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ABOUT FAIR TRADE
 This Holiday Season, WFTO invites you to revive gift giving as a meaningful tradition. Try the products of our members for truly meaningful gifts for your loved ones. You can also help Fair Trade grow. Donate to Fair Trade.
Market Access
 The fourth
edition of the Fair Trade International Symposium (4th FTIS)
will host the Final Conference of the GeoFairTrade project, a three-year project
supported by the European Commission of which the WFTO is one of the partners. Learn
more on the project and partners here.
This is an open invitation to all interested
parties. Reduced tariff to the event will expire on 31 December 2011, and final
registration is on 29 February 2012. Learn more here.
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Geo Fair Trade Project
Learn how GeoTraceability can benefit both the consumers and the producers, click here.
WFTO Events
 Many poor cotton producers are adversly affected due to the declining price of cotton. The WFTO asks the World Trade Organization (WTO) to address this problem. Read the WFTO position paper on cotton and cotton textiles for the forthcoming Eight Session of the WTO Ministerial Conference in Geneva from 15 to 17 December 2011. Read here.
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Job opportunity: Chief Executive Officer - Akron, PA, USA |
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 Ten
Thousand Villages seeks values-driven CEO with organizational leadership and
international experience to lead mission of creating opportunities for artisans
in developing countries to earn income through long-term fair trading
relationships and a growing network of more than 150 U.S. retail outlets.
Quantitative analytical, strategic planning and inspired decision-making
abilities. Marketing or retail experience preferred. Successful candidate will
provide vision and direction for long-term success and growth of North America's leading fair trade retailer. If you are a
qualified individual interested in this leadership opportunity at Ten Thousand
Villages, please review the job description on our website at http://www.tenthousandvillages.com/about-careers/ and
submit your resume and letter of interest to CEOsearch[@]tenthousandvillages.com.
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Supporting Fair Trade initiatives in Palestine |
 Educating and supporting small Palestinian enterprises about Fair Trade
is an important part of the FTDC and how the FTDC contributes to the
Palestinian society. In fact, according to Jamil Hjazin of the FTDC, “In short,
Fair Trade transfers the small producers and farmers from unorganized, randomly
working groups and cooperatives into well organized cooperatives with future
plans that guide their work.” Fair Trade, according to Hjazin, allows the
producers, businesses, and farmers to find new markets and to grow due to the
requirements to complete necessary business documents such as business plans
and budgets, among other things. It helps prepare them for the business world
so that they can grow and compete.
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 Mongolia has a low population but geographically is vast. It can take up to 5 days and nights to drive
across the open steppe from East to West.
While Mongolia
has one of the world’s fastest growing economies, based on huge mining
resources, this is giving only short term employment. More and more goods are available but prices
are getting higher and higher. Cap that with high unemployment rates and we see
a country moving to a two-track system of wealth, with most families struggling
to survive. The Mary and Martha story
starts in about 2006.
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 Streamed by the river Nile, one of the world’s most ancient trade routes, Egypt is still fascinating us with its natural and social contradictions. As a transcontinental country located between the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea, it documents one of the highest populations and economic growth of North Africa. But regardless of its economic power, the majority of its almost 80 million inhabitants do not benefit from this fact. Many, especially in the rural areas, are poor with low-income to sustain daily needs.
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Interview with Benoit Berger of Fair Trade Lebanon |
 The WFTO Secretariat team had the pleasure of meeting Benoit Berger, director of Fair Trade Lebanon (FTL). During his visit on 2 November 2011 at the WFTO Secretariat Office in Culemborg, the Netherlands, the FTL director shared their experiences being a member of the WFTO and the impact of Fair Trade in some Lebanese rural communities. FTL was established in 2006 by a group of Lebanese people who were affiliated with the Catholic Church. The core objective was to contribute to the socio-economic development of the rural communities whose livelihoods had been ruined as a consequence of the Israel-Lebanese war.
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Rio+20 update: Launching of the ‘Future We Want’ |
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 The Human Impacts Institute launched a new global campaign on 22 November 2011 for the Rio+20. The ‘Future We Want’ is a global conversation using on- and offline formats design to solicit opinions on the world’s future. This is a very interesting opportunity to showcase Fair Trade as a viable option for a sustainable future. Videos, photos, and essays illustrating Fair Trade best practices can be submitted. To learn more, please visit these sites: Webcast of the ‘Future We Want’ launching, ‘Future We Want’ website and the Rio+20 website.
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2012 is UN International Year of Cooperatives |
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 The United Nation declared 2012 as the UN International Year of Cooperatives. This declaration is in recognition of the vital role and contribution of cooperatives to socio-economic development. This is an opportunity for Fair Trade Organizations that are operating in a cooperative set up to showcase best practices under the Fair Trade approach. The Global Launching will be on 31 October 2012. Before the launching, there are opportunities to get involved for WFTO members. See social.un.org/coopsyear for more details.
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Position paper on cotton, cotton textiles and the WTO |
This statement is prepared for the 8th World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference in Geneva, from 15 to 17 December 2011.
Cotton is
a global industry, subject to powerful political and economic interests. Cotton
is grown in more than 90 countries and processed in more than 160. Cotton and cotton textiles are of great importance to developing
countries. Cotton is the main agricultural export for some of the economically
poorest countries in the world and many developing countries rely on textile
processing. Cotton plays a critical role in supporting these countries’
economies and livelihoods, and is a key element of poverty reduction programmes.
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What can you do to promote Fair Trade? More...
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