World Fair Trade Day

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This year, on the second Saturday of May, World Fair Trade Day is celebrated. The organizer behind the event is the World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO). To organise the event, the WFTO draws on support from a membership of 350 fair trade organizations representing 110 million people from 80 countries. The participants, as they state on their web site, strive for the following things:

• Creating opportunities for economically disadvantaged producers
• transparency and accountability
• Capacity building
• Payment of a fair price
• Gender equity
• Improved Working conditions
• The environment

[edit] Events

World Fair Trade Day 09 MAY 09 will be a global event, supported by political and cultural opinion leaders and local events. The first World Fair Trade Day was celebrated on May 4, 2002 and was developed from the European Worldshop Day that started in 1996. World Fair Trade Day falls on the second Saturday of May each year.

• The year 2009 (May 9) World Fair Trade Day ^[1] is themed BIG BANG!! Beat poverty Beat climate change Beat financial crisis. BIG BANG!! is being supported by Paul McCartney, Annie Lennox^[2], Desmond Tutu^[3], Emily Eavis ^[4], Sigur Rós^[5], Last Voices^[6], The Zawose^[7], Alivera Kizza^[8], Finger Lickin Records^[9], Colin MacIntyre^[10], Eddie Izzard, STOMP, The British Library (full ine-up waiting to be confirmed) and 110 million Fair Traders in 80 different countries around the world.

BIG BANG!! will start with a lone drummer in the Chatham Islands at first light and end at last light in Samoa and will be a global day long (48 hours) World Fair Trade Day 09 MAY 09 is described as a Wake up call for the planet. The support raised for the day will be leveraged to deliver a proposal for a Sustainable Fair Trade Economy to the G8 in Italy 09.^[11]

Barack Obama: "Global trade is unsustainable if it favors only the few. This is the moment when we must build on the wealth that open markets have created, and share its benefits more equitably. Trade has been a cornerstone of our growth and global development. But we will not be able to sustain this growth if it favors the few, and not the many. Together, we must forge trade that truly rewards the work that creates wealth, with meaningful protections for our people and our planet. This is the moment for trade that is free and fair for all. "^[12]

The 09 MAY 09 Big Bang!! campaign is being developed by the World Fair Trade Organization with Fair Trade consultancy Host Universal. The ambition is to circle the earth with drumming to both inspire and mark the birth of the sustainable economy.

• The year 2008 (May 10) chosen theme "Fair Trade + Ecology". 2008 Event Reports & Photos.

• The year 2007 (May 12) chosen theme "Kids and Fair Trade". 2007 Event Reports & Photos.

• The year 2006 (May 13) chosen theme "Fair Trade Organizations NOW!" focused on the unique role of Fair Trade Organizations. 2006 Event Reports & Photos.

• The year 2005 (May 14) chosen theme "Fair Trade is Peace", reminds us of the role that development and the equity trade can play in the peace efforts. The attention is centered on a wide range of Fair Trade products, like coffee, tea, jewellery, clothes and handicrafts. 2005 Event Reports & Photos.

• The year 2004 (May 8) chosen theme "Small Change, Big Difference". 2004 Event Report & Photos.

• The year 2003 (May 17)

• The year 2002 (May 4)

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• World Fair Trade Day 2009
• World Fair Trade Day
• World Fair Trade Organization
• Fair Trade Federation
• NEWS campaigns - Network of European Worldshops
• Trade Aid (New Zealand)