What is Fair Trade?
Fair Trade: A Commitment to Building Relationships
Catholic Relief Services is about building respectful, enduring relationships. It embodies a comprehensive set of criteria, including, at minimum, the following commitments:
· Paying a fair wage in the local context
· Offering employees opportunities for advancement
· Providing equal employment opportunities for all people, particularly the most disadvantaged
· Engaging in environmentally sustainable practices
· Being open to public accountability
· Building long-term trade relationships
· Providing healthy and safe working conditions within the local context
· Providing financial and technical assistance to producers whenever possible
What’s the difference between Fair Trade
and Free Trade?
|
Dimension |
Conventional Trade |
Fair Trade |
|
Strategy |
Profit is the overriding concern |
Balances concerns for people, the planet, and profit |
|
Financing |
Payment is received at time of shipment; credit is sometimes extended by informal lenders at exorbitant rates |
Advanced credit allows for income during lean seasons between harvest/ production cycles. |
|
Investment |
Corporate investment in a community can be limited to people and activities that build skills for use in related commercial enterprises and/ or generate good publicity. |
Technical assistance and training build broader skill sets, and social premiums foster investment and social projects that benefit all residents of low income communities |
|
Supply Chain |
Supply chain seeks out lowest-cost labor and raw materials, often through exploitive middlemen or contractual arrangements that reflect little concern for producers and their families. |
Disadvantage groups are made partners in the Fair Trade supply chain |
|
Marketing |
Marketing is directed at increasing profitability |
Marketing is driven by consumer education and advocacy that leads to socially responsible business innovations. |