Cumbria's Fairtrade supporters share their ideas with others at the Fairtrade Supporters' No

Last September, Delphine and some other members of Cumbria Fairtrade Network's steering committee and local groups headed to the Fairtrade Supporters' Conference in Middlesborough. This is Delphine's account of the valuable day!

What was it about?

The Fairtrade Supporters' Conference was organised by Middlesborough Fairtrade Group for folks in the North Region to come together to learn, update and network on Fairtrade issues. The main speakers were Adam Gardner from the Fairtrade Foundation, Cll Julia Rostron, Chair of the local Fairtrade Group; Mark Fishpool, Director of Middlesborough Environment City & Chair of the Food Partnership (One Planet Living); Martin Sleath, Chair of Cumbria Fairtrade Network & Fairtrade National Committee Member for the North.

The day's focus was about the successes, failures, changes over time within the Fairtrade movement.

The three afternoon Workshops covered 1) FT Fortnight 2) Climate Change & Economic Justice 3) How to work with your MP.

What did I get from the day?

The Key Note speakers were exceptionally informative about their area of work & experience of Fairtrade, in particular Adam who outlined the evolution of Fairtrade and its strategy for the future, plus showed the brilliant video for Fairtrade Fortnight and talking about sustainability, Food Planning & One Planet Living, though there are lots of issues. The Q & A session, following on from small group discussions to share what local groups were doing, allowed for further discussion, especially on the effectiveness of Fairtrade & its logo in this day of alternative brands showing fairly traded "marks". (It's always good to hear what others are doing locally.)

I got a lot from the day, but would question if the Fairtrade premium & wages are being maintained & monitored fully. Also, are other logos now dumbing down Fairtrade accreditation?

How might the day influence what groups/Cumbria Fairtrade Network might do?

The Fairtrade logo is now well known, but how do we motivate people to buy the products bearing it? It was queried if Brexit would give opportunities; and also suggested that we need to engage more with our MPs. A strong factor was to influence our young people more, especially in secondary education and universities, by developing stronger links with teachers there (not easy) or to be more evident where our young folks shop (including vending machines). There were also many suggestions as to "story bombing" and where to place these.