WFTO 13th Biennial Conference and Fair Trade Symposium

From 24-31 May 2015, a WIEGO team joined nearly 300 other delegates from 55 countries at the World Fair Trade Organization’s 13th Biennial Conference in Milan, Italy.

Team members included Elaine Jones, Global Trade Director; Edwin Bett, Coordinator of the Kenya Fair Trade Network (KEFAT); Josephine Mukasa, National Association of Women’s Organizations of Uganda; and Carol Wills, Technical Support.

WIEGO and the World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO) share many cross-over aims, including enabling member organizations to access tools and trainings to create a common voice; developing opportunities and spaces to share and learn; and influencing policy makers by identifying and implementing advocacy priorities collaboratively. At the Fair Trade Symposium, the WIEGO team submitted a paper, “Methodological innovations and approaches,” which was later presented at a workshop. The presentation focused on our approach and methodology inspired by WIEGO’s theory of change and key recommendations for the Fair Trade Movement. 

During the conference Carol Willis, an Honorary WFTO Member, gave a talk on “The Fair Trade Movement and WFTO: Reflections on our Journey,” where she took the opportunity to include remarks on women’s empowerment. This theme ran throughout the events WIEGO led and participated in. Elaine Jones spoke a workshop entitled, “WFTO and Gender: Beyond Principle 6,” and reminded people of the history of the development of Principle 6 within WFTO and the work on a gender strategy. Read more about women’s economic empowerment here.

Elaine also spoke on the three-year programme, “Developing Leadership and Business Skills for Informal Women Workers in Fair Trade,” which is focused on Ghana, Kenya and Uganda. The training’s goal is to assist working poor women employed in the informal economy, which is the situation of many women working in Fair Trade, to gain economic self-reliance and increase their participation in advocacy, governance and management. The workshop was well received and resulted in a decision being taken to put a further resolution on gender to the annual general meeting (AGM). See this fact sheet on “Developing Leadership and Business Skills for Informal Workers in Fair Trade.”

At the AGM, the new gender resolution was approved unanimously, and Edwin Bett was elected to join the WFTO Board. The new resolution strengthens the Gender Working Group and gives it the authority to work with the five regions of the WFTO on a revised gender strategy and provide support with its implementation across the membership of WFTO.