Fairtrade Fortnight: Take a Step for Fairtrade in 2012
27 Feb 2012 - 11 Mar 2012 Fairtrade Foundation Visit the Fairtrade Fortnight Campaign page
‘Take a Step’ for Fairtrade is this year’s campaign call to people in the UK to engage with the Fairtrade Foundation’s vision of an even bigger movement for positive change on unfair trade, including making the switch to buying Fairtrade.
Starting in Fairtrade Fortnight (27 February – 11 March 2012), the Fairtrade Foundation is challenging the public to take a step in the right direction by thinking about what they can do every day, every week or every month throughout 2012 to make a difference to the lives of farmers in the developing world who produce the products they buy – whether that be choosing to buy a Fairtrade coffee on the way to work, or making sure their weekly shopping baskets contain one or two more Fairtrade products like Fairtrade tea or bananas, or encouraging their friends and family to switch to Fairtrade.
With this theme for 2012, consumers and supporters, commercial partners and retailers, community organisations and faith groups, and schools and universities are all encouraged to tell others about the FAIRTRADE Mark, increase sales of Fairtrade products and campaign on issues of trade justice.
A step is any action that supports Fairtrade – taking a first step could be someone buying their first packet of Fairtrade coffee, tea or sugar; for someone further along the Fairtrade ‘journey’, their step could be to find out if there is a Fairtrade Town campaign where they live; and for a seasoned Fairtrade campaigner, their step could be to organise a fun public event for Fairtrade Fortnight.
Many of the steps that will be taken around the country will involve bake-offs and tea parties using Fairtrade ingredients; tastings of the wide range of Fairtrade foods and drinks; quizzes and competitions on Fairtrade; fashion shows to showcase Fairtrade cotton; large public events that involve talks and films on Fairtrade; and the sharing of news about Fairtrade on Facebook and other social networking sites.
Together, the Fairtrade Foundation wants the public to take 1.5 million steps for Fairtrade in 2012. That’s one for every Fairtrade producer Fairtrade aims to work with around the world. Each step leads to a better deal that millions of farmers and workers in developing countries urgently need. The public will be able to register their own steps on a special online ‘stepometer’.
This year’s theme is based on the concept of a step being the smallest part of the larger journey of Fairtrade that consumers and farmers are on. People at either end of the supply chain – the producers and the consumers – are all on different points of a journey towards a better trade system through Fairtrade. There is still a long way ahead to bring about meaningful change. The campaign call seeks to appeal to the broad range of audiences, by asking new Fairtrade fans to take just a small step towards a fairer world, whilst keeping the Fairtrade stalwarts galvanised by ambitious targets to see how many people in their area they can get to join them in taking steps for Fairtrade.
In a new development from past campaigns, Fairtrade Fortnight in 2012 will kickstart a whole year of Fairtrade activities, aimed at inspiring people not to just think about Fairtrade for the period of Fairtrade Fortnight, but to get them more involved with Fairtrade at different times throughout the year. The ‘steps’ theme will continue for World Fair Trade Day, throughout a Summer of Fairtrade activities and beyond.
Everyone who takes a step is asked to register their steps over at www.fairtrade.org.uk/step where they will be displayed on an interactive 'step-o-meter'.
