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Traidcraft: Inspiring a Fair Trade Revolution by Joe Osman

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Traidcraft: Inspiring a Fair Trade Revolution by Joe Osman Book Review - Christopher Stephens Traidcraft: Inspiring a Fair Trade Revolution By Joe Osman Lion Hudson, 2020, paperback, 272 pp , £12.99, , ISBN 978 0 7459 8104 8 Joe Osman has done us all a huge working out his faith in practical ways which was radical at the time and has favour. He has brought together in a in an unequal world. Adding to his own since become mainstream. Here are single volume the story of Traidcraft experiences, Joe has tracked down many just a few examples. First there is the and the Fair Trade movement over its of the key players of the movement and far-sighted approach to international forty-year life. He is far too modest has invited them to provide their own aid. Traidcraft insisted from the early to say this, but many of us who have first-hand accounts of what actually 80s that it was building partnerships, touched this subject believe that Fair happened. Much of this is quoted not dependent relationships between Trade stands in the great tradition of verbatim and makes excellent reading. donor and recipient. This in part led to the church’s concern for society: the Finally, he gives his own thoughtful the emergence of Traidcraft from its early sponsorship of education, the more evangelical parent,Tearcraft. provision of healthcare and the Next, there is the fascinating move abolition of slavery being three to become a public company with obvious examples. Traidcraft has real shareholders, albeit patient focused our attention beyond the ones, expecting a real financial products we buy to the needs of return for their investment in this the producers, their working and worthwhile company with important living conditions, to the need for social outcomes alongside making a fair deal between consumer and money. This was an early version of producer. It has brought substance the Community Interest Companies to the belief that all human beings which are now increasingly are God’s children, created and well-established in the UK. The loved by him in equal measure. It shareholding initiative was also simply isn’t acceptable that the rich seriously surprising for a Christian thrive, while the primary producers group to implement, many believers are trapped in life-long poverty. being sceptical of the merits of capitalism and preferring a wholly From Day One this has been the charitable environment in which mission and purpose of Traidcraft, to operate. Then there was the Fair describing itself as a 'Christian Trade Foundation and the creation response to poverty’. And it has of the Fair Trade certification mark, remained true to this noble task a group convened by Traidcraft, while the wider church has enjoyed together with Oxfam, Christian mixed fortunes and multiple other Aid and CAFOD as partners in this distractions. Joe tells the story important venture. Now it is the engagingly. His book is a cracking standard bearer of the fair trade good read with something of the movement in the UK, certifying story-teller and treasure-hunter about and critical analysis of the key themes hundreds of millions of pounds of the way it is written. - from structures and organisations surrounding the Fair Trade movement products each year and providing a fair Joe uses three quite different devices or nurtured directly by Traidcraft, to the trade premium to needy producers. to cover the ground. In part, here are many product categories (Coffee, Tea, Social Auditing was another example, his own reflections of his involvement Cocoa etc) which Traidcraft identified, unheard of in the early 1990s but from almost the first day of the creation imported and nudged towards full Fair now, 30 years later, a common- of Tearcraft ,the parent to Traidcraft. Trade certification. place and precursor to the extensive He has the eyes of a participant and Environmental, Social and Governance passionate believer, not merely an The story that unfolds is an reports prepared by all today’s publicly observer or commentator. It is clear that extraordinary one. It demonstrates quoted companies. There is now a his belief is that of a convinced Christian a level of pioneering and boldness veritable and necessary industry Faith in Business Quarterly, Volume 20.4, page 22 around these aspects of business life There are excellent sections on the Adjudicator, but not with the authoring which barely existed when Traidcraft links between our Christian faith and of section 172 of the Companies Act, produced their first Social Audit. the mission of Traidcraft. Joe provides now the standard statutory basis on The organisation Shared Interest was his own well-founded views as well as which companies are required to report yet another ‘step-child’, providing those of former executives and non- their wider societal impacts, including affordable capital to producers and executives. The motivation and the labour standards and climate change. artisans around the world. underlying theology are both powerfully described. Then there is the final chapter on Joe not only describes these current affairs. How is Traidcraft ‘institutional’ initiatives that can trace It would be wrong not to mention managing today? We get only the some of the omissions about which their origins back to Traidcraft or to slightest glimpse of this and we are left Joe is entirely open: he barely covers the diaspora of prophetic and radical rather tantalised. There was a decision the sales and marketing challenges, or to close the plc and separate it from leaders who passed through Traidcraft the faithful role of church-based Fair Traidcraft Exchange. But, then, thank in the 1980s and 1990s. He also Trader groups. He does not explore goodness, the plc seemed to begin to describes movingly the battles to get the implications of the concentration bounce back into life….and we are left each product category into the fair trade of food retailing on a small number of guessing . It’s a bit like The Crown. We family of products. Many still remember massive companies. Nor does he enter wonder if there will be another series? the early struggles with coffee, which the tricky water of labelling, with a didn’t suit every palate. But then there plethora of confusing endorsements None of this should take away from was tea, chocolate, and, of course, the such as the Rainforest Alliance, the the value of this book. It is an honest much loved Geobar. Not one of these Soil Association and so on, each with account of a complex journey. The story products had an easy journey into differing standards, different objectives is authentic and well-observed. The the Traidcraft catalogue or on to full and a variety of costs to the producer. achievements of Traidcraft are really certification. But once established, He refers only briefly to the policy work considerable and absolutely need to everyone wondered why it hadn’t of Traidcraft Exchange, attributing be recorded and understood. Joe has happened sooner. to it the emergence of the Grocery contributed hugely towards this. Christopher Stephens was chairman of Traidcraft from 2006-2011 when Paul Chandler was the CEO. He retired as Group Human Resources Director of Exel plc (now DHL) in 2004 and has held a number of appointments in the private, public and NGO sectors. From 2011 until 2016 he was chairman of the Judicial Appointments Commission. Faith in Business Quarterly, Volume 20.4, page 23.
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