Fairtrade Fortnight is a campaign supported by the Fairtrade Foundation which happens once every year from 24th February until 8th March.
The idea is to increase awareness of Fairtrade Products and to provide better transparency to customers looking to buy these.
It started on 12th February 1997 in Scotland, with a lunch in Edinburgh at the Augustine United Church organised by Marion Fraser. She brought a bar of Fairtrade chocolate to lunch at the event and it turned into a successful campaign to get every supermarket in Scotland to stock Fairtrade products.
In the following years Fairtrade Fortnight spread to the rest of the United Kingdom and it became a successful campaign in other country´s including Ireland, England, New Zealand and Australia.
Local authorities and governments support Fairtrade events. The events are held in schools, universities and colleges.
The events include Fashion Shows, Fetes, Fairs, and Fairtrade food and drinks exhibitions.
But what is Fairtrade? Fairtrade is an alternative approach to conventional trade. It is based on a partnership between farmers, workers and their products.
When the farmers and workers sell the products, the farmers get paid better and they have a chance to improve their lives and their plans the future. A key thing is the minimum price that they get for their products. The price is regularly checked by FLO-Cert to cover the cost of the production.
Enjoy the Fairtrade Fortnight and support the farmers and workers involved!
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