Angel Website of the Month

The Fair Trade Federation

The Fair Trade Federation (FTF) is the trade association that strengthens and promotes North American organizations fully committed to fair trade. The Federation is part of the global fair trade movement, building equitable and sustainable trading partnerships and creating opportunities to alleviate poverty.

Mission
The Fair Trade Federation is the trade association that strengthens and promotes North American organizations fully committed to fair trade. The Federation is part of the global fair trade movement, building equitable and sustainable trading partnerships and creating opportunities to alleviate poverty. The Federation's values guide our work to create a just and sustainable economic system.

Long-Term Vision
The Federation envisions a just and sustainable global economic system in which purchasing and production choices are made with concern for the well-being of people and the environment, creating a world where all people have viable economic options to meet their own needs. We seek to alleviate poverty by continually and significantly expanding the practice of trade that values the labor and dignity of all people.

History
The Fair Trade Federation traces its roots to the late 1970s when individual alternative trade organizations began holding yearly conferences for groups working in fair trade. In 1994, the group incorporated formally as the North American Alterative Trade Organization (NAATO); and, the following year, changed its named to the Fair Trade Federation. Since then, FTF has focused on supporting fully committed businesses in order to expand markets for artisans and farmers around the world.

Our Values

The Federation holds the following as its organizational values:

Trade as a Force for Positive Change
We value trading relationships that distribute power, risks and rewards more equitably. We believe that trade should be used as a tool to help alleviate poverty, reduce inequality, and create opportunities for people to help themselves. Trade should promote fair compensation, safe and healthy conditions, direct and long-term relationships, transparent business practices, and workplaces free from discrimination and forced child labor. When trade encompasses these practices, the lives of all people and their communities improve.

Respectful Partnerships
We celebrate the contribution and value of all people in the supply chain and recognize the dignity of each person and organization in our interactions and relationships. We believe that people have a right to participate in the decisions that affect their lives based on open sharing of information.

Community
We value communities grounded in trust, moral support, cooperation, and a sense of belonging, making us stronger individually and as a whole. We value the global fair trade movement, recognizing that we are intrinsically interdependent, and believe that our unified voices convey a powerful message.

Sustainable Practices
We value continuous improvement and application of economic, social, cultural, and environmentally sustainable practices. We embrace the United Nations’ definition of sustainability “to meet the needs of current generations without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”

Facts and Figures

How Much

$2.6 billion - amount of total fair trade sales in 2007 according to the International Fair Trade Association
$160+ million - amount of total FTF member sales in 2007, according to the Fair Trade Federation
102% - in US and Canadian sales for Fair Trade between 2004 and 2006 according to the Fair Trade Federation Interim Report on Fair Trade
47% - increase in the sale of Fair Trade Certified products between 2004 and 2007, according to the Fairtrade Labelling Organization.
93% - growth in the global fair trade cocoa sector in 2006, according to the Fairtrade Labelling Organization. In 2006, coffee has also grown by 53%; tea by 41%; and, bananas by 31%.

Who

2.7 billion - estimated number of people in the world existing on less than $2 / day, according to the World Bank
30% - women in non-agricultural conventional production in developing countries in 2004, according to the United Nation
76% - women engaged in non-agricultural fair trade production in 2008, according to the Fair Trade Federation (up from 70% in 2004)
284,000 - number of children in the Ivory Coast , Ghana , Nigeria and Cameroon working in hazardous tasks on conventional cocoa farms, according to a 2002 International Institute of Tropical Agriculture study directly involving 4,500+ producers.
15,000 - number of children aged 9 to 12 in the Ivory Coast alone who have been sold into forced labor on conventional cotton, coffee, and cocoa plantations, according to a 2000 US State Department report
7.5 million - individuals in 2008 involved in Fair Trade Certified production, according to the Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International

Comparing Conventional and Fair Trade in Coffee

2 cents - amount farmers on conventional farms receive from the average $3 latte, according to Transfair USA
10 cents - amount of social premium paid on top of the per kilo price to fair trade certified coffee farmers, according to Fairtrade Labeling Organization standards
20 cents - amount of social premium paid on top of the per kilo price to fair trade certified coffee farmers for organic coffee, according to Fairtrade Labeling Organization standards

Other Factors

$70 billion - amount African countries could generate if their share of world exports increased by 1% - approximately five times what the continent receives in aid - according to Oxfam International's Make Trade Fair Report.
30 cents of every $1 - amount of foreign investment that ends up back in donor countries through profit transfers, according to Oxfam International's Make Trade Fair Report.
$13 billion - total amount required to provide basic education and nutrition in all developing countries, according to the 2005 UNICEF State of the World's Children Report
$25 billion - amount spent annually on US farm subsidies, according to a 2007 Heritage Foundation report
$40-70 billion - amount required to meet all eight Millennium Development Goals by 2015, according to the United Nations