Fair Trade Forum - India

The project aims to bring out development plan for selected Fair Trade producer groups in India through an action research. The project is supported by the IDRC (International Development Research Centre).

The project aims to strengthen Indian Fair Trade movement through expansion of membership, alliance building, market access and capacity building. The project is supported by HIVOS

The project is aimed at promoting Fair Trade and Sustainable Consumption in India by reaching out to young consumers, promoting corporate procurement of Fair Trade products, reaching out to government and through policy interventions. The project is supported by the European Commission and co-funded by HIVOS. IRFT and Shop for Change are the other partners in the project.

Overall objective:

Contribute to building environmentally sustainable production and consumption practices that help reduce poverty amongst poor farmers and handicraft producers in India. 

Specific objective

Create a consumer market for fair trade products in India that measurably contributes to the improvement of rural livelihoods and provides farmers and artisans with the resources necessary to follow environmentally sustainable production practices.

Major Activities

•Raise awareness of fair trade products among consumers with special emphasis on young consumers  through campus programs on Fair Trade & Sustainable Consumption 

•Convert corporate procurement to Fair Trade by promoting Fair Trade products among corporate houses/ developing corporate partnerships  

•Develop a dedicated retail channel for Fair Trade through creation of a commonly-branded network of FTF-I members’ shops 

•Gain access for SFC Fair Trade certified products in mainstream retail channels 

•Secure commitments/tap opportunities from government ministries and other agencies to promote fair trade.

Target Groups

•SME members of FTF-I, 

•SFC, 

•10 major branded product manufacturers; 

•100 students at each of 75 colleges; 

•90 corporate offices with gift programmes; 

•350,000 Social Economic Class ‘A1’ (i.e., upper middle class) consumer households; 

•Ministries of Commerce, Textiles, Agriculture, and other agencies.

Final Beneficiaries 

Poor farming and handicrafts producing families across India (an estimated 900,000 people).

Estimated Results

Consumer awareness and sales of fair trade products in four major Indian cities boosted, 2) Retail channels for fair trade products created and operational, 3) Government support ensured in terms of the promotion of fair trade at exhibitions, in promotional campaigns, and through retail collaboration.

Link to FAIR TRADE INDIA brand launch appeared in WFTO portal:

http://www.wftday.com/index.php/en/about/news/1-latest-news/285-fair-trade-india

Download ProSustain Brochure

http://hotfile.com/dl/140770426/4312828/ProSustain_Project_Brochure.pdf.html

Download ProSustain Update

http://hotfile.com/dl/140771332/5adc0d8/ProSustain_Update.pdf.html

Read more: ProSustian – Promoting Fair Trade and Sustainable Consumption in India

Efforts to build up model Fair Trade supply chain for Cotton is being taken up jointly by Fair Trade Forum – India, Formaper Italy and CTM Altramercato through a three year project.  The project is supported by European Union.

Read more: Fair Trade Cotton