Editor's Comment - Joni Hillman

Welcome to the first edition of the new format of the Development in Action Newsletter. The plan is to have three web editions a year and a print edition in September, as an annual review of the year’s articles.

This edition is based around the theme of Fair Trade – an issue that has attracted a lot of media attention since Fair Trade Fortnight was held at the beginning of March, marking ten years of fairly traded produce being available in Britain. The theme of the celebration was ‘A Taste for Life’; a deliberate attempt to focus on both the high quality of FT products, as well as the improvements in the quality of life for those selling their produce to FT sources in the developing world. From humble beginnings in 1994, with a mere three products available, by 2002 the market had grown to be worth a staggering £63 million in Britain alone, incorporating a ninety per cent increase from 2000 figures. It is now possible to buy FT goods in most of the major supermarkets, and coffee drinkers are even able to select a shot of fairly traded arabica in their lattes. As Harriet Lamb, the Fairtrade Foundation’s Executive Director, has said, “Fairtrade is the food of the future.”

The Foundation was set up by a coalition of five development-oriented organisations, all of whom had an interest in finding a sustainable way to help producers in the developing world weather the frequent and damaging storms caused by fluctuations in world commodity prices. Cafod, Christian Aid, Oxfam, Traidcraft Exchange and the World Development Movement formed the Foundation and established an internationally recognised FT mark to alert ethical consumers to the availability of products that not only meet high standards of quality and taste, but also guarantee a fair price for producers. This price not only covers the cost of production for the farmer (something that does not always happen when commodities are traded on the international market), but also includes a ‘social’ premium, which enables farming communities to improve the standards of living for all those involved in the production process. This means that schools and healthcare facilities can be built or improved, and parents can afford the uniforms and books for their children’s education, as well as the immunisations that will enable them to be healthy enough to attend lessons.

As consumers, we all have a vital role to play. Many citizens feel powerless to change the way the international system functions, particularly when it involves economics. However, by making small decisions in the supermarket aisle or in the queue for your morning cappuccino, we can all have a say, however small, in the way trade operates; or as George Alagiah, patron of the Foundation and BBC veteran conflict journalist, puts it, “there are a million little victories out there in a million places”.

Joni Hillman, Editor