what is this Fair trade?
A social trade of which the goal is not the research of the maximum profit but the development assistance.
- The fair trade appeared in the years 1960 on the initiative of co-operative organizations craftsmen in the developing countries aiming at developing in a durable way.
For that, it guarantees to these small co-operatives to profit from a price right for their work in order to enable them to better meet their fundamental needs (health, education, housing) and to invest in the development of their communities.
- The concept of fair trade appeared and was gradually specified in the Western countries which became aware that the benefit of the growth of the exchanges and the trade were not shared in an equitable way by all the countries nor by all the layers of the world population (North-South imbalances - countries excluded from universalization and the exchanges…).
- The fair trade intends to intervene like a “complement” with the traditional international business. It aims at supporting the producers and the marginalized communities of the countries less developed while contributing to a sustainable development by the improvement of the conditions of the exchanges.
- The system of the fair trade does not obey, indeed, with the rules of the traditional market. “It guarantees to the producers a long-term contract and the fixing of a minimum price to avoid the fluctuation of the courses” explains Victor Ferreira the director of association Max Havelaar (pioneers of the fair trade in Europe.). The sale is done without intermediaries and the production partly pre is financed to avoid the recourse to exorbitant appropriations. On the other hand, the producer commits himself to provide a product of quality, to respect the social norms established by the International organization of Work and devoting part of the product of the sale to development projects (education, improvement of the living conditions, installation of development projects…).
In order to manage to set up of such “ethical” development projects durable, a certain number of rules were defined in the commercial relation with these co-operatives of the craftsmen.
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