Fairtrade Fortnight is an annual promotional campaign which happens once every year, organized and funded by the

Fairtrade Foundation A fair trade certification is a product certification within the market-based movement fair trade. The most widely used fair trade certification is FLO International's, the International Fairtrade Certification Mark, used in Europe, Africa, Asi ...

to increase awareness of Fairtrade products. It makes use of volunteers who support the goals of Fairtrade but who may also be committed to the more general concepts of fair trade, ethical trading or concerned by development issues. The concept was pioneered by the

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

, initially held in 1997 in Scotland and directed by

Barnaby Miln Barnaby Kemp Graham Miln (born 6 August 1947) is a British social activist and former magistrate. He was the first lay person to come out as gay in the General Synod of the Church of England and thereby the most publicly gay magistrate in Engl ...

History

The inaugural national launch was on 12 February 1997 at Augustine United Church on

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

's George IV Bridge by Lady Marion Fraser, chairman of the charity

Christian Aid Christian Aid is the relief and development agency of 41 Christian (Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox) churches in the UK and Ireland, and works to support sustainable development, eradicate poverty, support civil society and provide disaster ...

. She broke a bar of Fairtrade chocolate to launch the event. It turned out to be a successful campaign to get every supermarket throughout Scotland to stock Fairtrade products. Barnaby Miln sent supporters of Christian Aid Scotland,

SCIAF The Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund, better known by its acronym SCIAF, is the official aid and development agency of the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland. Established in 1965, SCIAF now works in eight countries across Asia, Africa and ...

Traidcraft Traidcraft is a UK-based Fairtrade organisation, established in 1979. The organisation has two components: a public limited company called Traidcraft plc, which sells fairly traded products in the United Kingdom; and a development charity c ...

Oxfam Oxfam is a British-founded confederation of 21 independent charitable organizations focusing on the alleviation of global poverty, founded in 1942 and led by Oxfam International. History Founded at 17 Broad Street, Oxford, as the Oxford Co ...

and the

World Development Movement Global Justice Now, formerly known as the World Development Movement (WDM), is a membership organisation based in the United Kingdom which campaigns on issues of global justice and development in the Global South. The organisation produces r ...

a list of 85 supermarkets in Scotland's cities and larger towns, and encouraged during the Fortnight to go and ask for Fairtrade products. Fairtrade Fortnight spread to the rest of the United Kingdom the following year; today, Fairtrade Fortnights are held in several countries, most notably

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. Awareness raising and promotion of Fairtrade certified products to the public are the main objectives of the Fortnight. Usually events held during the fortnight include: Fetes, Fairs,

Fairtrade A fair trade certification is a product certification within the market-based movement fair trade. The most widely used fair trade certification is FLO International's, the International Fairtrade Certification Mark, used in Europe, Africa, As ...

food and drink tastings, Fashion shows, and Community, school, college and university events. These events are often supported by local authorities and governments, Fairtrade Steering Groups, dozens of charities and

ATOs Atos is a European multinational information technology (IT) service and consulting company headquartered in Bezons, France and offices worldwide. It specialises in hi-tech transactional services, unified communications, cloud, big data and ...

, all seeking to ensure that the local populace purchase fair and ethically traded goods. As part of Fairtrade Fortnight, Fairtrade Foundation brings co-operative farmers to the UK to "tour schools, and TV studios and radio stations to provide a human face and voice to issues of trade justice". During Fairtrade Fortnight in 2012, the Fairtrade Foundation adopted a theme of ''Take a Step for Fairtrade'', encouraging shoppers to try one new Fairtrade-labelled product. Fairtrade Fortnight in 2022 took place from Monday 21st February to Sunday 6th March,Ethical Superstore
Fairtrade Fortnight 2023
accessed 19 September 2022 and included a series of virtual events called the ''Choose the World You Want Festival''.Fairtrade Foundation
Choose the World You Want Festival 2022
accessed 19 September 2022 The dates for 2023 are Monday 27th February to Sunday 12th March.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fairtrade Fortnight Annual events Fair trade