Fairtrade towns
Fairtrade Towns
What is a Fairtrade Town?
A Fairtrade Town is a community which has made a commitment to supporting Fairtrade and using Fairtrade products.
It enables individual consumers, and any relevant organisations they are members of, to campaign together for Fairtrade, and sends a powerful message about how the community wants trade to work.
Community organisations, faith groups, businesses, schools and individuals all contribute by pledging to do what they can to support Fairtrade.
Any defined geographical area can achieve Fairtrade status, be that Town, City, Village, Island, Borough, County or Zone.
Why does The Co-operative support Fairtrade Towns?
Because we support Fairtrade. As the world’s largest consumer co-operative we share the principles of Fairtrade: equality, democracy, solidarity, social responsibility and caring for others.
We are part of the community. With a food store in every postal address in the UK we serve local communities throughout the UK. We work with local communities through schemes like Community Dividend.
We are owned by over 6 million individual members* who have a say in how our business is run and overwhelmingly support Fairtrade. This sets us apart from other retailers who are accountable to shareholders. Our members can get involved in local campaigns.
We offer the widest available range of Fairtrade products. Supporting campaigners brings customers to our stores.
Today there are 1000 Fairtrade Towns located across the world (500 in the UK) but it all started in 2000 in Garstang, Lancashire with the support of the The Co-operative.
To find out more about the Fairtrade Towns movement and to gain inspiration visit www.co-operative.coop/fairtradetowns. Here you can download our new Fairtrade Towns pack ‘Making Connections: The Co-operative Guide for Fairtrade Towns’. The new resource is targeted primarily at existing Fair Trade Towns Groups. The aim of the pack is to highlight and promote the close ties between the co-operative and fair trade movements. It includes case studies from around the world to provide inspiration for Fair Trade Towns Groups to work with their local co-operative membership team to mutually strengthen and support one another’s activities.
* As noted in the Sustainability Report 2010.