Focus on fair trade
Fairer trade
Curriculum links
Personal and social competence: Students will learn
to develop concern and understanding for others,
make responsible decisions and handle challenging
situations constructively.
Ethical behaviour: Students will learn to understand
and act in accordance with ethical principles,
understand the role of ethical principles, values and
virtues in human life, act with moral integrity and
regard for others and have a desire and capacity to
work for the common good.
Critical and creative thinking: Students will learn to
generate and evaluate knowledge, ideas and
Creative Thinking possibilities, use these in
combination when seeking new pathways or
solutions and participate in activities that require
reason, logic, imagination and divergence.
Cross-curriculum priorities: Sustainability: Students
will develop an appreciation of the need for more
sustainable patterns of living and build capacities for
thinking, valuing and acting necessary to create a
more sustainable future.
(All from The Shape of the Australian Curriculum V3, pp. 21-22)
Geography: The Year 9 unit introduces students to
some basic ideas on the location of economic
activities, through a study of the ways that their
purchases of consumer goods link them to other
places in the world. (Geography Curriculum Draft F-12, p.14)
Introduction
Learning about fair trade issues is an extremely
powerful way for students to find out about what goes
on in the world. As they hear stories of producers
around the globe, your students will learn how their
choices can support and make a real difference to
people’s lives.
This resource includes
• background on fair trade
• stories from the producers
• lesson ideas
• tips for becoming a Fair Trade School
• activities for Fairtrade Fortnight - or any time
of the year!
TRY THIS!
Watch The Fair Story (1:30) at: www.fairstory.com/watch/
Primary, Secondary
HSIE/SOSE. RE
Information, classroom activities
Last updated Jan 2012
Fairer trade is about better prices, decent working
conditions, local sustainability and fair terms of trade
for farmers and workers in the developing world. Too
often over recent decades, international trading rules
have been unfair to the poorest.
70–80 percent of the world’s poorest people rely on
farming for their livelihood. But while developing
countries are forced to open their markets, rich
countries continue to pay huge subsidies to their
producers. The average European farmer receives
around $20,000 per year in subsidies, more than 100
times the average income of an African farmer.
FACT: A 1% increase in the developing
countries' share of world exports would lift
128 million people out of poverty
(Source: Caritas Internationalis).
The principles of Catholic Social Teaching demand
that we work to create conditions in which the unique
dignity of each person is respected and human rights
- such as the right to work for a just wage and the
right to an adequate standard of living - are
respected. Pope Paul VI said, “Freedom of trade is
fair only if it is subject to the demands of social
justice” (Populorum Progressio, 1967).
As global citizens we have the duty to tell our leaders
when we think that the rules of international trade are
not fair. We should tell them until they listen and
demand a change in the rules.
Fairtrade facts
The Fairtrade label
•
Fairtrade Labelling Organisations
International (FLO) was established in 1997
•
In 2004 it was divided into two organisations:
FLO International and FLO-CERT, which
ensures producers and traders meet proper
standards
•
The Fair Trade Association of Australia and
New Zealand (FTAANZ) and Fairtrade
Australia and New Zealand (Fairtrade ANZ)
have been working together here since 2005
•
Retail sales of Fairtrade certified products in
Australia and New Zealand in 2010 reached
almost AU$150 million
•
37% of Australian consumers recognise the
Fairtrade label
•
Chocolate has overtaken coffee as
Australia's biggest selling Fairtrade certified
product. So next time you reach for
chocolate, make sure it’s fairly traded!
As consumers we also have purchasing power. By
buying products that carry the Fairtrade label and
asking our supermarket to stock them, we are
showing companies that there is a better way to do
business; that you can treat workers with respect and
still make a profit. When we buy Fairtrade products
we show that we really care for others – no matter
how far away they live!
The Fairtrade label is a guarantee to producers that
they will get a fair and steady price for their products,
protecting them from changing prices on the world
market. Fairtrade certification means that producers
have met environmental and social standards, for
example, that child labour is not being used.
Producers also receive a ‘Fairtrade Premium’ to
invest in their local community’s development eg. to
build educational or medical facilities.
The Fairtrade label signifies fairer trade conditions so
that producers can combat poverty and take more
control of their communities’ future. Producers are
not simply beneficiaries; they are joint partners in
Fairtrade.
TRY THIS!
Be an ICT whiz and find out more about
Fairtrade by visiting these websites:




TRY THIS!
Go to www.caritas.org.au and find Caritas
Australia’s policy document on fair trade.
Try to summarise Caritas’ attitude to trade in one
paragraph.
Primary, Secondary
HSIE/SOSE. RE
Information, classroom activities
Last updated Jan 2012
www.fairtrade.com.au
http://fairtrade.asn.au
www.cadbury.com.au/AboutCadbury/Fairtrade.aspx
www.fairtraders.org.au
Use your knowledge to create your very own
‘Fairtrade A to Z Factbook’.
Caritas Australia is not responsible for the content of
external websites
Fairtrade stories
Irene’s story
Khima’s story
Irene Kijara lives in the west of Uganda. She has
three children and is a teacher and a successful
businesswoman, running the family’s two tea farms.
The farms provide 50 percent of Irene’s cash income
and employ 15 workers.
Khima Ranchhod lives on his four-acre farm in
southern India with his wife, Jamnaben, and their four
children.
Local tea growers have to carry their tea to collection
sheds to be bought by tea estates. They are never
sure whether they will have a buyer. But Irene’s tea
farms are part of Fairtrade certified Mabale Growers
Tea Factory which agrees to buy and collect
suppliers’ tea each day, providing it meets quality
standards. 80% of the shareholders are small-scale
tea growers and subsistence farmers.
Irene is treasurer of the Mabale Factory Joint Body, a
committee that helps to decide which projects to fund
with the Fairtrade Premium: “Fairtrade... has helped
us by building roads, schools, leaf collection sheds,
and a clinic at the factory. And field extension officers
trained by FLO have helped us improve the quality of
our tea.”
The Joint Body plans to finish building an unfinished
local primary school. It has no floors, doors or
windows. The children sit on the dirt floor and are
prone to contracting ‘jiggers’, a tropical flea that
burrows into the skin.
Projects funded by the Fairtrade Premium make a
real difference to the community. “Thank you for your
support,” says Irene. “We hope we
will sell more tea to fund these
projects. We have the best
teas!”
TRY THIS!
Go to www.fairtrade.org.uk for
more on Irene and Khima.
Explain how Fairtrade
benefits their communities.
Primary, Secondary
HSIE/SOSE. RE
Information, classroom activities
Last updated Jan 2012
Khima has farmed cotton all his life, and it is hard
work. He gathers his harvest over an eight-day
period, starting at 6am and finishing at 4pm and
breaking only for lunch. Khima used to sell his seed
cotton to local traders: “We would deliver the cotton
by bullock cart but the trader would always find a
reason to give us a bad price.”
Agrocel Pure & Fair Cotton Growers’ Association is a
group of cotton farmers supported by Agrocel
Industries Ltd. Until recently, they were a loose
association who met informally a few times a year to
discuss organic farming issues. With guidance from
Agrocel Industries, the group was formalised and
achieved Fairtrade certification.
Khima now sells his entire crop to Agrocel for a
higher, stable price and, with the help of their field
officers, he has converted the farm to organic
production.
Khima and his wife have struggled to keep their son
in school but their daughters weren’t so lucky. The
village school only takes students up to age 14 and
they couldn’t afford to send the girls to a boarding
school.
Khima sees a brighter future now
that Agrocel is supplying his
cotton to the Fairtrade
market:
“We will benefit
economically, but more than
this we will be able to
improve the education of the
children in the village.”
Becoming a Fair Trade
School
Fair trade isn’t just for Fairtrade
Fortnight, it’s for life! Here’s the
essential lowdown on how to get
your whole school on board and
enthusiastic about becoming a Fair
Trade School.
Get talking
First, set up a steering group with
representatives from around the school; include
students, parents, teaching and support staff. This
will be the real driving force in becoming a Fair Trade
School and ensuring you stay true to your ideals.
Make it official
Write and present a whole-school fair trade policy to
the governing body for discussion and inclusion in the
school development plan. To become a Fair Trade
School, you must promote fair trade and use at least
two Fairtrade Certified products throughout the
school; but go the extra mile and explore ways of
using and selling Fairtrade products whenever
possible!
Find out more
Educate the whole school community about fair trade
issues using curriculum-based lessons and wider
learning activities: www.fta.org.au/getinvolved/school. Discuss fair trade as part of RE and
SOSE/HSIE, encouraging critical thinking around
issues. Get creative with assemblies, drama
workshops and Fairtrade displays: a great way to
share your students’ work and a brilliant tool for
educating visitors to your school.
Shout about it!
When your application has been approved, spread
the news to your local community. Encourage your
local shops to stock Fairtrade, celebrate Fairtrade
Fortnight – and remember fair trade is more than
choosing a different brand of coffee; it's about
people's lives.
Useful links
Application form and guidelines for schools on how to
become a Fair Trade School: www.fta.org.au/getinvolved/school
Acknowledgments
Caritas Australia would like to thank CAFOD for allowing
us to adapt their resource.
We would also like to thank the Fairtrade Association for
the use of their stories and images.
Primary, Secondary
HSIE/SOSE. RE
Information, classroom activities
Last updated Jan 2012
Fair trade fun activities!
Numeracy, Literacy, ICT
An activity to explore ‘purchasing power’.
• To start, ask the class to brainstorm the names of
all the different chocolates they know. How many are
Fairtrade?
• Then ask students to bring in the wrapper from their
favourite chocolate bar. Use the wrappers to make a
giant bar chart of different brands. This will help
students to focus in on the class/school’s favourite
top two brands. (Use data-handling software or
spreadsheets for recording results to add an ICT
element).
• Then students can write persuasive letters to the
companies that produce their favourite chocolates to
explain why the company should go Fairtrade or the
students will go elsewhere!
RE
‘You are not making a gift of what is yours to the poor
person, but you are giving them back what is theirs.’
What did St Ambrose mean when he said this? Ask
students to think about what they have learnt about
fair trade and to write a prayer or reflection that smallscale producers may receive a fair share.
Art, PE
Print Fairtrade cotton t-shirts as your school sports
kit. Run a competition to find a winning design.
Launch the new kit with a goal-shooting contest using
Fairtrade footballs.
HSIE/SOSE, Commerce
Make a display of Fairtrade producers from around
the world that supply Australia. Research their
proportion of the market here.
HSIE/SOSE, Economics: Game with a kick!
Play the trade simulation game “Trading Trainers” to
experience the impacts of the world market on small
producers (allow 2 hours):
www.cafod.org.uk/secondary/fairtrade
Critical thinking
Senior students can research and debate some of
the tricky issues around fair trade, eg. the benefits of
Fairtrade versus the negative impacts of food miles.
Invite the local community
Hold a Fairtrade coffee morning for parents. Serve
Fairtrade tea and coffee with Fairtrade cakes that
students have baked. You could also set up a taste
test between Fairtrade and non-Fairtrade chocolate.
Which tastes better? Fairtrade chocolate, of course!
And it is better, because it gives producers a fair
deal!