World Fair Trade Organization Annual Report 2008
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World Fair Trade Organization Annual Report 2008 ©2009 World Fair Trade Organization. All Rights Reserved. 1 Table of Contents I. The Mission of World Fair Trade Organization 3 II. President’s Executive Summary: Good Progress, Still Much To Do 4 III. WFTO’s Core Services 5 a. Membership and Monitoring 5 b. Advocacy 5 IV. WFTO’s Projects 5 a. Sustainable Fair Trade Management System (SFTMS) 5 b. Regionalization 6 c. World Fair Trade Day 6 d. Finances and donors 6 V. WFTO Regions 7 a. Asia: WFTO Asia 7 b. Africa: Cooperation for Fair Trade in Africa (COFTA) 7 c. Europe: WFTO Europe 8 d. Latin America: WFTO Latinoamericana 9 e. North America and Pacific Rim: WFTO Pacific 10 VI. Financial Report 11 VII. WFTO Financial Statements 2008 12 VIII. Thanks to donors 14 Appendix: Membership 2008 15 Member Fair Trade Organizations 15 Member Fair Trade Support Organizations 20 Member Fair Trade Networks 20 Member Associate Organizations 21 Member Individual Associates 21 The Honorary Members 22 ©2009 World Fair Trade Organization. All Rights Reserved. 2 I - The Mission of World Fair Trade Organization WFTO aims to improve the livelihoods of marginalized producers and workers, especially in the South. WFTO aims to change unfair structures of international trade, mainly by means of Fair Trade, to improve and co-ordinate the co-operation of its member organizations and to promote the interests of and provide services to its member organizations and individuals. ©2009 World Fair Trade Organization. All Rights Reserved. 3 II - President’s Executive Summary: Good Progress, Still Much To Do WFTO put its Agenda for Change into action in 2008. Conceived in 2007, and approved wholeheartedly by membership, the Agenda for Change is WFTO’s response to the challenges of our times and the corresponding opportunities it presents for Fair Trade. Its main elements include: • developing a credible certification system • strengthening of membership and monitoring • increasing visibility and a stronger voice in the Fair Trade community. Two significant conclusions were agreed by WFTO membership at its AGM held in October in Sri Lanka. The first was to change our name from the International Fair Trade Association (IFAT) to the World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO). The new name and its corresponding branding accurately reflect the breadth and impact of our global network. A strong brand will not only give us a stronger voice, the recognition it brings will tangibly benefit members. The second was the adoption of a common Charter of Fair Trade Principles. The Charter was developed together with the Fairtrade Labelling Organisations International (FLO). As part of a quality management project, WFTO and FLO had agreed to develop a common set of Fair Trade principles. The Charter is the result of the careful and deliberate work of Ian Bretman for FLO and Carola Reintjes for WFTO. Several face-to-face conversations between FLO and WFTO at the board level were also part of the process. Thanks to this kind of close cooperation, trust continues to grow between our organizations. In addition to these two key outcomes, WFTO’s 2008 initiatives focused on delivering the Agenda for Change through our activities and programs. A brief summary of each is provided below. Paul Myers WFTO President ©2009 World Fair Trade Organization. All Rights Reserved. 4 III – WFTO’s Core Services Membership and Monitoring A start was made in 2008 with the development of an internal quality management system for membership and monitoring. In order to do so, a freeze was placed on Self Assessment Reports (SARs) and on External Verification. The first step was to streamline the acceptance of new members, and the handling of SARs. Backlogs were eliminated in both membership and monitoring. Tools, documentation and procedures improved. Processing in both membership and monitoring has been shortened considerably. However, attempts to build a monitoring scoring system failed and will be revisited in 2009. Overall, WFTO has made substantial improvements in the quality of its membership and monitoring system, but this must continue as part of the overall process to integrate these in the Sustainable Fair Trade Management System (SFTMS). In 2008, we had 415 members. The number is the sum total of the following: 302 Fair Trade Organizations, 5 Associate Organizations, 21 Fair Trade Networks, 28 Fair Trade Support Organizations, 54 Individual Associates and 5 Honorary members. Advocacy The Fair Trade Advocacy Office (FTAO) in Brussels conducted research funded by CORDAID on: • what the members of the WFTO regions of mean by advocacy • the themes around which advocacy activities could be based • what skills are needed to implement these activities. Their conclusion was that a pre-condition for policy change is raising awareness of Fair Trade and its principles. FTAO also participated in discussions to set up an “Ethical Trade Fact Finding Process” to study the possible added value of ISO work in this area. In Europe, the office advocated for a higher level of EU support for Fair Trade, especially for disadvantaged producers. IV – WFTO’s Projects Sustainable Fair Trade Management System (SFTMS) Significant progress has been made in the SFTMS and the development of a label. The SFTMS framework was discussed in a first Technical Meeting of experts in Germany in February 2008. Soon after, the SFTMS Pre-draft Standard was circulated to members, and discussed in Cairo where the African and North American & Pacific Rim regions held their regional conferences. The significant feedback was integrated in the first Draft Standard published in August. The first round of Internal Stakeholders Consultations included regional meetings in Europe, Latin America and Asia. In July 2008, 12 pilots participated in a workshop in Thailand to analyze the requirements of implementing the SFTMS in their organizations. These pilots are being coached and guided by our SFTMS consultants. ©2009 World Fair Trade Organization. All Rights Reserved. 5 Regionalization Regionalization continued to be a significant item on the Board’s agenda. Testing membership administration in Africa continues. Regional offices and boards are all active and stronger today than a year ago, although the North America & Pacific rim does not have a formal office or board at this point. I encourage you to read the separate regional reports, as there is a lot of good creative work being done. World Fair Trade Day Climate change was the theme of World Fair Trade Day 2008. From producers to Fair Trade shops, from Gothenburg to Cape Town, from Santiago to Tokyo, thousands of people asked the world to buy fair and respect the environment. Many local, regional and national newspapers have published articles on the event. Consumers bought the campaign products and learned more about Fair Trade. The World Fair Trade Day website, Youtube, Facebook, MySpace and other web communities were used to inform the public about this important event. Looking ahead, it was agreed that WFTO would take over global coordination for World Fair Trade Day (WFTD). WFTO thanks NEWS! and People Tree for their coordination of the 2008, as well as previous WFTDs. Finances and donors Financially, 2008 was a challenging year. Taking over global responsibility for World Fair Trade Day, while trying to raise funds for this has been hard work. Collecting outstanding membership fees continues. Resources for the pilots of the SFTMS are also required, despite a number of groups carrying this responsibility from their own funds. At the same time, we are grateful to HIVOS for their support for quality management improvement, to CORDAID for their support of the SFTMS as well as regional activities, to the Levi Strauss Foundation for their support of three initial SFTMS pilots, to the Dutch Association of World Shops for their support of development of the Website and to numerous others who supported the work in funds and time. We are optimistic looking ahead that we will garner the necessary support. We pay tribute to Stefan Durwael, who as Executive Director left the organization at the end of 2008, after making a significant contribution in this role for three years. His institutional memory as a result of his involvement from the early days of the Fair Trade movement, both for food and crafts, plus his 110% passion for Fair Trade and its benefits to the small producer will be missed. Thank you also to Constance Kandie for her contribution on the Board the first half of the year, for her optimistic “can do” spirit and continued support. Finally, all of us owe a great deal to our strong team in the Secretariat, both to those who have moved on, but especially to those who continue. With the absence of an Executive Director the last months of the year, you have carried an unusual load, meeting deadlines, putting in extra hours, while continuing to be passionate about the mission. Thank you. ©2009 World Fair Trade Organization. All Rights Reserved. 6 V - WFTO Regions Asia: WFTO-Asia Members: 111 Regional HQ: Manila, Philippines 2008 was a defining year in the institutional development of the Asia Fair Trade Forum, as it becomes the World Fair Trade Organization-Asia following the name change of the global organisation. In October, the WFTO-Asia Annual General Assembly approved the Strategic Plan: Agenda for Sustainable Growth. This is a five-year blueprint that will help them shift from a networking model to a market facilitation model, to address the obstacles of scaling up the fair trade craft sector. Further organizational changes have taken place in the last quarter of the year with the election of the five member Board of Directors, appointment of new Executive Director and structural integration of Country Networks into WFTO-Asia’s governance system. Amendments to the Bylaws and 14 resolutions known as the “Marawila Declaration” were also passed at the conference, which will shape the future of the organisation.