Excuse me, Your Business Practices are Showing

The Fair Trade Federation conference last weekend brought dozens of Fair Trade companies and organizations to Washington, D.C. to focus especially on doing the work of Fair Trade. Lots of inspiration and information was passed around, including opening remarks from Fair Trade guru, Paul Myers, new Chair of the International Fair Trade Association. I spent most of Paul’s keynote scribbling down his abundant words of wisdom, such as a call for an “unambiguous commitment to small-scale producers.” Paul noted that the “large and the quick make most of the rules but they can be influenced by” the practices and principles of Fair Trade.

I was a speaker at a town hall meeting with CRS partners Bill Harris of Cooperative Coffees and Bob Chase of SERRV International. We were joined by Mirian Otzin, who is the Coordinator of MayaWorks in Guatemala. (In a nice coincidence, CRS Fair Trade had just last week placed an order from Mayaworks for some luggage tags for our new “ambassadors” pilot program…more on that soon.)

Each person had useful insights to share, including Bill’s quip that “Fair Trade is not a bumper sticker.” Its core principles are hard to package but are essential to keeping the movement strong. During the question and answer section, for example, there was a discussion of cultural integrity and whether or not artisans should change their traditional production practices to gain in efficiency. Mirian noted that artisans need the technical assistance that offers them the opportunity to modernize but “the producers can always say ‘no’ to ideas” that don’t mesh well with cultural mores or values.

For my part, I got to wax philosophic about the importance of the Fair Trade principle of “transparency.” My thoughts were that consumers like you want to hear the stories of Fair Trade, even if they are sometimes complicated or controversial. Fair Traders—businesses and individuals alike—are striving for high ideals. The commitment to high standards builds consumer commitment to a company, even if it is seen as being less than perfect, but willing to evolve. I encouraged the FTF membership to be as transparent as possible, if for no other reason than “conventional” companies are beginning to tout their commitment to “radical transparency” as a hot new trend in the business world. First they realized poverty was a concern, then the environment, now big big business wants to “get naked” as a way of building consumer loyalty. Blogs, for example, provide consumers the opportunity to give direct feedback—warts and all—about a company.

But the big guys aren’t the only ones using electronics! Technology was a “buzz” topic, and I made mention of the Fair Tracing Project out of Britain’s University of Bradford. These folks are working to create a way to punch barcode numbers into a computer, cell phone, or PDA and get documentation about the value chain of how a banana or chocolate bar got to a store. They expect to roll it out sometime in 2008.

You don’t have to wait for on-line innovations to promote transparency! Check out the paper trails created by Cooperative Coffees to see where some of your CRS coffee comes from!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 6th, 2007 and is filed under 100% Fair Trade, Chocolate, Coffee, Events, Fair Trade, Fair Trade Federation . You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

One Response to “Excuse me, Your Business Practices are Showing”

1. Scott James Says:
   June 22nd, 2007 at 11:55 am

   Good encouraging words, Jackie. Thank you.

   We’ve done our take on “radical transparency” by publishing something know as the Rude FAQ…an internal-only Frequently Asked Questions that tend to be asked by “rude” people like journalists, activists, and pretty much everyone else for whom I have respect for asking the tough questions. The marketing team then has all their sales people, promotional people, and customer service people memorize the answers. I know; I’ve done this for several companies.

   We decided to publish ours for two reasons: 1) we are a company that strives for real authenticity and transparency - not just lip service, and 2) having an internal-only document always made it seem like we had something to hide (in some cases, they really did).

   As we seek to build community among such distinct groups as college-aged Fair Trade activists and stereotypical “soccer parents”, we want everyone to have a clear picture of Fair Trade Sports…the good, the bad, and the as-yet-to-be-determined.

   When you have a moment, check it out here: http://fairtradesports.com/?p=44

   - Scott James
   Fair Trade Sports
   http://www.fairtradesports.com
   Fair Trade Soccer Balls with FSC Certification!

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