to highlight the work done by Lis Perkins at JustShopping and Pam Kirkham and her team at Kingdom Krafts, both Fairtrade outlets in the Conwy area."
Recent work that Nia has been involved with includes holding seven events during the recent ‘Fly the Flag' campaign, when the Wales Fair Trade flag came to the County of Conwy. They had a presence at Conwy Feast and involved children, newspapers, farmers, Mayors, Assembly Members, their Member of Parliament and lots of other people in the events.

Nia is delighted with the fact that this year's Urdd Eisteddfod had a rule whereby Fairtrade options needed to be offered by those selling refreshments. Another success is the rolling programme whereby the group achieved status for Llandudno, Llanwrst, Colwyn Bay and Abergele.

Nia's work with the Conwy group is an excellent example of how to run a fair trade campaign and when asked about the secret behind their successes, she suggests having a presence at the ‘big events' in the area, for example at the Conwy Feast. Furthermore she considers it important to try and keep in touch with neighbouring Coalitions and exchange ideas and views. This has led in the past to wonderful co-operation in North Wales e.g., in running school conferences open to all primary schools in the area. Nia highlights the importance of the good will within the Community. "It is important to try and capitalise on that. Our Coalition can only be as good as its members."

Case Studies

Sue Fisher

Sue Fisher currently works as a Fairtrade School's assessor and is extremely dedicated to her work with schools. We asked Sue to tell us about her inspiring involvement in the fair trade movement and schools.

Sue first became involved in the FT movement back in 1980 when Traidcraft was just getting off the ground. She was excited by the contents of their catalogue and the idea of being in contact with producer groups, and especially, the self-help emphasis of Traidcraft's ‘aid through trade' slogan. At first she was content to be a customer, but in 1981 she took the plunge and became a voluntary rep. She believes that Traidcraft's strength was direct involvement. In 1981 she went on a Traidcraft ‘study tour' to Calcutta and Bangladesh. She found it very exciting to see Fairtrade projects in action, such as the Jute Works, with its village workforce empowering women and the FT premium providing wells and schools.

When Sue retired from teaching in 2006, she found she had more time for voluntary work in the Fairtrade movement. She became a volunteer helper for Jan Tucker at ‘Fair Do's', her Cardiff BAFTS shop, helping in the shop, at events, and giving talks to groups such as Women's Institutes. She also became a speaker for Wales Fair Trade Forum. Having taught all ages from 3 to adult during her years as a teacher, she felt she was someone who really should offer to help in schools, a daunting task for anyone not used to it. Sue also undertook a role as an assessor of Fairtrade School applications for the Fairtrade Foundation. Sue finds this very enjoyable as she says that it keeps her in touch with education and children's work.

On giving talks to schools, Sue says her first priority is to ensure that the material she uses is suitable for the age of the group she is meeting. Sue finds giving assemblies easiest, because as she says ‘it is a formal situation, short and speaker-centered. Here it is suitable to give a direct message based on a single presentation or staged activity. Also there are plenty of school staff around for back-up'. She generally uses Powerpoint and/or pupil ‘volunteers', who receive unfair ‘wages' or read ‘before-and-after' stories or hold up pictures etc.

Presenting Glyn Coed Junior with their Fairtrade Certificate

Sue suggests that a lesson needs a variety of pupil-centered activities and prepared materials. The challenge is to keep them interested and ensure a lasting learning outcome. She prepares at least four activities, usually including a video or Powerpoint, worksheets, a sorting exercise or game, and concluding with a song.

Sue enjoys return visits to schools, especially if she hears whispers of ‘It's the Fairtrade lady'. Sometimes she will run a stall in a school fair where she previously took an assembly or lesson. Sometimes she gets invited to events which celebrate the school's Fairtrade award such as a Fairtrade tea, or to present their certificate. She feels that she has achieved something if the teacher is happy with the suitability of her presentation and the learning outcome. This is most evident when children come up to her and tell her what their mum now buys from the Co-op, or insist on showing her their Fairtrade posters, or their parents say things like ‘I've got to buy Fairtrade bananas or I'm in trouble at home!' or ‘I'm glad I found out about that Divine chocolate'.